Not entirely sure if this is feasible but I am looking for a place to begin. Ideally I would like to connect in the way of sensors a barometric pressure sensor and waterproof temperature probe. I would like to control a drop in immersion water heating elements voltage to ideally heat water within a kettle to a temperature calculated from the reading on the barometric pressure sensor. If possible I would like to add a small LCD to read the temperature from the probe as well. Does this sound feasible? If so does anyone have a suggestion for where I should start with an arduino board or component suggestions? Thank you for your help this will be a learning experience for me!
-Sam
Just realized I should expand on this a bit. This is one of those projects more for fun than practicality. The idea is to have the barometric pressure be used to calculate an ideal temperature then have the immersion water heater turn on or off based on whether a differential value exists between the calculated ideal temp based on the barometer and the temperature probe that is submerged in the water. This creating the ideal water temp at any atmospheric pressure.
Streat90:
This is one of those projects more for fun than practicality.
Your question was about the board. Get a Mega. It will cope with all your fantasies, and anything serious you want to throw in as well. The way you put them together is up to you, but what you propose is entirely feasible. I don't know anything about barometers but they are around. The DS18B20 temperature sensor will do all you want, and there is plenty of facility for switching 240 volts.
I have to disagree with Nick on this one. Get a basic Arduino to start with. It will be a long while before you outgrow it. With all due respect, you are a beginner, and you need a basic run-about to gain experience, not a sports car. If you fry an Uno, its less expensive to replace than a Mega.
I agree with Nick about the 18b20 sensor. For pressure get a bmp085 on a breakout board. Don't be tempted by a bmp180 or anything else more expensive.
I can recommend Nano 3 or Pro Micro. But I build on breadboards, not shields, that's my preference.
Paul
Thank you for the responses! As a newbie I am completely open toady and all suggestions, so to get started toying with the barometric sensor on its own (hopefully adding the others later) you would recommend a less expensive board like the arduino uno and the db085 to get some values from it and start toying around?
OK, perhaps I wasn't explicit enough. I submit that, if you are a newbie and just diving in for the fun, with nothing specific, the choice is one of two - a Uno or a Mega. That is the mainstream, that is where you should be, and nothing else warrants consideration. If you want to connect a breadboard to a Uno, there is no problem, but if you want to connect a shield to a Nano, it's no go and time to take stock and count your mistakes.
A Uno will suffice - for now, but the reason why I said a Mega is a exactly as I described. In short , it is future-proof, the future is what playing with Arduino is all about, and you will never know what the future is until you get your feet wet. Most particularly, and since you mention expense, a Mega doesn't cost much more than a Uno, so you might as well get that to start with.
In my case, I did have something specific and I still got it wrong. I bought an Etherten, which is essentially a Uno, and it took me about six months to run out of memory. The Etherten cost me about 50% more than the Mega plus Ethernet shield I got to replace it.