Temmmp Controller From Pc

[QldKev]

There was a link on here to a web site that does temp controllers from your PC and you could log the activity; but I cannot find it. Anyone know what it was?

 

[Screwtop]

There was a link on here to a web site that does temp controllers from your PC and you could log the activity; but I cannot find it. Anyone know what it was?

[post="108862"][/post]​

If a search doesn't turn anything up contact OneTemp Brisbane ask for a data logger and controller cattledog, Ron Fowler is the guy to talk to 1300 768 887 or Link

 

[bagnol]

Ozitronics has this sort of gear. K145 plugs into your serial port and monitors temperatures from up to 4 sources.

I use K74 (Printer Port Relay Board) in conjunction with this to control my fridges and HLT (and pretty soon, my HERMS recirc).

Cheers
Bagnol

 

[dreamboat]

Bagnol,
How are you getting this to work for you?
I am currently looking into this concept and am very interested in how others have done it. I am considering using Python at the moment, but not too sure how this will work in with the input/output format requried to suit the ozitronics kits.
All help on this greatly appreciated.


dreamboat

 

[BennyBrewster]

I have done it using vb6 and .net with the Ozitronics gear.

 

[benhobbs]

Ozitronics has this sort of gear. K145 plugs into your serial port and monitors temperatures from up to 4 sources.

I use K74 (Printer Port Relay Board) in conjunction with this to control my fridges and HLT (and pretty soon, my HERMS recirc).

Cheers
Bagnol

[post="108876"][/post]​

I've used this same combination with no problems. So far I am only monitoring one temp, and controlling one relay for my fridge, I haven't had a need to "heat" the fridge yet, but with 7 spare relays I am sure it wouldn't be too difficult.

I'm not much for programming, but I managed to fudge the C source that came with them to run on linux PC.

Thanks
Ben

 

[Shunty]

How hard would it be for a novice to set up something like the ozitronics system? I'm fine with the hardware side of things, but my software knowledge is somewhere near the narrow end of stuff all

I have a computer in the brewshed with promash, music etc, would be nice to have it controling the fridges and logging temps

 

[benhobbs]

I don't have any real programming experience, I start to get out of my comfort zone with anything more than a "Hello World" program.

I managed to stumble my way through what the supplied program was doing, and once I figured out how which variable had the right data, I basically added a couple of IF statements and if true they call the external program which controls the relays.

The only other things I did were to change the time of the loops, so that the fridge wouldn't turn on and off too quickly.

That was pretty much the end of my "proof of concept" phase, which we are still in.... I haven't finished building all the boxes to house it all in, I haven't added any way of changing the trigger temp yet, at it is hard coded and needs to be recompiled if I change the temp.

Overall, I'd say it wasn't too hard, and I am happy to share my program if you need it, but bear in mind that at the moment it only runs on Linux.

Thanks
Ben

 

[bagnol]

From this topic:

I have been working on a program for this kit for a while. I only wrote it for personal use. t was never intended to be distributed, so it might not work perfectly on all computers. If there is enough demand, I will work on making the code a bit more bullet proof.

Here is a setup file I created to install the Temp Monitor program. It should install everything that is needed (ie reg settings, dll's, fonts) and it also includes the VB code.

I haven't gotten around to documenting the code yet. But I will do it as soon as I get the chance.

Temp Monitor Download

There are two versions of this program. I originally wrote the code to work with the kit that Andrew has documented as well as a parallel port relay card. I use this setup to control the temps in my fermenter fridge as well as my keg fridge. Here is the setup for this version of the program.

Thermestat Download

As I said, if there is enough demand, I will work on making this program a bit more universal.


Cheers
Bagnol

The links to those setups no longer work (but that's ok coz neither did the programs ).

I helped Andrew get this going on his setup, but I have done no more work on making it an acceptable (read functional) distribution. I will try to do some work on it this weekend and post a link to the files on Sunday night or Monday.

Cheers
Bagnol

 

[Shunty]

Excelent, sounds like i should be able to make it work. There's a fairly decent IT department at work, if i get stuck i'm sure they'll help out

 

[dreamboat]

Nothing wrong with running on Linux, that was my plan.



Dreamboat

I don't have any real programming experience, I start to get out of my comfort zone with anything more than a "Hello World" program.


SNIP


Overall, I'd say it wasn't too hard, and I am happy to share my program if you need it, but bear in mind that at the moment it only runs on Linux.

Thanks
Ben

[post="108918"][/post]​

 

[benhobbs]

Nothing wrong with running on Linux, that was my plan.



Dreamboat

[post="108947"][/post]​

When are you looking at getting it all going? I can send you the code I have now, but it still a little ugly, as I mentioned earlier there is some stuff hard coded which should be changed.

I will probably be able to get it all tidied up in a couple of weeks time, it's a bit hard to write/test it while I have a brew in the fridge. <_<

Thanks
Ben

 

[BeerIsGood]

This dude has used some kits (as listed above?) to do this type of setup. Also used Linux, and his code is available on the site: Greg's Temperature Controlled Fridge

Also check out the bloke's beard. With a good beard and a PC controlled fridge you can make up for any lack of HB cred not using AG.

On this note, BTW, I took the PC out of the equation on my setup and used a microcontroller. There are a lot of good micros out there which have on-board analog to digital conversion and digital outputs. Just program in C, or similar, and use a relay-driving circuit. I'll post details of my setup when I get time to document.

 

[benhobbs]

Damn! He certainly put some effort into that, his readme file has more lines than my program!

I like his pretty graphs too..

 

[dreamboat]

I even ran the telnet to see his current temps... what a great idea for checking up on your brew while at work.


dreamboat

 

[user 1153]

Hey why not go the whole hog and have it set up to serve wap pages and then you could check on your mobile phone

If anyone wants source ported to windows let me know and I'll do it for you. (developer by trade)

I even ran the telnet to see his current temps... what a great idea for checking up on your brew while at work.


dreamboat

[post="108986"][/post]​

 

[benhobbs]

I even ran the telnet to see his current temps... what a great idea for checking up on your brew while at work.


dreamboat

[post="108987"][/post]​

I can get SSH access to my machine at home while at work, or anywhere else with an internet connection, I display it that way.

PS. don't tell my boss that I did most of the program from work too..

Ben

 

[berto]

http://www.labjack.com/labjack_u12.html

Somethign i was looking at doing, but no longer have the need due to a change in plans. Would make it a very nice and neat setup i think.

 

[QldKev]

Thanks for the replies Ozitronics was the one

 

[bagnol]

This dude has used some kits (as listed above?) to do this type of setup. Also used Linux, and his code is available on the site: Greg's Temperature Controlled Fridge

If anyone wants source ported to windows let me know and I'll do it for you. (developer by trade)

Already done. Read post #9.

The code that I have running at the moment, borrowed heavily from Greg's code. The main difference is that my program runs in windows and is easy to read from accross the room (Greg's program runs in FreeBSD and displays output in a formatted text table).

I used to have it serving a web page, however, I found it more convenient to hook into the PC using MS RDP.

Cheers
Bagnol