Project: Demand auto fish feeder with overfeeding limits

freoboy

Nice work bully

Wildfire

that looks sweet bull

welldone I likes a lot

BullwinkleII

I finalised my layout for the remainder of the board, and added a 90 degree section of stripboard for some switches, labels, and to allow the user to press the "Feed now" button from outside the device via a waterproof cover.

The feed now button overrides the forced delay, so you can show people your fish hitting the lever when the light comes on. The timing is overridden, but the feed will still be recorded against the total feed for the day allowance.

It looks like this, and there's a bit more info here - Electronics - Final board layout

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120 Things in 20 years - Electronics - Aquaponics - Final board layout.jpg [ 194.64 KiB | Viewed 2216 times ]

freoboy

Your a smarter man than I am bully, that's for sure

BullwinkleII

freoboy wrote:

Your a smarter man than I am bully, that's for sure

I was just talking to Mrs. BullwinkleII about learning this stuff, and I was saying I think other people would have picked this stuff up in half the time, AND SHE AGREED WITH ME!

So you can say stuff like that all you want :roll:

TCLynx

BullwinkleII wrote:

freoboy wrote:

Your a smarter man than I am bully, that's for sure

I was just talking to Mrs. BullwinkleII about learning this stuff, and I was saying I think other people would have picked this stuff up in half the time, AND SHE AGREED WITH ME!

So you can say stuff like that all you want :roll:

Perhaps Bullwinkle,
But your perseverance at these learning projects is still really impressive. We are proud of you. You really do seem to be learning a lot and in the process you are teaching others who are interested.

BullwinkleII

Thanks TC

freoboy

I agree with TC

whats next?

TCLynx

he has to perfect this and test it for a bit. Then are you in need of a break from electronics or might you start looking into the add on electronics stuff to go with this like data logging?

BullwinkleII

What do you mean what's next!!!

I haven't finished this one yet

But I'm leaning toward Hammock tester

Next is...

*Rewrite the program from scratch because It's so poorly written that I cant tell what it does any more

*Glue up the actual PVC device bit

*Solder the trim pot circuits (it's only been tested on the breadboard and the parts are just sitting in place on the actual device, and even then only one trimpot has been tested, and I'm having to reuse the serial in pin as an input pin, so no doubt there will be new dramas with that as well)

*I still haven't written the code to deal with time and the passing of the day

*I still haven't written the code for detecting dawn and resetting the day.

*I still haven't written the code for the "Feed now" button.

and on top of all that, I've run out of pins on the chip, and wont be able to do a "Simulate a days feeds" button so the user can test the amount of feed delivered in an entire day. This means the user will have to trigger the "Feed Now" button manually and dump the feed into a bucket or something.

Then I have to label everything nicely, train the fish to jump out of the water sea world dolphin style, then enter the device into a competition on the PICAXE site, and win a development board that I really want

Then have a little rest

I think the next 120 things in 20 years project I take on will be...

Entrepreneur

When I first started this 120 things thing, I decided It would have to cost nothing, ie it would have to pay for itself. I leant it $100 to get started, and consider things like getting salads every day from the aquaponics system revenue, and salads pay for things like the growhouse, but for the most part it supports itself with a little revenue from google ads, and the stuff I won in the BYAP photo comp. But I think it's time I invented something and sold it. I doubt my readership will think I sold out or anything, so I'll give it a go.

That way I can stop having to constantly think about how much things cost.

I might not make it a "thing", I might just use the advertising space to advertise a product of my own.

Or just muddle on the way I am now.

Who knows... read my tagline

BullwinkleII

TCLynx wrote:

he has to perfect this and test it for a bit. Then are you in need of a break from electronics or might you start looking into the add on electronics stuff to go with this like data logging?

Always with the data logging

TCLynx

BullwinkleII wrote:

TCLynx wrote:

he has to perfect this and test it for a bit. Then are you in need of a break from electronics or might you start looking into the add on electronics stuff to go with this like data logging?

Always with the data logging

LOL. Well I know I couldn't be expected to go out every day before the thing re-sets at dawn to count the flashes and write down how many feeds the fish actually did the previous day.

BullwinkleII

I made a water proof switch cover so that the "Feed Now!" override button can be pressed without having to open the case and expose the electronics to any humidity that might be kicking around.

I'm really happy with it.

It uses the gasket from a soft drink lid, pre-tensioned with a ball bearing.

Here it is working, but there is a "How To" with more photos than this forum allows to post here, but you you can see them on my blog if you care...

DIY water proof switch

SuperVeg

Brilliant !

BullwinkleII

This project hasnt died, but I keep blowing up computers for some reason. Perhaps I've finally got that super power I've been wanting all my life.

As with all new super powers, there's bound to be some settling in period where a bit of damage gets done.

As soon as I get a computer that resists the temptation to stop working for long enough for me to install a development environment, I'll finish this thing and get a demo video up.

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