Arduino Water Cooling Temperature Sensor

Hello

I am trying to find a way to measure the water temperature of my computer water cooling loop. I currently have built a fan controller that is controlled from the arduino to keep fan speed down to a minimum and yet cpu/gpu temps to a reasonable level. However, I would like a method to sense the temperature of the water via hardware. The only kind of thing I have found is this:

But I am not sure on how I could connect that to the arduino.

Thank you for ALL responses!!

the waterproof ds18B20 - Temperature Sensor - Waterproof (DS18B20) - SEN-11050 - SparkFun Electronics - ?
libs available,

Yeah I saw that but how would I go about putting it into the loop?

as the outside is metal you can connect it to some metal part with heat conductive glue (or HC pasta and some duct tape)

That wouldn't work as I am trying to get the temperature of the water in the loop.

phinsil6:
http://koolance.com/sen-tpl010k-coolant-temperature-sensor-10k-ohm
But I am not sure on how I could connect that to the arduino.

seeing as this is a 10k thermistor.. this tutorial directly applies here.

http://playground.arduino.cc/ComponentLib/Thermistor

I think the part linked to above will be your best bet... as it has all the seals and everything built it :slight_smile:

okay thanks!
and you are one hundred percent sure that it is simply a thermistor?
Will the arduino have good enough ADC resolution to pick up minor changes in water temperature? i.e +/- 0.5 degree Celsisus

phinsil6:
That wouldn't work as I am trying to get the temperature of the water in the loop.

Metal housing will follow the temperature of the water quite fast as metal is a conductor.
If you do not have any metal parts you have to drill a hole in some pipe, insert the sensor and kit it watertight.

thanks but no thanks! :sweat_smile:
that is way too risky for me and waaay beyond my ability and comfort zone.

im 100% positive that is IS a thermistor. 10k ohm is a measure of resistance. Its also typical of a average thermistor.

The arduino will return values of 0-1023... its up to you to determine what the actual temp is. google "Arduino thermistor" there is a great tutorial with code that does a good enough job of turning the analog values in to an actual temp.

phinsil6:
thanks but no thanks! :sweat_smile:
that is way too risky for me and waaay beyond my ability and comfort zone.

You could be a bit more ghetto and use an ordinary DS18B20 and tape it to the inlet hose on the reservoir. Duct tape if you want extra ghetto-ness. It won't give you the actual temperature, but you should be able to calibrate it and adjust in software so that you have what you need to control your fans.