--- In TemperatureLoggers@yahoogroups.com, "aperkins11" <laperkins@...> wrote:
>
> Hello all,
>
> Has anyone developed any visual basic interfaces to the arbiter to display or
control the data? I'm really new to VB6 and any code snippets you could send
along or post would be greatly appreciated in helping keep me on the right
programming track.
>
Yes! See my earlier reply, and one of the pictures I have posted on the Photos
page.
It's not really possible to post 'code snippets' since it depends very much on
what you want to do! However, the principle is pretty straightforward.
You need to access the data stream by using an MSCOMM control, which you will
find in MSCOMM32.OCX. Read in the input string and parse it, and there you are!
As for control, I use an interface card called a NETIOM (you can find details at
http://www.phaedrusltd.com) which connects via a standard network connection and
enables you to read 16 digital inputs, write to 16 digital outputs and read four
analogue inputs.
Good luck!
Phil
Hello all,
I've just joined this group and having built an arbiter a few years back mainly
to help me identify the addresses of all my 1 wire devices scattered around my
house.
I'm now in stage 2 of my project and want to marry the arbiter to a visual basic
program to monitor and record temperatures and weather station data for my
heating system analysis.
Has anyone developed any visual basic interfaces to the arbiter to display or
control the data? I'm really new to VB6 and any code snippets you could send
along or post would be greatly appreciated in helping keep me on the right
programming track.
The Arbiter is a wonderfully elegant device and it has taken me down some very
interesting paths - thanks for sharing it with the world!
Thanks,
a
Hello Phil,
Problem solved - totally happy :-)
The problem was a bad bc557 transistor, don´t ask me why!
The board i working perfectly....
Many thanks for your contribution to my problem!
I will upload som pictures of it ;-)
Thanks
BK
--- In TemperatureLoggers@yahoogroups.com, "philtilson" <Phil@...> wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > Yes totally sure! :-(
> >
>
> Well, as far as I am aware, if the third LED is flashing periodically, as you
say, then the sensor is operational and the system is working ok.
>
> If you are sure about the settings, the only other thing it can be is the
serial data side of the arbiter - or maybe a corruption in the program in the
micro-controller. Have you tried flashing the chip again?
>
> Phil
>
> Hello,
>
> Yes totally sure! :-(
>
Well, as far as I am aware, if the third LED is flashing periodically, as you
say, then the sensor is operational and the system is working ok.
If you are sure about the settings, the only other thing it can be is the serial
data side of the arbiter - or maybe a corruption in the program in the
micro-controller. Have you tried flashing the chip again?
Phil
Hello,
Yes totally sure! :-(
--- In TemperatureLoggers@yahoogroups.com, "philtilson" <Phil@...> wrote:
>
> --- In TemperatureLoggers@yahoogroups.com, "rovthinker" <bardur@> wrote:
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > I can`t see any data from the arbiter why?
> >
> > When I connect it to the computer using hyperterminal it starts to poll (Led
1 Steady) (Led 2 Blinking) (Led 3 (Green)blink every 5 sec.)
> But NO data shows same problem with hotbox
> >
> > I have had it connected before long time ago :-( then I could see data!
> >
> > Settings=baud=19200 parity=N data=8 stop=1
> > Port=COM1
> >
> > Any suggestions?
> >
>
> Only a couple that might seem obvious - but worth checking anyway!
>
> Are you sure your TX and Rx are the right way round on the serial cable?
>
> Are you sure your PC data port is set to 19200? And that it's REALLY COM1?
>
> I have made ALL these mistakes in the past!
>
> Phil
>
--- In TemperatureLoggers@yahoogroups.com, "don" <willieghettoman@...> wrote:
>
> I have a single probe attached to the hardware. I can drag it to any part of
rhe screen. But i would like to that before i could get this +0.0 i had to edit
the configuration settings for the hotbox,else the hotbox did not display any
probe but the arbiter showed signs of working perfectly. I cant guess if the
fault is from my pc but i would try another pc. Thanks for your endless
contribution.
>
As I think I mentioned previously, I don't actually use Hotbox so I may be
talking nonsense, but I suspect that, if all the probes are enabled in the .ini
file (eg Visible=1) then you end up with 64 little text boxes all one on top of
the other in the top left corner. I don't know what order they go in, but if
it's numerical, and your probe is number 1, then you may have 63 text boxes all
saying 0.0 on top of the one showing the actual temperature!
That's what I meant about clicking-and-dragging the boxes away from that top
left corner.
