Showing posts with label Atmega. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Atmega. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Schematic setup version 1

This is the first setup of my schematic.... am I missing something?


Monday, April 1, 2013

Battery options

For my SensorStick I need at least 3 volts since the DHT11 only works from 3v0, all of the other sensors can work with lower voltage. A single coin cell will not be suffice since the voltage curve of such a cell decreases a little on the longer run.

This is my target for the sensor stick:

  • Runs at 3.3 volts using low quiescent regulator
  • Uses an average current of 50uA
  • Should run on battery for at least a year
At 50uA power usage and running for a year we need a battery that has: 50uAh*24hours*365years= 438mAh. So at least 438mAh is needed. Please note the battery internal drain, so we need more than calculated.


So here are my options

  • 4x coin cell CR2032
    • 6v 
    • 440mAh
    • Small size, but consumes lot of space on PCB since it must be directly/flat attached to pcb
    • 2x Double coin cell holders will cost 1.80euro @Digikey, BH800S
  • Boost converter
    • single cell from 1.5v would work (AAA)
    • increased component/PCB cost, around 3 euro 
    • increased sleep current
    • increased noise for the capacitance measurements
    • Not an option due price tag.
  • 3x AAA batteries
    • 4.5volts 
    • 700mAh
    • Alkaline cells has higher voltage drop in voltage curve than coin cells
    • PCB mounts cost total 1.30 euro (BK-82 @digikey)
    • Seperate AAA holder box cost around 50 eurocent @ebay
  • 9v block
    • 9volts
    • 900mAh
    • Higher voltage drop, just like AAA. But since it is 9 volts battery, we have a high margin.
    • Consumes a lot of space.
    • Battery snap-on wire cost 20 cent @ digikey
    • Battery holder 60cents @ ebay or 1 euro @digikey
Putting all the things together, I currently think it is best to use the 9 volt block with snap-on wire. 

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Measuring growing vegetables with internet of things...

I started to measure environment variables like; temperature, barometer, hygrometer, light brightness, dominant colors and much more and report it online.

Here you can see my real-time demo: https://cosm.com/users/willyp. Please note that there are moments that I am upgrading the devices. Today I am starting to make the setup more suitable for battery operation. I`m implementing processor sleep functions and disabling external devices to conserve energy. I want to have the sensor transmitter working on a double CR2032 battery for at least a year long.



Currently in the unit there are tomatoes, paprika, carrots and beans.