Home made terrarium controller

Bonca

Bonca

Member
Dear All,

I would like to introduce my new home made controller and collect some information from you to improve it. It is in an evaluation phase, and I appreciate all comment. Here are some details:
- only one rotary button to handle the whole menu system,
- in case of power loss, settings are saved in eeprom, no resetting is necessary,
- clock is powered by a battery,
- two sensors (both measures the temperature and the humidity) are attached, maximum three are available,
- graphic LCD with variable brightness,
- animated symbols (UV, heat, sprinkler/fogger),
- UV lamp, heat and sprinkler/fogger can be controlled on 230VAC outputs (maximum 0.5A resistive load),
- fan can be controlled on the 5VDC output,
- warning tone.

This equipment will be assembled in the lighting fixture soon. Only the LCD and the rotary button will be exposed. I am planning to put the controller also in an instrument box to separate from the lighting fixture.
http://tinypic.com/r/szhe6o/8

If you have constructive ideas, please comment it. Thank you!

Bonca
 

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I don't have any criticism. Just here to say WOW!

Please tell me you plan on producing and selling this.
 
Well, as I wrote I am testing it in my environment. I need to know how stable the complete system, what failure handling is necessary, and so on... Small corrections are needed, for example: what is the minimum daytime and nighttime temperature, maximum temperature, misting frequency and duration, celsius-fahrenheit option,... Most of them are done (I think). I am also not sure about all phrases :) These information or experience what I need from other pet owners. I don't want to limit its usage only for chameleons, better to expand to all animals living in terrarium.
When I completely finish it, approximate costs will be 80...100 euros.

Bonca
 
So how does this work?
Do you plug your humidifier, mist pump, etc. into this and it turns them on and off according to the settings?
 
If you want to control the temperature and humidity, connect at least one sensor (now DHT11). Without a sensor the only thing that can be controlled is the UV lamp, because it is time-dependent.
So connect the UV lamp, pump (or ultrasonic fogger) and a heater (rock, cable, infra bulb), and that is all and of course the main power (115V...230V). The control process is depending on the settings in the menu.
Now only one sensor controls the temperature, and the other is just a "contrast" sensor. The third one is just an option for further applications. The rotary button and the LCD can be placed away from the board (depending on the wires connected to them).

http://tinypic.com/r/jj1jc8/8

Bonca
 
How many relays will it be able to control? Will there be an option for PWM for fading dawn/dusk lighting? How about having it adjust lighting automatically for seasonal dawn/dusk times. How about two different relay circuits one for mist and one for drip. Just trying to throw out every thing I'd like to see in an "all in one" lighting/mist system controller. Also a random setting for mist cycle time and duration with settable parameters would be really neat. It never rains at exactly the same time for exactly the same length every day does it?

Also a user upgradable firmware would be handy.

That should keep you busy for a few years....Let me know when you have it done.:D
 
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There are three relays to switch the 115-230VAC equipments. And one "open collector" output for 5VDC device (fan or an external relay). How many output would be enough most of us? The base conception is that three is enough.
PWM is not really able to fade or dusk the alternating current directly. If this is an essential requirement, then I need to redesign some part of the main circuitry. My first goal was to prepare an "everything on one panel" system that fits by most of the keepers requirement. In the third version it is ok :)
Raining randomly is also a good idea.
User upgradeable FW would assume I share the hex file loaded in the controller. This is far from the practice.
Anyway, you have gave me ideas, thank you!

Bonca
 
Temperature activated 115/230 relays would be nice to have misters come on or turn basking lights off when the temps rise above a certain point.

Did you say it will have 0-10v dc control also? This would be good if you want to dim controllable T5 ballasts.

Carl
 
Bonca said:
User upgradeable FW would assume I share the hex file loaded in the controller. This is far from the practice.
Anyway, you have gave me ideas, thank you!

Bonca
Click to expand...

User upgradable firmware is common if you do it as open source, which I'm a big fan of. Tons of Arduino freaks out there that would love to come up with custom programs. What would work for one keeper might be totally different for another, so it would be nice to have the option to set it up with the outputs to run whatever you wanted. Like maybe one mist pump and one drip pump instead of lighting or any other configuration you can imagine. Or even configure it to control several incubators with day/night temp settings. It could be like a custom "all in one" type of box. If you released this as open source and put it on Kickstarter, I'm sure you could sell a bunch and people could share their custom hex files.

Anyway that is probably far from your personal goal with this, and I'm probably rambling at this point anyway.

You'll probably sell a bunch either way though. :D Good luck!
 
0-10V DC control is not able on the current version because it has only 5V DC power, and has no booster circuit.
Electronic ballast is new for me and you gave me a new reason to develop the third version :)

Bonca
 
This is the prototype. The cost was approximately 100 euro. The next pieces will be more cheaper.

Bonca
 
It would be pretty neat if you could check the enclosure stats remotely, from a computer. Or get an alert if the enclosure drops out of the specified range.

I know in the lab where I work we start getting alarms if our storage equipment drops out of a specified temperature range.

Great job though, I think we're all just pitching potential future projects.
 
Controller enclosure

Hi,

Just an update. This is a design of the controllers enclosure. I am curious about your opinion. I appreciate the comments.

Bonca
 

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I like the display. Would it be possible to move the plug outlets to the sides or rear of the unit?

This unit would sit on a shelf correct? How about a flat wall control unit that is connected to a power strip by a USB or RJ45 cable. The power strip could be hidden so you don't have to see all the plugs.

Carl
 
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