# DIY Thermostat



## CHEWY (Nov 18, 2011)

My father in law loves to tinker with electronics (all self taught, he's a tailor by trade), and he's decided he wants to build me a thermostat. He's been working on it for a while and today he dropped of pieces for me to play with while he works on the next part.
At the moment, it's not a thermostat, but a really sophisticated thermometer.
Using a micro computer that he built from a kit, a board that he has wired and a program he wrote, I can now tell the temperature of 10 separate tanks to 0.1 of a degree. The temps are calculated every second, so it's not like those cheap ones that take a couple of minutes to get the right temp.
Here is the board and probes






It's controlled by keyboard and all data is display on a screen.





Once all is complete, it will monitor and control 10 separate tanks simultaneously and will change the temp according to what time it is. e.g. drop the temp at night. Changing the set temps is a 5 second job. Can't wait for the relays so we can give it a full test. So far, it's still a lot cheaper than a single thermostat.

If this works as good as we think it will, we are considering making more to sell.

Cheers JD


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## Shotta (Nov 18, 2011)

wow that is so cool wish i was that good at electronics!. keep us updated on how it all goes!


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## IgotFrogs (Nov 18, 2011)

thats very cool!!! i would love to hear how it turns out


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## JungleGuy (Nov 18, 2011)

Thats awesome, especially if it works out as cheap as you say!


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## Justdragons (Nov 18, 2011)

if you get that working all right and its cheaper than a normal thermostat and i can control my whole room off one keyboard and screen put me down for one.  yay call it 'The Digital DeckaHerp'


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## saximus (Nov 18, 2011)

That's fantastic Chewy. I am actually doing something almost exactly like this for my final uni thesis but it will also control humidity at the same time. Is there any chance I could get his contact info to ask him about the specs?


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## SamNabz (Nov 18, 2011)

Very clever Chewy, keep us posted please.


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## Colin (Nov 18, 2011)

great stuff chewy.. its a bit like a multi probe data logger in the present form. can the probes measure humidity as well as temperature? do you mind me asking how much roughly has he spent on the current setup?


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## DeadCricket (Nov 18, 2011)

Arduino chips are fantastic! And not that expensive!

I've also considered using a cheap smart phone for their proCessing power


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## GeckoRider (Nov 18, 2011)

Looks like something from the 80's 0.o


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## Kurto (Nov 18, 2011)

I thought the screen said "Sex Monitor and Control Program" 

Great idea!


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## GeckoRider (Nov 18, 2011)

Make it more modern add a GUi... then add wifi to it and stream it to your laptop... and BAM your in the future ... you could even have it streamed to your phone so you could monitor temps when your out... Or even change the temps when out...


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## ryanm (Nov 18, 2011)

GeckoRider said:


> Looks like something from the 80's 0.o



You weren't even born in the 80's Geckorider! What part looks that old?

Great set up so far Chewy!


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## GeckoRider (Nov 18, 2011)

ryanm said:


> You weren't even born in the 80's Geckorider! What part looks that old?
> 
> Great set up so far Chewy!



I know what computers from the 80's look like -.- and most off it


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## lgrattan80 (Nov 18, 2011)

CHEWY said:


> Using a micro computer that he built from a kit, a board that he has wired and a program he wrote, I can now tell the temperature of 10 separate tanks to 0.1 of a degree. The temps are calculated every second, so it's not like those cheap ones that take a couple of minutes to get the right temp.



Hi Chewy, 
So far it looks great, and it will only get better, HOWEVER, when you take the next step and hook up the heat pads / lamps etc, make sure that it's FAIL SAFE.

What I mean, is that if it's using relays to drive the heating devices, you wan't to make sure that they fail open (everything off) so that if anything goes wrong, you don't over heat anything.

Another option would be to have a mechanical over temp switch just as a backup.


