Quote:
Originally Posted by strider3700
I've been fighting most of this time with keeping the connection between the arduino and the computer going for long periods.
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Strider,
Sorry you're having trouble with your data logging. I hope your Ethernet shield does the trick.
In the meantime, that little Arduino datalogging board I mentioned
in this post is logging merrily away.
True, I don't have the large, branching array of sensors you have (which may be a source of your problems)... I'm just using one temp sensor for now.
This board is an Arduino with data logging stuff on board. For instance, it has a 16GB SD card on board and it just keeps logging data to that device, with a date & time stamp for each reading cycle (it has an onboard RTC). I did a calculation a while back as to how much data the 16GB card would hold, and with one sensor (it has one 1-wire temp sensor on board, and a 3-pin header for a string of sensors on the same 1-wire line). Anyway, I calculated that it would log about 225 years of data for one device, and half that for two devices, etc. Travis said he tested it out to 70 devices. So with 12 devices, it would log over 18 years.
So, it has a serial port just like your board, and you could pull data just like you are now. Or you could do a periodic data dump. Either way, it still keeps writing data to the SD card, with time stamp for each cycle. So if your computer goes down, or your serial connection fails, you're still logging data.
Right now, I have a tiny cell phone power supply that is powering it. I should put a fat cap across the power supply to keep it going in the event of temporary power lapses.
I haven't measured power consumption, but it's probably under a watt.
(NOTE-1: I measured the power at the cell phone power supply, and I'm reading 1.1ma @ 120V. If I'm calculating that right, it means that with one 1-wire device, the power draw is about 0.132watt... pretty darn low.
NOTE-1 (revised): I hooked the data logger up to a kill-a-watt and it is telling me that the power supply & data logger are pulling a total of 3 watts, which I believe. More than I wanted but way less than a separate computer. At my power rate (11 cents/KW), that's around $2.89/yr)
Travis sold me my board for $35... I think I was a beta-tester.
He is very amiable and knowledgeable.
Just a thought...
-AC_Hacker