WeatherDuino Forum

I browsed the forum for info on fan control without luck.

If I understood right (please correct me if I am wrong) fan control works by switching on and off power supplied to a 9V fan flowing/feeded trough the board. Or should the 9V merely act to activate an external switch and the fan must have an autonomous power source?

Which specifications should this fan meet? I guess in the first scenario fan power will be limited by the capacity of the 78L09 regulator, which should be 100ma?

Couldn't we use a 12v fan instead, as these are more readily available?

Also, under which circumstances/parameters does the fan switch on? I guess these are not configurable?

Forgive me if I am placing silly questions

Thanks

(29-01-2015, 17:57)hvalentim Wrote: [ -> ]I browsed the forum for info on fan control without luck.

If I understood right (please correct me if I am wrong) fan control works by switching on and off power supplied to a 9V fan flowing/feeded trough the board. Or should the 9V merely act to activate an external switch and the fan must have an autonomous power source?

Hi, hvalentim

If I'm not mistaken, we have already talked on another forum. It's nice to see you here too.
The fan gets power directly from the TX board. The on / off function is driven by a MosFET transistor.

(29-01-2015, 17:57)hvalentim Wrote: [ -> ]Which specifications should this fan meet? I guess in the first scenario fan power will be limited by the capacity of the 78L09 regulator, which should be 100ma?

Couldn't we use a 12v fan instead, as these are more readily available?

This question makes me see that I have an error on the TX v2.50 parts list. It will be corrected righ now.
The voltage regulator used on the TX v2.50 board is a regular 7809 (TO-220) and not a 78L09 (TO-92).
This partially answered your question. The 7809 voltage regulator with an heat sink can easily handle 1A. So using a fan up to 200mA it's absolutely safe, and don't cause a significant power loss (heat) on the regulator.

In my two RS I'm using a small 12V fan. It runs slower at 9V, but the air flow it's enough for the job. An additional benefit is that it also produced less noise.

(29-01-2015, 17:57)hvalentim Wrote: [ -> ]Also, under which circumstances/parameters does the fan switch on? I guess these are not configurable?

And yes, the fan on / off condition, it's user configurable.
You can define an Hi and Low outside temperature threshold combined with a Low wind speed threshold.
According to some studies, a fan in a RS only makes difference, when the wind speed is low.

Regards

Thanks a lot for your clarifications. As for the "You can define an Hi and Low outside temperature threshold combined with a Low wind speed threshold" part, when I placed the question I had searched for that option in the code without finding it...

This is because I did not understood then that the software portion is threefold (I was looking in c, below):
a-> one part for controlling the transmission ("WeatherDuino Pro2 TX Software")
b-> one part for controlling the reception ("WeatherDuino Pro2 RX Software")
c-> one part to make data available by emulating a Davis ("WeatherDuino Pro2 WD Software")

I know nothing about Arduino compilation right now, but as I understand it it takes just one single Arduino to handle parts b and c and deliver data via USB. Correct?

As for our past acquaintance, yes, it's true we had the chance to exchange some thoughts while you were on the first early steps of this project. I guess almost a couple of years ago .

(29-01-2015, 21:22)hvalentim Wrote: [ -> ]I know nothing about Arduino compilation right now, but as I understand it it takes just one single Arduino to handle parts b and c and deliver data via USB. Correct?

Each part has it's own Arduino Nano.

(29-01-2015, 21:22)hvalentim Wrote: [ -> ]This is because I did not understood then that the software portion is threefold (I was looking in c, below):
a-> one part for controlling the transmission ("WeatherDuino Pro2 TX Software")
b-> one part for controlling the reception ("WeatherDuino Pro2 RX Software")
c-> one part to make data available by emulating a Davis ("WeatherDuino Pro2 WD Software")

I know nothing about Arduino compilation right now, but as I understand it it takes just one single Arduino to handle parts b and c and deliver data via USB. Correct?

WeatherDuino Pro2 TX Software - Software for the Arduino on the TX unit.

WeatherDuino Pro2 RX Software - Software for the Arduino on the RX unit. It also handles the Davis emulation.

WeatherDuino Pro2 WD Software - Sofware for the Arduino on the Wireless Display units. Think in this units as wireless consoles for your weather station. You may have as many as you wish anywhere in your house. They receives data directly from your main RX unit, that also have a small tx module

If you are now planing to build an WeatherDuino Pro 2 system, I'm gonna tell you a friend advice: despite the appeal of a color TFT display for the RX unit, build it with an 20x4 LCD! You will not regret.