Phil
--- In TemperatureLoggers@yahoogroups.com, "rovthinker" <bardur@...> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I can`t see any data from the arbiter why?
>
> When I connect it to the computer using hyperterminal it starts to poll (Led 1
Steady) (Led 2 Blinking) (Led 3 (Green)blink every 5 sec.)
But NO data shows same problem with hotbox
>
> I have had it connected before long time ago :-( then I could see data!
>
> Settings=baud=19200 parity=N data=8 stop=1
> Port=COM1
>
> Any suggestions?
>
Only a couple that might seem obvious - but worth checking anyway!
Are you sure your TX and Rx are the right way round on the serial cable?
Are you sure your PC data port is set to 19200? And that it's REALLY COM1?
I have made ALL these mistakes in the past!
Phil
Hello,
I can`t see any data from the arbiter why?
When I connect it to the computer using hyperterminal it starts to poll
(Led 1 Steady) (Led 2 Blinking) (Led 3 (Green)blink every 5 sec.)
But NO data shows same problem with hotbox
I have had it connected before long time ago :-( then I could see data!
Settings=baud=19200 parity=N data=8 stop=1
Port=COM1
Any suggestions?
I have a single probe attached to the hardware. I can drag it to any part of rhe
screen. But i would like to that before i could get this +0.0 i had to edit the
configuration settings for the hotbox,else the hotbox did not display any probe
but the arbiter showed signs of working perfectly. I cant guess if the fault is
from my pc but i would try another pc. Thanks for your endless contribution.
> ok i would do that later but, it creates a .ini file but the
hot box display just stays at +0.0
>
this is the data inside the .ini file for the c;\hotbox. please any
further contributions would be highly appreciated. am glad the hardware
responds perfectly to the test conditions listed on the website.
OK - a few questions.
Presumably you are quite sure that your arbiter is connected to COM1?
Next, how many probes do you have connected to the arbiter? Is it just
one at the moment or do you have several?
Next, you say that the Hotbox display just stays at 0.0 - is this in
the top left corner of the screen? If so, try to click and drag this
box away from that corner and see if there is another one underneath.
If so, do the same thing again, until you have lots of boxes all over
the screen! It's possible that at least one of those will have
something other than 0.0 in it.
If none of this works, then I'm afraid I'll have to pass this one back
to Nick!
--- In TemperatureLoggers@yahoogroups.com, "philtilson" <Phil@...> wrote:
>
> > PLEASE I LIKE TO SEEK FOR SOLUTIONS I JUST FINISHED MY ARBITER 3 DAYS AGO
AND THE HOTBOX DOSENT WORK BUT WHEN I USED SERIAL WATCHER I GET DATA FROM THE
HOT BOT BUT HYPERTHERM WON'T LOG ANY DATA PLEASE HELP COS ITS QUITE URGENT.
THANKS
> >
>
> Can you post a copy of your Hotbox.ini file? Or is the program not even
creating Hotbox.ini?
>
> Phil
>
ok i would do that later but, it creates a .ini file but the hot box display
just stays at +0.0
Hi Nick,
Yes I can see the raw data when I use Terminal.
I use windows XP (latest service pack)
--- In TemperatureLoggers@yahoogroups.com, Nick Hubbard <nick@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Bozo and Rovthinker
>
> (I'm using Bozo as a name - not a comment.)
>
> Please tell me more about the problems you are having.
> I'm mildly surprised to hear of problems. The project has up on the
> web for 9 years, and any obvious bugs spotted very early on.
>
> Do you see the raw RS232 data on Terminal?
>
> What OS?
>
> Best regards
>
> Nick
>
>
>
> 2009/10/18 rovthinker <bardur@...>
> >
> >
> >
> > Same problem her :-(
> >
> > --- In TemperatureLoggers@yahoogroups.com, Bozo Loncar <loncarbozo@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hello! I`m very pleased that I can join you.
> > > I`m preparing to make my own logger and I have problems with HOTBOX.EXE
> > > program. I tried hotbox in 3 computers. On one it works, on two it doesn`t
> > > work. On those two computers nothing hapens; the program does not create a
> > > "HOTBOX" map.
> > > Why? And what can I do?
> > > The only diference I can find is that I have two partiticions on those two
> > > computers. Could partiticions be a problem for hotbox?
> > >
> > > Bozo
> > >
> >
> >
>
I see that "dragging" hotbox.exe to the desktop works. (Applications that are run from the download folder are assumed to be virus ridden.)
Also...
