DIY PAR meter, Yeah you heard me

[mistergreen]

Originally Posted by !shadow!

mistergreen is a secret agent from north korea :P
^^refering to post 45

Ugh, you know what? I'm probably on the 'flag' list whenever I go to fly now; going to have to get to the airport extra early.

[mistergreen]

Ok, I built an app to output the 'PAR' data.

Big numbers for us old folks.


And an option to choose which port for it to listen to. You can do a wireless connection if you hook a bluetooth radio to the arduino
**Admendment**

If /dev/tty.usbserial-a9007muf is not the first item on the list, choose that... On windows, it might be COM1.

***************
You can download the app on my forum.
http://aquatictechtank.net/viewtopic...150&p=390#p390

[keithy]

mistergreen, I was busy for a few days and you're done building the diy par meter already? I am loving the way the data looks now.

[macclellan]

impressive, MG.

[mistergreen]

Thanks, It was pretty easy; all in a Sunday afternoon.

[mistergreen]

Oh! Just thought of making this more portable: Attaching a $14 LCD screen and use batteries....

I've always wanted to play with lcds.

[Dave-H]

Originally Posted by Hoppy

Aha! A good photodiode and and some oxidized hydrogen, and you have the makings of a powerful thermonuclear device! (Let me double check my old college physics book to confirm that.)

You must have graduated from MCU.

That's Mac Gyver University! (thank you very much, that was the most useful thing I've contributed to this thread so far).

[Noahma]

Now you can find a way to recoup your costs by building and selling these in the swap and shop? hehe

[NJAquaBarren]

Originally Posted by Noahma

Now you can find a way to recoup your costs by building and selling these in the swap and shop? hehe

I'd buy one!

[mistergreen]

I've thought about it

I need to find a way to design the sensor better. It's clumsy with the epoxy, maybe a heyco grip cord is better.
The LCD is a better way too but obviously $14-$15 more expensive. And the microprocessor needs to be designed too. It can't be left exposed where water can get at it

Unless, I can just get all the parts, program it and let you guys handle the assembly. That would keep cost down.

[mistergreen]

Holy cow,
I was wondering where my order was on the lcd was and it turned out I never placed the order last week.. It was just sitting in the shopping cart.

One of those days.

[bsmith]

Originally Posted by mistergreen

Holy cow,
I was wondering where my order was on the lcd was and it turned out I never placed the order last week.. It was just sitting in the shopping cart.

One of those days.

Been there done that bro.

[keithy]

Originally Posted by bsmith

Been there done that bro.

same happened to me whan I was doing my christmas shopping online, bro.

[mistergreen]

A big update....
I redesigned the sensor with new parts; using an ethernet cable instead of a chuncky electrical cord and using a 1/4" heyco gripcord.



looks half professional doesn't it?

[mistergreen]

And I received my LCD and battery holder today and couldn't wait to hook things up.. What else to do on a cold rainy day?



First 'hello world' test run.

And hooking everything up, batteries included.... Sorry for the self promotion there.


The next part is to figure how things will fit together and make all those wires look not so scary.