SparkFun Forums

[bojan.grdanovic]

Hello all,
im new to this forum, a friend of mine explained the arduino would be to tool of choice for my project but im struggling to understand what i need to type in order to make this work.. clearly not a programmer - im a chef.

so, long story short, i want to make salami.
i have an old fridge, a humidifier, an exhaust fan, a 100w light, a LCD arduino control panel and the ardiuno. i think i need to get a switch board too, but im not too sure.

the steps are as follows.
day1 24C @ 95% Humidity
day2 22C @ 90% Humidity
day3 20C @ 85% Humidity
day4 18C @ 80% Humidity
day5 16C @ 80% Humidity
Day6 14C @ 75% Humidity
Day7 12C @ 75% Humidity

to store/age 10-12C @ 75% Humidity

so i need a the program to be able to;
switch the hymidifier on/off comparible to readings
switch the fridge on if needed cooling / light on if not cool enough
turn the exhaust on every 4 hours for 30secs to evacuate the chamber of any fermentation gasses.

i dont mind if i use the control panel to change the peramiters daily for the 7 day period because some thicker sausage might take longer and thinner less time. but i do need, lets say if i set it to 18C @ 80% to work its magic and get it to the appropriate temp/humidity. if its 35C outside it will cool. if its 5C outside it will heat using the 100w light..

then also automatically the exhaust draws the air out every 4 hours...

any help will be rewarded with salami and coppacollo....
thanks guys!!!!

[jacquelbot]

That sounds like a really fun, kinda big project!

This https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14236 will let you turn on and off your cooler/light/humidifier/fan from the Arduino. (I think this is what you meant by "switch board"?) Unfortunately, I think you'll need a separate one for each appliance since they all need to be able to be switched independently.

You'll also need a way to sense temperature and humidity, like this https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/si ... 1533232866

After that, you just need to learn programming!

Seriously though, this sounds pretty do-able, but it is going to take a LOT of learning if you haven't done any coding before. Or bribing, if you have any programmer buddies.

[tglaser92]

That's very do-able for a beginner with a some time on their hands.

Best bet is the relay and sensor suggested by jaquelbot... If you want to save a few bucks and don't mind doing a bit of cutting cables and soldering, these will save you a few bucks https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13815

As for what kind of Arduino, really anyone of the basic ones will do. So no need to worry about that.

in Lehman's terms a relay works like this...
You'll plug (or wire) your humidifier/fridge/exhaust into the relay, but the relay will only provide power when the Arduino sends a "GO" signal to the relay. So using the Arduino you can control when the devices get power and when they turn off.

In order to know when to turn the humidifier/fridge/exhaust on, of course you'll need some sensors. Again, jaquelbot recommended a good one with lots of documentation (free code) on how to get that to work.

Time keeping is also very simple to code. there's lots of examples on-line that it shouldnt be too too hard to figure out. Check some out here: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/arduino/ ... nction.htm

........................................

Don't let the coding scare you! There's lots and lots of pre-existing code for these kinds of things, so most likely you wont have to write more than a couple of lines of code yourself. Basically you'll just have to add a few "if-then" statements. i.e. "if" the humidity drops below 80, "then" turn send the on signal to the relay controlling the humidifier. Check out https://www.tutorialspoint.com/cprogram ... t_in_c.htm for solid tutorials on what that looks like.

Also don't be afraid to ask for help. Resources like this forum, stackoverflow, and the arduino forum are really helpful.

Good luck and be sure to share your progress if you do follow thru.
Twain

[lyndon]

in Lehman's terms a relay works like this...

Layman's.