Hotbox will not run (Silently fail) if the folder "C:\hotbox" is being viewed by Explorer. ( Explorer being the utility application formally known as FileManager. I don't mean explorer the internet browser.)
Either close all Explorers, or view another folder.
It seems that HotBox insists in exclusive access to the Hotbox directory.
I do not see any issues with HotBox on XP - with all the latest patches.
I will investigate.
Do not expect an immediate fix as I wish to test fully on Windows 7 as well.
I had an issue with Hotbox not working on a Windows XP machine (although I did get serial data with hyperterminal). I was opening Hotbox from within the extracted folder where the zip file was created. I moved the hotbox.exe to the Desktop and hey presto it worked from there (figure that one out), so move the hotbox.exe to your desktop and see what happens.
Good luck
Mark
--- On Thu, 22/10/09, philtilson <Phil@...> wrote:
From: philtilson <Phil@...> Subject: [TemperatureLoggers] Re: Hotbox.exe doesn`t work!
To: TemperatureLoggers@yahoogroups.com Date: Thursday, 22 October, 2009, 10:24 AM
> PLEASE I LIKE TO SEEK FOR SOLUTIONS I JUST FINISHED MY ARBITER 3 DAYS AGO AND THE HOTBOX DOSENT WORK BUT WHEN I USED SERIAL WATCHER I GET DATA FROM THE HOT BOT BUT HYPERTHERM WOUN'T LOG ANY DATA PLEASE HELP COS ITS QUITE URGENT. THANKS
>
Can you post a copy of your Hotbox.ini file? Or is the program not even creating Hotbox.ini?
I had an issue with Hotbox not working on a Windows XP machine (although I did get serial data with hyperterminal). I was opening Hotbox from within the extracted folder where the zip file was created. I moved the hotbox.exe to the Desktop and hey presto it worked from there (figure that one out), so move the hotbox.exe to your desktop and see what happens.
Good luck
Mark
--- On Thu, 22/10/09, philtilson <Phil@...> wrote:
From: philtilson <Phil@...> Subject: [TemperatureLoggers] Re: Hotbox.exe doesn`t work! To: TemperatureLoggers@yahoogroups.com Date: Thursday, 22 October, 2009, 10:24 AM
> PLEASE I LIKE TO SEEK FOR SOLUTIONS I JUST FINISHED MY ARBITER 3 DAYS AGO AND THE HOTBOX DOSENT WORK BUT WHEN I USED SERIAL WATCHER I GET DATA FROM THE HOT BOT BUT HYPERTHERM WOUN'T LOG ANY DATA PLEASE HELP COS ITS QUITE URGENT. THANKS >
Can you post a copy of your Hotbox.ini file? Or is the program not even creating Hotbox.ini?
> PLEASE I LIKE TO SEEK FOR SOLUTIONS I JUST FINISHED MY ARBITER 3 DAYS AGO AND
THE HOTBOX DOSENT WORK BUT WHEN I USED SERIAL WATCHER I GET DATA FROM THE HOT
BOT BUT HYPERTHERM WOUN'T LOG ANY DATA PLEASE HELP COS ITS QUITE URGENT. THANKS
>
Can you post a copy of your Hotbox.ini file? Or is the program not even
creating Hotbox.ini?
Phil
> I plan on deploying my sensors into the 250 gallon storage tank, as well as
inside the solar panel on the roof. What is the best way to waterproof these
sensors?
>
> Also, is there a way to place a sensor inside a water line to measure
temperature?
>
On the first point, Bill, I did this by using a four-inch length of 15mm copper
pipe and soldering an end cap onto one end. At the other end, I soldered a
brass adaptor that the 15mm pipe fitted snugly into, and that would screw into
one of the many tapping points on the tank. I then put the sensor into the tube
and filled it with polyester resin (also known as potting compound) which sealed
it completely.
I have put another picture up to show one of my sensors.
As for your second point, I wouldn't worry too much about this. I assume your
pipes will be fairly heavily insulated, so just strap the sensor firmly to the
copper pipe and make sure it's well inside the insulation. That should give you
almost no error - certainly good enough for control purposes!
Phil
PLEASE I LIKE TO SEEK FOR SOLUTIONS I JUST FINISHED MY ARBITER 3 DAYS AGO AND THE HOTBOX DOSENT WORK BUT WHEN I USED SERIAL WATCHER I GET DATA FROM THE HOT BOT BUT HYPERTHERM WOUN'T LOG ANY DATA PLEASE HELP COS ITS QUITE URGENT. THANKS
I plan on deploying my sensors into the 250 gallon storage tank, as well as
inside the solar panel on the roof. What is the best way to waterproof these
sensors?