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## ryanm (Nov 18, 2011)

GeckoRider said:


> I know what computers from the 80's look like -.- and most off it



Well the Monitor and keyboard are both from late 1990's (based on brands and model numbers) and for the circuit board itself, they haven't changed a lot in (looks wise) in a fair while, so technically you are right on the circuit board, but you would be right if you said it looked like something from the 80's, 90's, 00's or today


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## CHEWY (Nov 18, 2011)

Cheers all,
I think it has a lot of potential, but wiring a heat lamp is the extent of my DYI ability.
So sorry if I don't know what GUi is, but all those ideas sound great. And just what people need these days, another excuse do play with their phone.

Sax- I find some details for you.

Col- These don't do humidity, my FiL said the probes were only $1, so I'm sure humidity probes would exist cheaply. Even a combine. Saximus, can you confirm?

lgrattan80- love the ideas, I'll make sure they go in.


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## 53ERX (Nov 18, 2011)

So when's the iPhone/Android app going into dev?
Good to see someones spare time and curiosity going into something very useful.
Keep us updated


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## saximus (Nov 18, 2011)

Thanks heaps Chewy. Tell him I will even cut him in on the profits if/when I end up making them to sell .
From my research humidity probes are much trickier than temp probes. They usually work by varying capacitance whereas temp probes vary resistance. So you are stuck with either something that's difficult to measure (varying capacitance) or something expensive (someone has already built a module).


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## GeckoRider (Nov 18, 2011)

CHEWY said:


> Cheers all,
> I think it has a lot of potential, but wiring a heat lamp is the extent of my DYI ability.
> So sorry if I don't know what GUi is, but all those ideas sound great. And just what people need these days, another excuse do play with their phone.



It means graphical user interface...


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## Ricardo64 (Nov 19, 2011)

GeckoRider said:


> Make it more modern add a GUi... then add wifi to it and stream it to your laptop... and BAM your in the future ... you could even have it streamed to your phone so you could monitor temps when your out... Or even change the temps when out...



Now your onto something... Add a cam to see your herp and you have a complete package


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## GeckoRider (Nov 19, 2011)

And if you really want to get technical you could add a remote control Feeder... for feeding on the go lol... if you where going to make its so technical i would add a power kill switch on your phone... just in case a fire breaks out... also a smoke detector wouldn't hurt lol...

Your herps wouldn't need you anymore if you did all this haha


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## CHEWY (Jan 2, 2012)

I got my Chrissy present today. Some more pieces to hook onto the thermostat.
We had a quick play of the prototype and have already identified some bugs, but it works. 
It maintained the temp of the one cage it was hooked up to (only a short period) to a +/- 0.1C range.

On this install, it now has all 10 relays, 10 power sockets with individual fuses and a rechargeable battery that keeps the computer running if the is a power failure.
Can't wait to finish building my next cage to install it properly.
Here's a few pics, looks pretty tidy when it is all closed up.











and the main guts of the machine


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## slide (Jan 2, 2012)

nice one. Should be sweet when you get it fine tuned.


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## Treg92 (Jan 2, 2012)

*dislexia*

WOW this is awesome, and who cares what it looks like as long as it works!!!
congrats to your FiL on his genius, keep up the good work
my old man is an electronics genius, i might have to have a chat to him.......
josh


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## GellyAmbert (Jan 2, 2012)

lookin good chewy.. keep up the good work...


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## abnrmal91 (Jan 2, 2012)

That looks great mate. I have been wanting to try and make something like that but until I can get all my enclosures in the one place it will be hard to do. 

Congrats let us know how it goes, does it dim the heat source or turn it on/off.

Where did you get the kit from.


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## Marlinman (Jan 3, 2012)

looks very cool would love one at my place


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## Sinners121 (Jan 3, 2012)

how much


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## james.5 (Jan 3, 2012)

Thats awesome, want to swap!


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## Vesali (Jan 6, 2012)

Chewy first of all that is awesome and if you guys improve on this by a lot then why not sell for $$$ hey?? And second you mentioned your dad is a taylor just wandering where is he located and how much??


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## CHEWY (Jan 7, 2012)

Vesali said:


> And second you mentioned your dad is a taylor just wandering where is he located and how much??



You want to know where my father in law is, so you can buy him?


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## WillyInBris (Jan 8, 2012)

CHEWY said:


> You want to know where my father in law is, so you can buy him?



Is he looking for another son I am looking for a new father.


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