(29-01-2015, 21:22)hvalentim Wrote: [ -> ]As for our past acquaintance, yes, it's true we had the chance to exchange some thoughts while you were on the first early steps of this project. I guess almost a couple of years ago .

I have recognized your nickname!
Yes, all this started almost three years ago. The time flys

Cumprimentos

I was finding a bit odd that one singe Arduino would have the ability to run two software packages. Silly me. Now it makes sense. A third (or more) Arduino(s) will be necessary only if you plan to re-transmit the signal from the base RX to additional displays.

I have no particular interest on this myself, but I guess taken a bit further this architecture could open new even more complex possibilities for owners. Such has monitoring temperature/humidity (perhaps CO2) on different rooms and returning the data to the base unit. But that would perhaps imply coupling the RX unit with a more robust Arduino model or ideally to a Pi, so as to skip the need for a third computing machine...

(29-01-2015, 23:11)hvalentim Wrote: [ -> ]A third (or more) Arduino(s) will be necessary only if you plan to re-transmit the signal from the base RX to additional displays.

No, a single Arduino (the one in the RX unit) will do all the work of receiving data from outside weather instruments, process it, do the Davis emulation, feed Cumulus, and then, after processing, broadcast data to all Wireless Display units, that are passive stand alone receivers. The main RX unit is at the same time a receiver and optionally a transmitter.

Quote:I have no particular interest on this myself, but I guess taken a bit further this architecture could open new even more complex possibilities for owners. Such has monitoring temperature/humidity (perhaps CO2) on different rooms and returning the data to the base unit. But that would perhaps imply coupling the RX unit with a more robust Arduino model or ideally to a Pi, so as to skip the need for a third computing machine...

I understand what you mean . For now I'm concentrated just in meteorological data, specially data that can be used by Cumulus.

I think I understood it correctly but perhaps I did not express it in the most accurate fashion.

I meant "A third (or more) Arduino(s) will be necessary only if you plan to re-transmit the signal from the base RX to additional displays, in which case these additional units (WD Boards, meaning "Wireless Display" boards) will act as receivers."

Said in yet a different way: you will need additional Arduino Nanos 3 only if you wish to build/have additional optional display units.

The re-transmitting portion is done by the base RX unit. And can work... even if no one (no additional receivers) are listening of course

Quote: specially data that can be used by Cumulus.

Well. Ideally I think the hardware should be software agnostic and not dependent upon a singe specific application, which in the case of Cumulus seems also to be one single person. Open Source solutions such as WeeWX give more warranties of continuity. With Cumulus the source is closed and even with the new version the author does not seem to have a clear idea of where he is going, apart from planning to start charging for it.
Provided the Davis protocol emulation is close enough to the original it ought to work with all apps, including for that matter, I suggest, the popular Weather Display.

(30-01-2015, 01:11)hvalentim Wrote: [ -> ]planning to start charging for it.

Just to note, that since there's been a flurry of donations, Steve has dropped that plan.

Ok, maybe I have meant "data that could be used by weather station software"

Quote:Ideally I think the hardware should be software agnostic and not dependent upon a singe specific application...

Quote:...I suggest, the popular Weather Display.

I agree with that. WeatherDuino Pro2 already works with Weather Display, I haven't fully tested it with Weather Display because I don't like the user interface, also configuration is a mess with tons of options.

Quote:With Cumulus the source is closed and even with the new version the author does not seem to have a clear idea of where he is going, apart from planning to start charging for it.

I think he knows where he wants to go! Steve is a great person, even being alone (he is not alone) he provides a great support for all users, even those that never donated a cent.

Quote:Open Source solutions such as WeeWX give more warranties of continuity

As you may know I'm a fan of Open Source software. WeatherDuino Pro2 is open Source software.
Relatively to WeeWX, maybe I'm wrong but info about how to install and use it, is far far away from the info available for Cumulus. At least is not so organized.
I'm not a Linux expert, and to be honest I have already tried to install WeeWX, but without success... needs this, needs that... on the other hand, I managed to make the CumulusMX run on a PI (also Linux), at my second try.
WeeWX seems to be more suitable for Linux software experts, and I belive that most of the people that have weather stations, like me, don't have the skills to work with WeeWX.

Quote:Provided the Davis protocol emulation is close enough to the original it ought to work with all apps, including for that matter

This may not be totally true, because it also depends on how the protocol is implemented on the weather software part. As an example, in the Davis emulation implemented in the WeatherDuino Pro2, some things don't work in Cumulus1, but works in CumulusMX, those "things" also work in Weather Display, and may even work with WeeWX, who knows .