Hello everyone,
I'm looking into the feasibility of using the UNO and relays to control a DC fan and small heater attached to a large storage box. The idea is to keep the temperature and humidity relatively constant for the insects I'll be raising inside. Weird, I know...
In any case, I am just getting started with Arduino, have watched several hours of video about coding/pc board design so I feel I have an amateur understanding of how it all works. Anything I run into that I don't know I look up, as I'm an avid learner and knowing Arduino seems to be an incredibly useful skill.
My idea is this. Set up the storage box with two holes cut out and place two computer cooling fans on the box, one on each side. Place a heater underneath the box. I am planning to use the temperature and humidity sensor for the Arduino, and just set it in the box away from where the insects (crickets) could get to it. The room temperature should always be lower than what I want the boxes to be (ideally not by much, though), so I wouldn't need a cooling mechanism, only a heating one. I am aware I'll probably have to calibrate for overheating with the code and heater through simulations/practice runs. Then if the humidity gets too high, the fans turn on and circulate outside, drier air through the box (the box humidity should also be slightly higher than the room since it has water sponges inside for the insects).
I have some questions:
#1. Would I even need a relay for computer fans? Or do they run on low enough voltage that I could just run power directly from the microcontroller?
#2. Is it feasible to set up a relay for something designed to plug into an AC wall socket or better just to try to find some kind of DC heater?
Thanks for your help!