I’ve put it into a cheap tin and drilled some holes in it for the light to shine though.
Looks like crap at the moment, but it was a quick hack.
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I found Cheerlights, and I had to make one for myself. I don’t have the cool GE lights, so I took what I had, which was some ShiftBrites. Most of my issues was making everything fit in RAM. I had to take the code for the GE lights and change most of the Strings to constants to make all the variables fit.
Here’s a picture of it in action:
I’m doing some code cleanup right now and I’ll post it up on Github when I’m done.
Update: I’ve uploaded the code to my Github repository. https://github.com/bkonosky/Cheerlights-Arduino-Ethernet-ShiftBrite I’ve also got a video of it fading between colors as well: Better Pic of the completed setup
They’ve released 1.0, and now I have to update my LCD library. Give me a couple of days to take care of it.
http://arduino.cc/blog/2011/11/30/arduino-1-0-now-available/
Update: I’ve patched up my library to work under Arduino 1.0, it’s the v1.0 branch. I’ll merge it into the master when I feel it’s completely done.
Two things: #1 I went and showed off the project on Ladyada’s Show and Tell on 10-8-2001. It was fun but I had to go on before two other awesome projects, so I felt mine wasn’t anywhere near as cool. #2: I overhauled both the remote station and the base unit to look much nicer. I picked up a FIO board which has the XBee socket built right into the board. Also it can be powered by a LIPO, and it has a charger built onto it. I’m using that for the remote station, and I took the proto shield I was using on the remote and I’m now using it for the base unit. Wiring is a lot cleaner, and I’m getting ready to do a write up and schematic for the way it’s currently done.
The display I’m using on my weather station is controlled via i2c calls. I got tried of doing all of the Wire.* calls throughout my code. I decided to write a library do all that work for me, and I just have to call it like I would the stock LCD library. I’ve posted the code up on Git Hub https://github.com/bkonosky/Arduino-Matrix-Orbital-i2c-library
On the base station side, I’ve added in a DS18S20 One Wire temperature sensor, and a HIH-4030 humidity sensor from Sparkfun. Code is now even uglier, and quite frankly, embarrassing. I need to clean it up before I post it publicly. Next step after code cleaning is getting the Ethernet module I’ve got here wired in so I can have it send data to ThingSpeak.
I’ve finally gotten some time to work on the project again. I’ve gotten the remote station close to a final prototype state, and I’ve gotten the code stable on there as well. The base part I was starting and stopping on trying to figure out the best way to read in the data over the XBee link between it and the remote station. I eventually found TextFinder, and used that to parse out the serial data. I found in my parts bin an old Matrix Orbital 20×4 display, and found this post on the Arduino fourms that showed how to make it work. I’ve got it displaying the info from the remote station on the local one, now I just need to get some local sensors on the base and have them display as well. Now I need to start cleaning things up, and then move the remote over to a Mini Pro so it’ll consume less power, and has a smaller footprint. I’ll be releasing the code when I clean it up and comment it better.
I’ve made some updates on the project. I’ve setup the XBees to be used as a serial link, and it’s working. I’m now planning on rebuilding it with the Pro Mini I picked up. So far I have the base spitting out the temp, pressure, humidity, rough light level and the VCC voltage. I’m going to rebuild with the Pro Mini next to shrink down the size.
I’ve been working on these two project together for a bit now, and I’ve decided that I should start documenting what I’ve been doing. Right now I’m using an Arduino to start building it out, I’ve got a Sensiron temp/humidity sensor from Adafruit, and the BMP085 on a breakout board from Sparkfun. I also have some DS18S20 1-wire sensors that I picked up a long while back. I’ve also got a pair of XBees and a pair of the XBee adapter boards from Adafruit, so I can have sensors remotely placed and not have to do any long distance wired communications. At this stage though I just have things plugged into one Arduino, and reading it out through the serial port. Here’s a picture of the first setup with the sensors
I’m going to try to start posting on the blog again. What I’m going to be posting is the projects I’m working on. Here’s the list of projects I’m currently tinkering with.
Yes, I’m a geek. I’ve been toying with these ideas for quite some time now, but I’ve not put too much though into fully implementing any of them until recently. In the past I’ve played with X10 equipment for HA work, but I’ve found it lacking, and I’m researching other systems for that. I’ve always wanted to build a weather station. Until recently, I’ve had troubles finding sensors that were easy for me to work with. That’s pretty much changed with finding Sparkfun and Adafruit on the internet. The smart thermostat idea came about with the easy of access to sensors and micro controllers that are easily programmed. It will be working with the weather station to decide if the system needs to be running due to the outside temp. Power Monitoring, well, because it can be, and also to keep the power bill from being too much of a surprise. I’ll be posting more on each of the projects as I’m working on them. |
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