Need some input and suggestions on hardware to pick out this is my first post and first arduino project
What I want/need the controller to do
what it has to do
*control 8 solid state relays (may add more later)
*log ph orp and temp and control some of the relays such as turn heater on and off
*display ph orp relays that are on a lcd
*be able turn lights on/off via relays with timers and by selecting options with a touch pad
*display things on the web via wifi prefered may use ethernet
what I think I will use for hardware
*arduino uno or possably the blackwidow
8x solid state relays I would like to build my power supply away from the arduino and want to assemble it with the least amount of wires going to it, let me know if you have ideas on this
*128x64 lcd
*something for logging files onto sd card need to research this
*ph and orp module (have probe) I have not researched this yet
*temp sensor must be water proof
*build a clock module need a schematic
*keypad and possably ir remote
*something for wifi I need it to be small and I may go with ethernet
I am not suggesting that you purchase this, but It might give you ideas for circuits and code. I am not to keen on the way that it does the relays, it uses a 15 pin vga style cable to connect the main control to the relay box. I was thinking that an i2c bus might be better.
yes I have seen them as well as reefprojects.com and a couple threads on reefcentral.com I will look at there code I think I read somewhere of someone else suggesting a i2c bus not sure if it was used in there build
We have our reef central thread as well as the google site listed on the page. The google site contains the eagle files and BOM. The project has everything but the ORP, which could be added easily. There is even ethernet built into the board with a dedicated AVR for it. Definitely needed as our current sketches are 19,500 on the main AVR. We just fixed the last hardware problem and ordered what we hope will be the second and final round of boards.
Everything is open source, easy, and cheap. I believe everything I needed ran about $100 including the board, parts, ph probe, relay strip, etc... You can check the progress if you read through the thread, the last 10-15 pages should give you a good idea of what is going on.
Everyone so far is using a simple MCP23008 port expander to control the relays. There is one on the board already for the LCD, I built a board with another expander and some transisors. Someone actually found a board at guitarcenter made by chauvet that had the relays in it and even had a standard DB9 connector. I have it hooked up to my controller via a serial cable. Not bad for $41.
thanks everyone for the input still trying to process all of it I saw the hydro project early in my searches but didnt bookmark it and couldnt ever find it again