I am a fan of PHP. I am lazy, and I don’t really want to learn Python. Since the IR Toy is a critical component for my next Raspberry Pi project, (of which the code would be primarily written in PHP), I needed a PHP library to interface with the IR Toy.
I found a good, simple to use Python library to interface with the IR Toy by Chris LeBlanc called PyIrToy.
I finally had some time to work on my temperature project and the first step was to make sure my 2 USB IR Toys worked (they finally arrived about 2 weeks ago).
One seemed to work fine (meaning my Raspberry Pi recognised it and enabled the device /dev/ttyACM0), but the other wasn’t being recognised. (In fact the LED was constantly on). I thought I got a faulty one.
I decided to try reflashing it.
On 2 Fridays ago, we had a “hackathon” at work where we stayed back and worked on personal hacks/projects. The entry door to our office is controlled by a 4-number code. We have a remote control to open (unlock) it when someone rings the bell. We had a bunch of RFID equipment sitting around for the past year and a half, and I really wanted to make use of it.
Just a quick short update to the first Raspberry Pi project that I worked on two weeks ago. Last weekend, I went to a local workshop to get it mounted on a plank of wood to keep it all together and easily mountable on a wall (since rotating red alert lights should be perpendicular to a wall!)
Finished product:
Last night, I configured RRD graphs to record the changes of temperature.
Before bed I set the aircon on pretty much full blast. Before going to sleep it was readying at around 26.7 C.
Now as you can see with the graph, the temperature changes way too slowly. Too gradual. This will prove troublesome when calibrating as I get deeper into my next project. (I was hoping for more obvious changes).
I got my Raspberry Pi reading temperatures with the DS18B20 chip.
I followed some of the guidance at the following two URLs (although I had to flip the chip as the instructions are a bit confusing - basically, look at the diagram on the 1st link below, and swap (pin 1 is 3, pin 3 is 1)):
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/freshers/raspberrypi/tutorials/temperature/ http://webshed.org/wiki/RaspberryPI_DS1820 My wiring:
Originally, according to the first URL above, I had the sensor chip the other way around, which caused it to heat way up seconds after turning on the Raspberry Pi.