Also, is there a way to place a sensor inside a water line to measure
temperature?
What have you guys done?
Thanks
Bill
>I do wonder if it might be worth my getting a batch of PCBs made professionally and sold at cost if there were enough people interested - and if Nick didn't mind?
I have no problem with that idea. Have a Max232 on it though!
> That is exactly what I had in mind; numerous sensors all displayed on a screen with the process layout depicted. It looks fantastic!
>
> -Did you create your user interface with HotBox?
>
> -The arbiter board looks professionally made. What does it cost to have one etched like that? Do you just e-mail the file to a company and they send the board back?
>
> What part of the world are you in (I see you use metric temperature measurements)? I am in North Carolina, USA.
>
> Bill
Hi Bill -
I'm keeping this public as I guess it may be of interest to others looking at the arbiter et al.
No, the interface was written in VB. Hotbox was fine as a starting point, but the system does not only monitor the sensors, but controls the whole system - valves, pumps, boiler etc. And I don't think Hotbox can do that - unless I missed something, Nick?!
I'm flattered by your comment, but the arbiter was built on my bench here! I used the PCB layouts that I uploaded to the arbiter web site (apologies again to anyone who used my earlier version which had an error!). You can find the here:
I do wonder if it might be worth my getting a batch of PCBs made professionally and sold at cost if there were enough people interested - and if Nick didn't mind? However, to answer your question, there are, indeed, companies that you just send the layout to and they will return a component-ready PCB - but it's not cheap for a one-off! Last time I looked, I think it was about $80 for a 4 x 3 card - that's why I do my own!
I live in southern Spain, where I semi-retired nine years ago from the UK. This is why solar seemed such a good idea. Not sure how the weather compares in N Carolina, but I do remember that when I visited Raleigh it poured with rain the whole time!
> That is exactly what I had in mind; numerous sensors all displayed on a screen with the process layout depicted. It looks fantastic!
>
> -Did you create your user interface with HotBox?
>
> -The arbiter board looks professionally made. What does it cost to have one etched like that? Do you just e-mail the file to a company and they send the board back?
>
> What part of the world are you in (I see you use metric temperature measurements)? I am in North Carolina, USA.
>
> Bill
Hi Bill -
I'm keeping this public as I guess it may be of interest to others looking at the arbiter et al.
No, the interface was written in VB. Hotbox was fine as a starting point, but the system does not only monitor the sensors, but controls the whole system - valves, pumps, boiler etc. And I don't think Hotbox can do that - unless I missed something, Nick?!
I'm flattered by your comment, but the arbiter was built on my bench here! I used the PCB layouts that I uploaded to the arbiter web site (apologies again to anyone who used my earlier version which had an error!). You can find the here:
I do wonder if it might be worth my getting a batch of PCBs made professionally and sold at cost if there were enough people interested - and if Nick didn't mind? However, to answer your question, there are, indeed, companies that you just send the layout to and they will return a component-ready PCB - but it's not cheap for a one-off! Last time I looked, I think it was about $80 for a 4 x 3 card - that's why I do my own!
I live in southern Spain, where I semi-retired nine years ago from the UK. This is why solar seemed such a good idea. Not sure how the weather compares in N Carolina, but I do remember that when I visited Raleigh it poured with rain the whole time!
> That is exactly what I had in mind; numerous sensors all displayed on a screen
with the process layout depicted. It looks fantastic!
>
> -Did you create your user interface with HotBox?
>
> -The arbiter board looks professionally made. What does it cost to have one
etched like that? Do you just e-mail the file to a company and they send the
board back?
>
> What part of the world are you in (I see you use metric temperature
measurements)? I am in North Carolina, USA.
>
> Bill
Hi Bill -
I'm keeping this public as I guess it may be of interest to others looking at
the arbiter et al.
No, the interface was written in VB. Hotbox was fine as a starting point, but
the system does not only monitor the sensors, but controls the whole system -
valves, pumps, boiler etc. And I don't think Hotbox can do that - unless I
missed something, Nick?!
I'm flattered by your comment, but the arbiter was built on my bench here! I
used the PCB layouts that I uploaded to the arbiter web site (apologies again to
anyone who used my earlier version which had an error!). You can find the here:
http://www.anotherurl.com/therm/Tilson.htm
I do wonder if it might be worth my getting a batch of PCBs made professionally
and sold at cost if there were enough people interested - and if Nick didn't
mind? However, to answer your question, there are, indeed, companies that you
just send the layout to and they will return a component-ready PCB - but it's
not cheap for a one-off! Last time I looked, I think it was about $80 for a 4 x
3 card - that's why I do my own!
