Buttons installed

All buttons and LEDs installed, now time to hook up arduino and test a sketch

Changing resistors

The dome buttons are lit by a LED set up for 12V DC.  Replaced resistors in each LED with a 100 ohm resistor so now can use 5 VDC (30mA per pin) - would be better if it were 20mA but had 100 ohm resistors and arduino can source up to 40 mA per output pin.

Whack-A-Mole original

An original (or near original) Whack-A-Mole at Enchanted Forest in Old Forge, NY.

Beautiful!

Test light and switch on Dome buttons

 First test the switch and LED on the dome buttons.  Ran simple Blink and Switch sketches on Arduino

Whack A Mole Dome

Inspired by Sparkfun and their Whack A Dome I started a smaller version with only 9 buttons. Using their code as a start, here goes

Cutting out board for buttons

Start of the prototype. Counter display is from Adafruit and will be controlled by Arduino Leonardo

CTD Mark 1

Finally Mark 1 version of the CTD is finished - after lots of careful planning to keep the PCBs on the datalogger shield, I needed to add a voltage divider so ended up with adding another board, so it looks like a dog's breakfast.

First deployment using an axe as a weight and a paddleboard to get onto the lake

Underside of CTD showing arduino and ports

Top of CTD with extra board and also the pressure sensor is visible 

First data from CTD

After much coding and making, here are the first data from the CTD

Local chain mail artist

Excellent work of local artist at Funky Flea and love the packaging

Horseshoe nails

Horseshoe nail hooks

and jewelry

"For want of a nail, the shoe was lost;
For want of the shoe, the horse was lost;
For want of the horse, the rider was lost;
For want of the rider, the battle was lost;
For want of the battle, the kingdom was lost;
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail."

- Author unknown
from All Things Crafty

Arduino sketch to read depth/pressure sensor


/*
//depthSensor1B sketch
//analog pressure sensor attached to analog pin
// added VCC measure directly to get better precision
// 1A works well
// 1B cleaned up code to make functions
// also added a DEBUG for Depth Sensor function that can be used if needed by uncommenting


*/

String sketchName = "depthSensor1B";

int pressureDepthPin = 3; // analog pin 3 connected to pressure sensor

float VCC = 5027.00;  // actual measured voltage of VCC in mV
//int analogPressure = 0;


void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial.print("Program name: ");
  Serial.println(sketchName);
}

void loop() {
 readDepth();

 // Debug routines (uncomment to use
 // Debug Depth sensor
 debugReadDepth();
 
}

//++++++++++++++++++++++ Depth sensor +++++++++++++++++++++
void readDepth() {
    float depth = calculateDepth ();
    Serial.print("Depth = ");
    Serial.print(depth);
    Serial.println(" m ");
 
  delay(500);
}

// Debug depth sensor
void debugReadDepth () {
    float voltageDepthSensor = measureVoltage ();
    Serial.print("DEBUG: Voltage: ");
    Serial.print(voltageDepthSensor);
    Serial.print(" mV ");
    float pressure = calculatePressure();
    Serial.print(": Pressure = ");
    Serial.print(pressure);
    Serial.print(" kPa ");
    Serial.print(": Depth = ");
    float depth = calculateDepth ();
    Serial.print(depth);
    Serial.println(" m ");
}




//****** Depth sensor reading **************************************************
float measureVoltage ()
{
  int analogPressure=analogRead(pressureDepthPin);
  float voltage = (analogPressure*VCC/1024.000);
  return voltage;
}

float calculatePressure ()
{
   int analogPressure=analogRead(pressureDepthPin);
   //analogPressure/1024 to give volts
   float voltage = (analogPressure*VCC/1024.000);
   float pressureReading=(0.04+(voltage/VCC))*250;
   return pressureReading;
}

float calculateDepth ()
{
   int analogPressure=analogRead(pressureDepthPin);
   //analogPressure/1024 to give volts
   float voltage = (analogPressure*VCC/1024.000);
   float pressureReading=(0.04+(voltage/VCC))*250;
   float depthCalc = (pressureReading/100.00)-1.00;
   return depthCalc;
}

CTD construction

Starting on the construction of a conductivity/depth/temperature sensor system.  These CTD systems are used by oceanographers and limnologists to measure chemical parameters in water.  The initial work is based on the SeaPerch project at MIT.  They released a prototype version of a system in 2010 but it appears to have not gone beyond beta testing.
So starting from their hard work, I am going to make some adjustments and hopefully improvements.

The brains are the arduino microcontroller and then I will use an Adafruit Datalogger shield - I am using an old one and Lady Ada now has a more refined and improved shield but that maybe for version 2.
Just like the SeaPerch version, I started with an Otterbox and will use similar sensors except a 10K thermistor from adafruit. I used an array of these thermistors in a chain under the ice for the winter and they worked well.

So first thing is to drill holes for the sensors

Thermister on left 5/32" hole, then two 1/16" holes (1 cm apart) for conductivity probes,
and then a 3/8" hole for the depth/pressure sensor

Drilling holes needs a little jog to keep it all stationary

Tightening the barb for the pressure sensor

Testing the resistanc eof the thermistor before pouring epoxy

Sealing it all with epoxy - tape to protect the watertight seal

Titanium rods are 4cm long

Ventilation with epoxy is essential

Decision Tree graphics

A great way to visualize a decision tree from FlowingData

Weathervane base before cleaning

Whirlyworld love time clock

One of my early clocks was donated to the local college library fundraiser

Axe maker

Steve Sunk is an incredible axe and blade maker from the Australian bush - great vimeo shot.

From

Art of Blacksmithing and Metal Workers on vimeo

MakerPlot

Scientific applications of arduino can use MakerPlot to acquire and save data. Some interesting interfaces

http://www.makerplot.com/interface_videos.htm

Arduino flowcharts

Writing flowcharts for arduino programming is always a good idea.

ATtiny84 and arduino

Downsizing arduino projects using the ATtiny 45 (8 pin) and ATtiny 84 (14 pin) using the High Low Tech at MIT guidelines

Reference

The following Arduino commands should be supported:

• pinMode()
• digitalWrite()
• digitalRead()
• analogRead()
• analogWrite()
• shiftOut()
• pulseIn()
• millis()
• micros()
• delay()
• delayMicroseconds()
• SoftwareSerial (has been updated in Arduino 1.0)