arduino uno with lcd display programming help !!

Hi, I'm very new to arduino programming... well new to micropros. programming. (used to use 555 chip for old project lol).
I'm a service station owner and we also refill 20 pound propane bottles. the probleme is; there is no single way to count the ''propane'' that goes out of the refill station as propane is a weight and we cannot put anykind of balance under the reserve.

The employes here who refill the propane bottles steal us from 2-4 ''refill'' per day. They refill ex: 10 bottles and write down only 6. so here is 100$ in there pockets/day.

What I would need is a counter that counts every single bottle filled out with a arduino uno with the lcd display,. *20 pound propane bottle takes 30-45 seconds to fill and you need to activate the propane pump to fill it up.

Someone from the propane company came by and installed me a second switch in the activator switch box so when the propane pump is activated, there is an other switch activated too (special sparkless switch). the switch isn't connected to nothing it's in reality a standart 2 contact momentary switch.

The program I would need is :

A counter that counts from 0 - 10,000. (after 10,000 it goes back to ''0'' and start all over)
-when switch is activated, the counter counts ''1'' but counter is innoperative for 45 seconds (it may take a couple of push on the button to completely fill the bottle so I only want to count the ''bottle'' and not every single time the button is pressed).

-45 seconds delay is needed between each button count, next press of the button after 45 sec. will count an other bottle.

  • the switch can be connected to any of the 2 outputs/inputs of the arduino uno board.

  • the counter must show propane count: 00001 and always show the number of propane 'employes at the begining of the working quart will write down the number of bottle and same at the end of the quart and then calculate the difference bewtween in and out to know how many propane bottle they made in there quart ( arduino can get in sleep mode between the counts but would need to connect an other push button to the box so employes can turn on screen and see the ''number of propane bottle counted''.

-Do I need a 10k resistance in serial with my switch for a proper operation?

(bought 2 books on how to, basic arduino programming, might be able to do it after a couple of hours of learning/test, but the probleme is that every day without the counter cost me near a 100 bucks or so :confused: .... your help guys would be very helpfull and appreciated :slight_smile: thank you, ( here is my email adresse if needed: maximedesnoyers@hotmail.com) thanks a lot !

I would suggest that you contact your local high school physics teacher, college, community college, or vocational school and see if someone there can help you with a faster solution. Also, if there is an amateur radio (ham) radio club near you, they often have members who are familiar with the Arduino family of boards. You should be able to find someone locally who can help you more quickly.

Hi, install CCTV, let the staff know, and that should minimize your losses.

Tom..... :slight_smile:

There is already a 16 ch cctv sys.but its not enough... And thanks for the advice but all the schools over here are presently closed till september (montreal, canada) thats why im kinda stuck