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31.5.2017

There seems to be a problem with availability of the ESP8266 module we have chosen. We want to use the ESP-7, but no one seems to be able to have it.

There are questions about the possible use of ESP-12, but the problem is, that the ESP-12 does not have an antenna connector. We plan on using an external antenna connected with an IPEX connector.

Out of 15 contacted companies, we have received offers from 5. Very welcome surprise is the 2nd place in terms of overall price from company from Slovakia 🙂

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12.4.2017

We are discussing excruciating details about the HW design with Dale & his team. Most of the time I have no clue what the discussion is about, but JT and Dale seem to have a good time.

We have decided to use Tag Connect on our PCB – it is a special cable connector that is used for programing the PCB while the device is in production.

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29.3.2017

We are starting to look at the possible sensors to add to the device.

We know the temperature sensor we want to use and now we are looking at the SQ-520 PAR sensor from Apogee.

This is an amazing piece of equipment, which will allow us to

  1. Measure the exact quality of the used LED lights
  2. Set the intensity of the lights according to the individual plants needs

It is capable of measuring the exact number of photons of the wavelength required for photosynthesis that enter its measurement area.

This sounds like pure science fiction and we will have it in our device!!!

I have contacted the representative of Apogee Instruments to order a sample of the sensor.

We have ordered another set of components for next version of prototype based on WEMOS D1 board.

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15.3.2017

The prototype parts have arrived and JT has made a new prototype, which has all the defined functionality. This is a great step forward from the breadboard original prototype.

The prototype is able to work with 12V or 24V lamps. It has all the electronics required to manage the real aquarium LEDs. Out of caution, we are testing it yet only with cheap LED strips, I don’t want to risk my quite expensive aquarium LED lights.

We also have some progress on the mobile application front. I am creating the application prototype in the MIT APP INVENTOR. Unfortunately, my friends who were supposed to create the application really did not have enough time to dedicate to the project. We will have to find a way to solve this soon.

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23.1.2017

I haven’t posted in a long time. We’ve been busy with detailed work on the project, just as short summary of the past accomplishments:

  • First version of the mobile app
  • Added pin persistence for the Firmware
  • Added heartbeat API
  • Updated documentation of scheduler. Added documentation of scheduler with channel parameter.
  • Get scheduler refactored to support channel friendly name. Code refactoring of get scheduler (added validations, cleanup, …)
  • Added cancelSchedulerOverride
  • Get and set scheduler switch refactored
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7.1.2017

JT amazed me today with a sample mobile application made in MIT APP INVENTOR 2. It is a very cool framework for building applications (works only on Android though). It is very simple to learn and use but capable of quite serious functions. JT managed to create an app, which actually connects to the device prototype and is able to manage it via rest APIs.