I am installing a hydronic driveway snow melt system. I would like to monitor the performance of this system via a number of themocouples embeded in the return lines, supply line, heat exchanger in and out etc. I think eight should do it nicely. i would like to read these values (temps) on a PC at some other location ( but still on wired network). I would think there must be a simple input box that can output a rs 232 signal or usb etc. Anybody have any ideas.
Thanks
Peter Plein
You can find a data aquisition card on Ebay cheap sometime. Just be sure you can get some software that runs on it.
If you can get by with 4 and you can find the thermocouple that operates in the 100k range, a game port will work. I am not sure if you could have 2 game adapters. I have a simple little BASIC program that will read out a game card "stick" input and put it in a file. I was calling from a dBase script and building a data base off of a thermistor.
Before I get flamed, make that a termistor ;-)
I use around 8 Dallas/Maxim DS1820 1-wire sensors around the house for doing a similar job. They run all on a single twisted pair cable for both power and signalling (parasitic power mode). There are a number of 1-wire PC interfaces -- I use one of Peter H. Anderson's modules to give an RS232 serial interface, plugging it into one of the COM ports --
` If all you want is something to turn a heater on when it is below freezing there are lots of off the shelf thermostats that will do that.
I am more interested in monitoring the system rather than control. After initial balancing etc. a simple timed switch will be all the contol I need.
If you can live with 4 data points the game card in any PC will work. They operate on 0-100k ohms so there are a lot of thermsitors than can give useful results in that range.
This will read them out and shove it in a file called stick.txt ("BASIC" program)
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