Author: lincolnsmithy

I just used Fritzing for the first time and was quite impressed.  Will help me a lot as I dissect what I built already and as I design new projects moving forward.  I have only scratched the surface using Fritzing application but it is great.

 

New soldering station “Sparkfun 937b”..a cheap RadioShack board to practice my old soldering skills..an Adafruit datalogger and BMP pressure sensor…tah dah.

Adafruit:

Local MicroCenter had the Spackfun 937B so I grabbed it from there. Works really well, agree with most reviews on the holder (it sucks) but had not problem soldering the headers for the Data Logging shield and the BMP180.

Next steps…use plotly to show results from the logger.

Stumbled on this GE Garage on Connecticut Ave.  Nicely appointed with lots of 3D printers, a laser cutter, cnc mill and more…

Made the aluminum base mate to the one I did for the Uno for the breadboard.  Makes for a much more stable breadboard.

Finished base after using fly cutter to do the final finish passes and a few quick runs on the disk sander.

This side as way off as I messed up the cut in the hacksaw. Ran a roughing mill to get it close and now ready for the fly cutter.

Roughing mill pass.

Initial cut on hacksaw got away from me – fixed later with roughing mill.

Fly cutter – pre cut. Actually our of sequence but used this tool later to finish of the block.

Power Hack Saw! Love this machine.

Aluminum block from the scrap pile. Came off a big discarded injection mold.

After messing around with node.js implementation I found some other services that help collect sensor data from devices. They make it pretty easy to embed charts as well:

This is a simple light meeter in my living room – connected to ThingSpeak channel. Still getting used to the Charts on ThingSpeak but pretty cool so far. Also will look into there are apps soon enough.

https://thingspeak.com/channels/10735#

ThingSpeak makes it easy: create and account on ThingSpeak and a simple sketch later you have a collector!

Sketch:

[code language=”cpp”]
/*

Arduino –> ThingSpeak Channel via Ethernet

The ThingSpeak Client sketch is designed for the Arduino and Ethernet.
This sketch updates a channel feed with an analog input reading via the
ThingSpeak API (http://community.thingspeak.com/documentation/)
using HTTP POST. The Arduino uses DHCP and DNS for a simpler network setup.
The sketch also includes a Watchdog / Reset function to make sure the
Arduino stays connected and/or regains connectivity after a network outage.
Use the Serial Monitor on the Arduino IDE to see verbose network feedback
and ThingSpeak connectivity status.

Getting Started with ThingSpeak:

* Sign Up for New User Account – https://www.thingspeak.com/users/new
* Register your Arduino by selecting Devices, Add New Device
* Once the Arduino is registered, click Generate Unique MAC Address
* Enter the new MAC Address in this sketch under "Local Network Settings"
* Create a new Channel by selecting Channels and then Create New Channel
* Enter the Write API Key in this sketch under "ThingSpeak Settings"

Arduino Requirements:

* Arduino with Ethernet Shield or Arduino Ethernet
* Arduino 1.0 IDE

Network Requirements:

* Ethernet port on Router
* DHCP enabled on Router
* Unique MAC Address for Arduino

Created: October 17, 2011 by Hans Scharler (http://www.iamshadowlord.com)

Additional Credits:
Example sketches from Arduino team, Ethernet by Adrian McEwen

*/

#include <SPI.h>
#include <Ethernet.h>

// Local Network Settings
byte mac[] = { 0xD4, 0x28, 0xB2, 0xFF, 0xA0, 0xA1 }; // Must be unique on local network

// ThingSpeak Settings
char thingSpeakAddress[] = "api.thingspeak.com";
String writeAPIKey = "YOURWRITEAPIKEYHERE"; // YOUR writeAPIKey here
const int updateThingSpeakInterval = 16 * 1000; // Time interval in milliseconds to update ThingSpeak (number of seconds * 1000 = interval)

// Variable Setup
long lastConnectionTime = 0;
boolean lastConnected = false;
int failedCounter = 0;

// Initialize Arduino Ethernet Client
EthernetClient client;

void setup()
{
// Start Serial for debugging on the Serial Monitor
Serial.begin(9600);

// Start Ethernet on Arduino
startEthernet();
}

void loop()
{
// Read value from Analog Input Pin 0
String analogPin0 = String(analogRead(A4), DEC);

// Print Update Response to Serial Monitor
if (client.available())
{
char c = client.read();
Serial.print(c);
}

// Disconnect from ThingSpeak
if (!client.connected() && lastConnected)
{
Serial.println("…disconnected");
Serial.println();

client.stop();
}

// Update ThingSpeak
if(!client.connected() && (millis() – lastConnectionTime > updateThingSpeakInterval))
{
updateThingSpeak("field1="+analogPin0);
}

// Check if Arduino Ethernet needs to be restarted
if (failedCounter > 3 ) {startEthernet();}

lastConnected = client.connected();
}

void updateThingSpeak(String tsData)
{
if (client.connect(thingSpeakAddress, 80))
{
client.print("POST /update HTTP/1.1\n");
client.print("Host: api.thingspeak.com\n");
client.print("Connection: close\n");
client.print("X-THINGSPEAKAPIKEY: "+writeAPIKey+"\n");
client.print("Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\n");
client.print("Content-Length: ");
client.print(tsData.length());
client.print("\n\n");

client.print(tsData);

lastConnectionTime = millis();

if (client.connected())
{
Serial.println("Connecting to ThingSpeak…");
Serial.println();

failedCounter = 0;
}
else
{
failedCounter++;

Serial.println("Connection to ThingSpeak failed ("+String(failedCounter, DEC)+")");
Serial.println();
}

}
else
{
failedCounter++;

Serial.println("Connection to ThingSpeak Failed ("+String(failedCounter, DEC)+")");
Serial.println();

lastConnectionTime = millis();
}
}

void startEthernet()
{

client.stop();

Serial.println("Connecting Arduino to network…");
Serial.println();

delay(1000);

// Connect to network amd obtain an IP address using DHCP
if (Ethernet.begin(mac) == 0)
{
Serial.println("DHCP Failed, reset Arduino to try again");
Serial.println();
}
else
{
Serial.println("Arduino connected to network using DHCP");
Serial.println();
}

delay(1000);
}
[/code]