csanchez77
New Member
Hey all
I am a reef hobbiest and am rebuilding a 65 gallon saltwater tank. There are several controllers on the market that use X-10 to control lights, pumps, gadgets, and these controllers also monitor various parameters, simulate lunar cycles, storm conditions and many other things.
These controllers also cost several hundred $$$.
I figured I could just start building my own, but have come to two realizations:
1) the costs can add up from the different components/parts
2) this stuff is a lot of fun
To sum up, I can see why they are expensive.
Anyway...the pupose of this post...
I started out with a BASIC STAMP 2 and a RamPack B clock, from solutions cubed. Just interfacing to set and read time has already used up 33% of the stamps resources.
Once I interface an LCD screen, some other LED's, a few buttons and calculate solar, lunar and storm simulations to control lights and pumps, I wont have any space to interface monitoring any parameters (temp, pH, OPR, etc), or iclude other bells and whistles.
What advice I am looking for is where to go to expand on program memory and I/O pins.
Can I program some additional stamps as a slave to a master chip? This option could get costly and bulky, but allows each stamp to be specialized.
Should I look for a different chip, which should I look for next to expand program memory and I/O pins?
Just looking around the board, I can see most members are above and beyond the BASIC Stamp series, but I can work only with BASIC. I do not know C or anything less human (such as assembly). What do you all recommend as the next step?
Secondly, how do I put all of this together? I found a neat looking case that resembles a typewriter at www.digi-key.com. I would like to use that. But, how do I create a final product board? Mount the board to the cabinet, install buttons and such?
As you can see, I am just starting and am incorporating one feature at a time, so these questions are for down the road for the most part, but I would like to be able to set realistic goals.
Thanks
I am a reef hobbiest and am rebuilding a 65 gallon saltwater tank. There are several controllers on the market that use X-10 to control lights, pumps, gadgets, and these controllers also monitor various parameters, simulate lunar cycles, storm conditions and many other things.
These controllers also cost several hundred $$$.
I figured I could just start building my own, but have come to two realizations:
1) the costs can add up from the different components/parts
2) this stuff is a lot of fun
To sum up, I can see why they are expensive.
Anyway...the pupose of this post...
I started out with a BASIC STAMP 2 and a RamPack B clock, from solutions cubed. Just interfacing to set and read time has already used up 33% of the stamps resources.
Once I interface an LCD screen, some other LED's, a few buttons and calculate solar, lunar and storm simulations to control lights and pumps, I wont have any space to interface monitoring any parameters (temp, pH, OPR, etc), or iclude other bells and whistles.
What advice I am looking for is where to go to expand on program memory and I/O pins.
Can I program some additional stamps as a slave to a master chip? This option could get costly and bulky, but allows each stamp to be specialized.
Should I look for a different chip, which should I look for next to expand program memory and I/O pins?
Just looking around the board, I can see most members are above and beyond the BASIC Stamp series, but I can work only with BASIC. I do not know C or anything less human (such as assembly). What do you all recommend as the next step?
Secondly, how do I put all of this together? I found a neat looking case that resembles a typewriter at www.digi-key.com. I would like to use that. But, how do I create a final product board? Mount the board to the cabinet, install buttons and such?
As you can see, I am just starting and am incorporating one feature at a time, so these questions are for down the road for the most part, but I would like to be able to set realistic goals.
Thanks