I live in southern Spain, where I semi-retired nine years ago from the UK. This
is why solar seemed such a good idea. Not sure how the weather compares in N
Carolina, but I do remember that when I visited Raleigh it poured with rain the
whole time!
Cheers
Phil
That is exactly what I had in mind; numerous sensors all displayed on a screen
with the process layout depicted. It looks fantastic!
-Did you create your user interface with HotBox?
-The arbiter board looks professionally made. What does it cost to have one
etched like that? Do you just e-mail the file to a company and they send the
board back?
What part of the world are you in (I see you use metric temperature
measurements)? I am in North Carolina, USA.
Bill
--- In TemperatureLoggers@yahoogroups.com, "philtilson" <Phil@...> wrote:
>
> >
> > How about it. Any veterans want to post pictures or files, etc?
> >
> > Bill
>
>
> Done! I have put a few pictures up in an album called Phil Tilson (original,
huh?)
>
> Let me know if you want any more details
>
>
> How about it. Any veterans want to post pictures or files, etc?
>
> Bill
Done! I have put a few pictures up in an album called Phil Tilson (original,
huh?)
Let me know if you want any more details
Thanks Phil. Maybe I can get some assistance once I get started! I am really
new to electronics and programming. I bought a Basic Stamp to learn both. The
learning curve is very steep.
How about it. Any veterans want to post pictures or files, etc?
Bill
--- In TemperatureLoggers@yahoogroups.com, "philtilson" <Phil@...> wrote:
>
> > I am thinking about building one of these to control my solar thermal
heating system (turn ON pump to panels, when panel temp = tank temp +15
degrees).
> >
> > Would this be a good application for this?
> >
>
> Definitely! I do exactly this. I have three sensors on the solar panels
(actually banks of tubes) two where the primary comes into the tank, several in
the tank itself, several more on the hot water circulation system and yet more
on the underfloor heating loop.
>
> They all go to the arbiter, which sends its data to an old PC running a VB
application that controls the whole system.
>
> OK - maybe its overkill for your purposes, but it certainly demonstrates the
abilities of the arbiter.
>
> Oh, and I tend to control the pump by comparing the flow and return
temperatures at the panels. It's set at 4 degrees C at the moment.
>
> Phil
>
> I am thinking about building one of these to control my solar thermal heating
system (turn ON pump to panels, when panel temp = tank temp +15 degrees).
>
> Would this be a good application for this?
>
Definitely! I do exactly this. I have three sensors on the solar panels
(actually banks of tubes) two where the primary comes into the tank, several in
the tank itself, several more on the hot water circulation system and yet more
on the underfloor heating loop.
They all go to the arbiter, which sends its data to an old PC running a VB
application that controls the whole system.
OK - maybe its overkill for your purposes, but it certainly demonstrates the
abilities of the arbiter.
Oh, and I tend to control the pump by comparing the flow and return temperatures
at the panels. It's set at 4 degrees C at the moment.
Phil
15C is too much..... 6C on 4C off is the default for Resol controllers.
cheers
Paul
--- In TemperatureLoggers@yahoogroups.com, "flyinggoat37" <ehrenbeck@...> wrote:
>
>
> I am thinking about building one of these to control my solar thermal heating
system (turn ON pump to panels, when panel temp = tank temp +15 degrees).
>
> Would this be a good application for this?
>
> Thanks!
>
I am thinking about building one of these to control my solar thermal heating
system (turn ON pump to panels, when panel temp = tank temp +15 degrees).
Would this be a good application for this?
Thanks!
Like I said, I`m just preparing to make my own temperature logger. So I haven`t
made the arbiter and I didn`t try any conections. I just tried hotbox itself.
And on one computer works normaly. When I double-click the hotbox icon, the
grafic window opens and on "c:\" hotbox map is made and in this map is
hotbox.ini file.
On this computer I have one local disk, operation system XP 2002-SP3.
On the other two computers in wich hotbox doesn`t work (when I double-click the
hotbox icon nothing hapens-no grafic window opens. On "C:\" does not create a
hotbox map with hotbox.ini file, so I supose hotbox doesn`t work).
On this two computer I also have XP 2002 operation system (on one with SP2 and
the other with SP3).
Best regards, Bozo ( it is my name)