cyborgworkshop.org

I figured out what was going on with my RRD graphs. I was just telling rrdtool to graph the wrong PDPs. I fixed that and took the opportunity to recreate the rrd’s to support a longer timeframe at a higher resolution.   I finally ran the living room sensor which is located very near the house thermostat and found that the house thermostat is off by about 2 degrees.  I trust the DS18S20P sensors far more then that thermostat simply based on my experience with them to date. My outdoor sensor for example is never more then 1 degree off from what the weather underground station a few miles from my house lists.

I’m broke for the next few weeks, so I’m working on designing the PCB for the next version of WHIA.  I’m thinking about either using an Arduino MEGA or using multiple Arduinos in an I2C network.  Can’t decide yet.  The I2C network does have some sex appeal, but the MEGA would be a lot easier to do.

In between tasks I’ve been able to implement a few new WHIA features.  I added LED lights to each sensor, and then removed them because they sucked.  I’ve started attaching servos to some of the more inaccessible vents in the house which has been…. fun.   Some of these things barely have enough space to open and close never mind get cleanly actuated.   I’m also having a bit of trouble with my RRD graphs. The daily graph works great, but my weekly only seems to want to show a single days worth of data.  I’ve also done some research on radiation shields and it looks like I’m going to have to build the pagoda for my temp sensor.

OK,  keeping a sensor from getting false readings due to radiant heat is a serious PIA.  I refuse to buy something premade, even if I could find it, but I’m starting to come up with a lot more “doesn’t work” then “almost works” solutions.   I’m taking a little break over the next few days to get some honey-do list stuff done (landscape, sheet rock, paint, etc) but more soon.

I added some code that makes WHIA send out a tweet every time it opens or closes a vent.  Most likely unnecessary, but it was way cool to get a message saying that my bedroom vent is closing! The foam filled funnel was a failure.  Not only did it allow the sensor to be exposed to radiant heat, it amplified that effect by nearly 10 degrees!  So we’re back to the lab again on that one. May end up having to break down and do the old 3 plastic bowls method.

The foam filled funnel (that’s a mouthful) is now outside and mounted onto the sensor. We’ll see if I still get that noon spike in temperature on the graphs.

I have redone the servo page almost entirely because, well, I redid the servos almost entirely. I ditched the square bar and piano wires for all 4-40 all thread and ball ends. Much cleaner and much stronger.  I ended up mounting the ball ends to the servo horn with shrink wrap and wow did that work out well!

Back to the software tomorrow and letting these vents think for themselves.