Good morning all,
The basics of what I am looking to do with an arduino in a quail raising system is this:
Control lighting(on, off, and to extend daylight hours) in multiple zones
Control motors for feed and water
Inputs to to control the feed, water, temperature etc
Notification if there are problems(eg no light due to dead bulb)
The project is to automate my quail setup to the point that if I am on the road for a couple days the system will complete the basic daily functions for watering, feeding, and lighting, and notify me if something goes wrong so I can have someone look into it.
I have a basic electronics background working with and integrating security, cameras, and access control but this will be my first project with Arduino.
What board should I start with? Using this as a learning opportunity, I would like to start with the lighting control but don't want to end up with a head end that will not work for the full project.
Yes, it's feasible.
I guess you want to control system via the Internet or LAN. If so, I recommend using Arduino Uno WiFi to start. You can see other options here.
Am I correct to think that you want to create a system to help with the feeding and the environment for small birds?
You will be able to control all of that with an Uno and it is the best board for a beginner as most of the example programs and tutorials work with an Uno.
The example programs that come with the Arduino IDE probably cover all of the techniques that you will require. Study them, make copies of them so you can make changes to see what happens and learn how the programs work.
For your own project you should start with short programs that do each part of the project one at a time - for example operating lights at specific times or controlling motors. Only start the combined program when you can do all the parts separately.
If the lives of the birds will depend on your system you will also need to consider carefully what should happen if your system goes wrong - which can happen even with a carefully written program.
Lights is the easiest way to start. Just switching on and off lights on time is fairly easy to implement.
For controller, use an ESP8266 or ESP32 processor - the latter has a lot more horsepower. Both have WiFi built in, and can act as web server making that part very easy to integrate. Having an Internet connection means you can also easily get the time and date through NTP.
Next step may be light sensors, to see that lights are actually on.
Then one by one add watering, feeding, temperature control - the last one is probably the hardest, and the most damaging if it goes wrong (if your heating remains on you come home to roasted quails; if it remains off you have frozen quails).
IoT_hobbyist:
Yes, it's feasible.
I guess you want to control system via the Internet or LAN. If so, I recommend using Arduino Uno WiFi to start. You can see other options here.
IoT_hobbyist:
Yes, it's feasible.
I guess you want to control system via the Internet or LAN. If so, I recommend using Arduino Uno WiFi to start. You can see other options here.
Robin2:
Am I correct to think that you want to create a system to help with the feeding and the environment for small birds?
You will be able to control all of that with an Uno and it is the best board for a beginner as most of the example programs and tutorials work with an Uno.
The example programs that come with the Arduino IDE probably cover all of the techniques that you will require. Study them, make copies of them so you can make changes to see what happens and learn how the programs work.
For your own project you should start with short programs that do each part of the project one at a time - for example operating lights at specific times or controlling motors. Only start the combined program when you can do all the parts separately.
If the lives of the birds will depend on your system you will also need to consider carefully what should happen if your system goes wrong - which can happen even with a carefully written program.
...R
This is the approach I will take. The system will be used and abused to work out the kinks before it is relied upon. And then there will be back up systems for notification once it is implemented.
Thanks
Using an Arduino Uno WiFi, a Wemos, a NodeMCU or an ESP8266 / ESP32 may be considered by more experienced users to be suitable platforms for this project.
But I would not recommend any of them for a beginner. A regular Uno provides a nice straightforward base from which a beginner can build his/her competence. A beginner needs time to gain experience about what they need to know and which options are most suitable.
And (separately) I suspect that sending a warning as a text message would probably be more suitable for this project than a using WiFi.
Robin2:
Using an Arduino Uno WiFi, a Wemos, a NodeMCU or an ESP8266 / ESP32 may be considered by more experienced users to be suitable platforms for this project.
But I would not recommend any of them for a beginner. A regular Uno provides a nice straightforward base from which a beginner can build his/her competence. A beginner needs time to gain experience about what they need to know and which options are most suitable.
And (separately) I suspect that sending a warning as a text message would probably be more suitable for this project than a using WiFi.
...R
So, as a beginner you're recommending the Uno over the Uno with Wifi? Is it possible to get the Uno with Wifi, use it without Wifi, and learn the Wifi part later? Or is it that much of a difference that it make more sense to start with an Uno?
The Uno WiFi Rev 2 board is quite different from the Uno, and suffers from a lack of support in a lot of the common libraries used for arduino programming, so it is probably best to avoid it as a beginner.
mdevelden:
Is it possible to get the Uno with Wifi, use it without Wifi, and learn the Wifi part later?
I have no experience of that board and it is a great deal more expensive then either a standard Uno or an ESP8266 based WiFi capable board.
If you already know enough to be sure you will use WiFi then it may make sense but IMHO it is a big mistake to try to minimise the cost of a project before you have the experience to guide you with your choices.
Another consideration is that if you are not already familiar with web programming then learning that will be a big additional learning curve on top of learning the basic Arduino stuff. On the other hand if you are already a proficient web programmer using familiar stuff will be a big help rather than learning other types of communication - assuming a web-based approach is technically suitable for this project.