Work Night Mounting Arduino, Thermistors and More Wire Termination

Work Night Mounting Arduino, Thermistors and More Wire Termination

Date: 5.17.18
Location: Logan HS
Time: 4.5 hours
Goal: Mount/install the Arduino temperature measurement system and terminate the rest of the wires.
Students: Boy Yang, Matt, Ian and Dom

We should have known things were going too well. Wire termination went slower as new students were learning how to crimp and terminate wires in the box. We had two connections that were not properly terminated and had to be re-done (wire was loose in the fork connector). We also had a labeling issue on our pump controllers that forced us to troubleshoot the connections for about an hour and our 12 V battery died (it needed to be charged anyway as it was low to start). We noticed one of the 12 V fans on our large peltier stopped spinning and we were not sure why until we found out the battery was only outputting 9 V. We think this is why some of our pump tests did not work later in the evening also.

On the positive side, our LED's all work and we think we have the Arduino temperature sensing controls installed. We ran thermistors sensors to the tanks and supply lines into the DM at four predetermined locations. We want to assess the water temperature in the circulation lines entering both tanks and also sense the air temperature entering both tanks. We did not have time to test it, but we will do so tomorrow.

We still have some concerns with the pumps. We want to run 12 V directly to the pumps from an external power supply to make sure they are all working. If they are, then we know the system will pump and circulate water and any further troubleshooting would have to be in the switch or control areas.

Vinyl stickers were designed and made with our vinyl cutter to identify different components on the DM. They really make the DM look more professional as they are color coded.

We did not terminate the micro vibration motors yet but we have them powered. This was just a time issue and we wanted to make sure we had the correct inputs and outputs on the 555 timer circuit that they will go into. Once that is complete, all wires will be terminated.

In another brief update, on Friday we hooked up the micro vibration motors to test them. The circuit worked with one in place, but voltage was divided when we added another. We are wired in parallel and may just need to increase our amperage. Before we do that, we want to make sure our circuit is designed for 4 motor vibrators.

Also, the Arduino and thermistors performed well in our first test. Andy needed to make a few changes to the code to display all 4 thermistors with labels on locations. It worked well after that.

Next goal will be to start testing the system with water running through it.

Matt installing the wiring for the Arduino.

Students learning how to crimp wire connections. We normally solder all of these, but due to the small space
in the electrical box, we needed to just crimp.

The black wire in the bottom of the pipe is a thermistor (one of four) that were installed. They are wired
back to the Arduino and then a display. This monitors the air temperature going into the evaporator tank.

Boy Yang powering up the system for a test.

Looks like a mess of wires, but much better than two days ago.