Arduino-based Temp Control Via SMS

September 25, 2013 by Marsh 7 Comments

smsTempController

As connected as we are, reliable and affordable internet is still a luxury in the far reaches. [kohleick’s] country home is not just remote; with temperatures dropping to -30C in the winter, it’s practically Arctic. His solution for controlling the thermostat from afar was to take advantage of the GSM network and implement a SMS-based heater controller. The unit typically operates in “antifreeze mode,” but sending a simple text message prior to visiting causes the heater to kick it up to a more comfortable setting for your arrival. Daily logs report the system’s status, and an alert will trigger when temperatures fall below a set limit, thus indicating potential faults with the heater.

The build uses a Freeduino paired with an external GSM modem for communication and an LCD to display current status and menus, which users access via three buttons on the side of the picture frame. [kohleick] connected two temperature sensors: one directly to the Freeduino’s shield and a second outside the house. After the temperature sensors detect deviance from the set point, or upon SMS instruction, the Freeduino will crank up the heat through a 5V relay attached to the home’s boiler. Head over to the Instructables page linked above for a bill of materials, schematics, and the code. The Siemens GSM modem in this build is nothing to worry about, but be careful if you try to reproduce this project with an Arduino GSM shield, or your house might really heat up.

Accurate Temperature Control Of Your 3D Printer Extruder

September 19, 2013 by Mathieu Stephan 16 Comments

[Tim] is working on building a 3D printer and using it as an excuse to learn as much as he can. The first big issue he tackled was accurate temperature control, so he made an interesting write-up on how to characterize the thermal properties of an QU-BD extruder’s hot end and use that information to create a control algorithm for the heater.

The article starts with a basic thermal model and its corresponding formula. [Tim] then runs several tests where he measures the heater and extruder tip temperatures while switching on and off the heater. This allows him to figure out the several model parameters required to design his control algorithm. Finally, he tweaked his formula in order to predict the short term future so he can know when he should activate the heating element. As a result, his temperature is now accurately controlled in the 200°c +/-1°c window that he was shooting for.

Portable Air Conditioner

July 10, 2008 by Juan Aguilar 16 Comments

The dog days of Summer are looming just over the horizon like a hot sticky wave of impending doom, but you don’t have to take it lying down. Building a portable air conditioner is cheap easy, and we daresay refreshing.

You’ll need the following materials: a condenser, heater core, or radiator, a styrofoam cooler, a submersible water pump, a few case fans, some adapters to power the works, and a few other materials. The pump circulates cold water through the condenser as the fan pushes air through it and the rest of the box.

We’ve never been huge fans of swamp coolers like this one since they offer no true refrigeration cycle. What’s more, they pump a good deal of humidity into the air, which makes the heat worse in the long run, or creates a vicious cycle of cooling and humidifying. Still, when the heat is scrambling our brains, it’s hard to say no to any relief, however ephemeral.