A freind and I are planning on building a house boat. We want to monitor a range of different things on the boat.
Complicating factors are, the drivers console, where the computer and arduino will be, is a 15 meter / 45' away from the engine rooms where most of the sensors will be.
We want to monitor a bunch of different temperatures, pressures and rpm in each engine room. we also want to be able to select forward and reverse gear on each transmission.
steer the thing by wire (control hydraulics) start and stop the engines with the computer. And, communicate with the boat remotely over the net so we can monitor the alarm system and run engines once a week without actually being there.
It's a big project and we live in Africa, so it's expensive to ship all the components out from the US or Europe and we need to make sure we start off with the correct stuff.
I'll be most grateful for any sage advice on what boards to buy and ways to connect them so this'll work.
If you are new to this, I doubt you will get it right with your first order. No offense, if I was doing it I would expect to do a lot of trial and error.
I would tackle each part on its own. For one thing, sending messages 15 meters will probably need a protocol that can cope with distances, eg. RS485.
Stuff like steering by wire, starting and stopping the engine, etc. are likely to involve specialized components. I wouldn't even know where to start, but Google (and perhaps some of the boat enthusiasts on this forum) should be able to help you.
Take a look at the NMEA standards - 0183 and 2000. You will likely find it useful to have an NMEA network on the boat to collect data from devices already able to use it e.g. GPS, compass etc. Back in the eighties I built boat systems that emitted their data as additional NMEA sentences. I suspect you could use this mechanism to have arduinos talking too.
Thanks for the input. Agree on not expecting to get things right first time.
However, I need to start somewhere. Do you think it would be feasibile to have an arduino next to the control computer then have another arduino in the engine room connected via ethernet? Thereby sending sensor data via the ethernet, or, sending data from the arduino in the engine room to update the webpage on the computer so I have realtime temperature readings etc?
Some more info on what I'm trying to achieve with an Ardruino.
Here is a basic process...
Press engine ignition on touch screen = actuate 12v relay to power ecu and fuel cutoff solonoid
Press start button on touch screen = start the following string of events.
Check engine rpm, if > 0 goto already-running
Check time since last poweroff, if < 5 min goto 4
Switch on ventilation fans in engine room, wait 30 seconds
Switch on engine ignition and fuel solonoid
If engine temp > 60deg C goto 10
If engine temp < 60deg C goto 7
Actuate glow plug relay
wait 10 seconds - or - until relay circuit resistance reaches set level
switch off glow plug relay
Check engine rpm, if > 0 goto already-running
actuate startermotor circuit and start 10 second start-count
monitor engine rpm, if < 400 and start-count < 10 continue cranking
If engine rpm < 400 and start-count > 10 stop cranking and add 1 to crank-count
Wait 10sec if crank-count < 3 goto 10 if crank-count > 3 goto 1
if engine rpm > 400rpm switch off starter motor solonoid
wait 60 then switch off engine room fans
Display engine already running
End
I wish to monitor things like engine temp and rpm anyway so all the sensors will already be connected to the ardruino.
I just need to check that this kind of thing is possible before I go and buy the equipment.
Any advice sincerely appreciated, thanks in advance.
Any advice sincerely appreciated, thanks in advance.
You probably need to start by getingt an arduino, ethernet shield, a servo, a relay, various sensors, and supporting electronics, then start doing some experimentation. Do this before spending big $$$ on parts and such.