Latest Project: my MCP

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stephanie
 
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Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2010 1:17 am

Latest Project: my MCP

Post by stephanie »

I recently finished the main phase of assembly & coding for a project I have dubbed the "master control project", or MCP. After my DIY networked thermostat last spring, I wanted to expand and get more things wired up. I also wanted a 'remote head' for the thermostat at my desk / worktable.

Image

The project uses an Arduino Mega, a Mega proto shield, an ethernet sheild, a patch shield, a perma-proto board, a couple LCD screens, a chronodot and an xbee. It displays time, temp. and heating/airconditioning data from my thermostat, it displays the temperatures from my two aquariums, controls the aquarium lights, controls my Game of Life display, displays the output from a geiger counter, displays network activity from a linux file server, and finally, displays the current weather data for my area.

Here's a look at all the hardware components, prior to assembly:
Image

There is a detailed write-up on my blog, including a download of the Arduino sketch and some related files: Master Control Project

I've already got more ideas on further features to add, and finishing touches on the appearance.

Cheers!

(p.s. yes, MCP is totally a Tron shout-out.)

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Latest Project: my MCP

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Taking over the world: one Arduino at a time. Nice work Stephanie! :D

stephanie
 
Posts: 295
Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2010 1:17 am

Now it Tweets!

Post by stephanie »

I couldn't leave it alone more than a couple weeks!

As of today, now it Tweets!

Image

http://twitter.com/M_C_P_

For the moment it is tweeting radiation counts at the bottom of the hour and temp/humidity at the top of the hour. I'll be adding more tweet-content to it as things progress.

stephanie
 
Posts: 295
Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2010 1:17 am

Now it reads & prints tweets too!

Post by stephanie »

Still can't leave well enough alone. A few weeks ago after the IoTPrinter was unveiled (to that very catchy tune!) I decided I needed to add that functionality to my Master Control Project. I just went with the thermal printer starter pack as I didn't need the IoTP enclosure or button.

Incorporating the Gutenbird sketch into my existing MCP sketch wasn't too difficult, though I did make some changes here and there, to streamline things down a little. Also, I opted not to use the Adafruit Thermal library, partially since I'm using a hardware serial port on the Mega instead of a software serial port. Oh and I added a bit of code so that the lastId is saved in eeprom so it will survive reboots (as I'm never finished tinkering with this thing!)

Blog post with all the details here: http://planetstephanie.net/2012/03/18/mcp-update/
Updated sketch & other files here: http://planetstephanie.net/blog/wp-cont ... MCP_V3.zip

MCP photo:
Image

And some results on the tape:
Image

Thanks Adafruit for the inspiration and providing all the cool toys & ideas!

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