Temperature Control!!!

I'm all giddy about my new project.

I got one of these: http://www.phanderson.com/tm145/tm145.html (not in trouble for posting an external link, right??) and I have written some rudimentary software to control it.

It can sense and report temperature to a computer. The computer can decide if it's day or night and what the minimum temperature should be and turn the heater on or off appropriately. On top of logging temperatures with a graph.

I use a space heater for heat, so electric bill is an issue.

I'm alpha testing it right now with my current control, but this will cut the electric bill in half.

Geeeeee hae eheheheee.

Edit: If anyone wants to help beta test this stuff, let me know. You'll have to buy the device, there are other devices similar but communication has to be written for it. I'll be happy to spread this around. I am doing this for my purposes so it's pretty un-user-friendly but understandable. I'll provide the software free to betas for input on bugs and desired options. Some time when it is a super great utility, perhaps I'll try to get some $$ out of it, but not right now.

Edit2: The device seems to have a problem over 900 watts. I have not tested it long term (more than 5 minutes) at all. It did get really hot at 1500 watts (it's rated at 125vac at 15amps) and the board did get brown around the leads to the power source. It does seem to be fine at 900 watts, however, I will test this more at length tomorrow, but it's pretty cool if it holds up.

Edit3: I have no connection at all with the person that puts these together. I am not peddling anything for anyone. This is just a handy utility and a useful tool for people that may need it.

Edit2: The device seems to have a problem over 900 watts. I have not tested it long term (more than 5 minutes) at all. It did get really hot at 1500 watts (it's rated at 125vac at 15amps) and the board did get brown around the leads to the power source. It does seem to be fine at 900 watts, however, I will test this more at length tomorrow, but it's pretty cool if it holds up.

I'm not sure if I could find a use for it right now. My temperature controllers have to be able to deal with 1,500 watts tops. It might be useful for smaller rooms or maybe even for incubators though. One feature I like is that it seems there's a potential for one to be able to access your computer remotely while traveling to check the temperature of your room. Peace of mind if you will.

Thanks for the info.

I asked about the rating on it and the guy I bought it from pointed me to a solid state relay that is perfectly ample to switch a clothes dryer with so I will get one of those soon.

I've spent about $70 on this project so far and if it works out, I should be able to make that back in a couple of months.

This is pretty cool. I can dial in a particular temp for daytime, when daytime starts, when nighttime starts, what temp for nighttime low, etc.

Neat stuff. The green line is the heater on and off, the black line is the target temperature, and the red line is the current temperature. The jump in the beginning is the transition from night to day. The total time on and off is not accurate because it doesn't take into account midnight yet.

Each of the graphs is about 37 minutes worth of data from oldest to the current active one at the bottom.

COOL!



Now when someone says that they're reducing the temp by 10 degrees over the span of a week, I can attest that I can reduce mine by 1 degree every two days (with a half degree variation).

Where's the "giddy" emoticon?

Any updates on this system? I'd love to have something like this as I use a space heater as well. Is everything still going well?