Sending data from Arduinos to Windows computer for display.

Right now I have approximately a dozen Arduino Mini Pros sending data via NRF24L01 radios to a Arduino UNO. This data is then sent to a 20x4 LCD for display.

What I would like to do is send it to a dedicated PC running Windows XP. I have tried using Putty and a few other similar programs to view the data but it is too crude to be useful.

Is there a dashboard style program out there that a person with limited skills could set up in a reasonable amount of time to do this ? It would be nice to have my data displayed on a nice big 17" screen instead of a 20x4 LCD.

Just spent an hour fooling with Processing.
Looks interesting but didn't accomplish anything and I am not sure if it is what I need.

Perhaps you should look at a web based page for display. It could just be just basic values or something more fancy like below.

You probably aren't fooling hard enough.There have been some amazing things done with Processing. A simpler approach is to feed the data direct into an Excel graph using PLX-DAQ.

Initially it can be a simple as typing the following in the cmd window then using a spreadsheet to examine your data (alter com1 to whatever serial port your arduino is using)

type com1: >> data.csv

thanks to How can I redirect Windows COM port output to a file? - Stack Overflow

After that you may wish to create a database locally or choose one of the many internet-based platforms such as thingspeak.

rw950431:

I tried that com8: >> data.csv and got an error message. Command not recognized or no such file.

But will do more research. By the way, port 8 is where the Arduino was.

Thanks.

Zoomkat:

I don't want any of my data out on the web.
I'm so paranoid that I keep a second off the web computer just for my financials and personal things.
Plus a third off the web computer for my Arduino, Beagle Bone Black, home network, etc things.

Nick-Pyner:

I looked at that PLX-DAQ but didn't have time to get much out of it.

Thanks though.

I was really hoping to find a simple pre-made generic dashboard that I could
customize for my needs.

Just a simple Windows screen with some labeled boxes with my data displayed.

I don't want any of my data out on the web.

Well then don't put your web page out on the web and don't make your web server accessible from outside your LAN. You have to actually do extra things to make your server accessible from the outside.

@oldtron
Did you use the full command? "type com8: >>data.csv" You need to include the command "type".

I find using a VT100 terminal emulation program is quick and simple to use.
It's inbuilt on Unix based systems and there are a few good applications that will run on MS Windows, Terra-Term comes to mind and has been discussed here before.

Simply use a VT100 library in your Arduino code to place the data in an X Y coordinate map with a range of selected colours to see real time data on your computer screen.

I use this technique all the time for early stage code development instead of the more crude line by line serial console.

Here is a screenshot of a simple example that I did for someone who was using Windows:

Link Aruino GUI

Hope this gives you some further idea.


Paul

rw950431:

No I did not use type.

So I went back and typed in " type com10: >>data.csv " on the command line.

This is what I got: filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.

Thanks.

rockwallaby:

Downloaded Terra-Term and played with it a little. I had heard of it before but never looked at it until now.
Definitely looks interesting.

Thanks.

You could always use Visual Basic ... follow this link for introduction

http://www.martyncurrey.com/category/arduino-visual-basic/

Oldtron:
Right now I have approximately a dozen Arduino Mini Pros sending data via NRF24L01 radios to a Arduino UNO. This data is then sent to a 20x4 LCD for display.

How about sharing your existing sketch/s

Regards

rbright:

I went to Marty Currey's website and Visual Basic appears to be exactly what I am looking for.
Unfortunately for now it is well past my abilities and looks like there will be a steep learning curve.

But, I have downloaded Visual Studio and will use Marty's instructions as a guide to try to sort it out.

Between Arduino, ESP8266&WiFi(a real headache so far), and now Visual Basic, this stuff is starting to get me stressed out. But there was a time when nRF24's were a headbanger and now that has been beaten and whipped into a working system.

And at my age I need something to keep my mind from going dead.

It's said that "what doesn't kill you will make you stronger".

Thanks for putting me onto Visual Basic.

rbright:

Here is some of my Tx/Rx code ( see attachments ). It's not pretty but it works.
It can be easily expanded to as many nRF24's as there are channels.

sketch_nov26a_2015_RF24Net_Tx3_3_18B20.ino (5.23 KB)

sketch_nov26a_2015_RF24Net_Rx_3_4_5_9.ino (7.84 KB)