Some suggestions for remote connection

Hi,

I have some data stored in a PIC chip's EEPROM in my pump shed in the garden. What I would like to be able to do is each morning (or whenever I want) I can sit on my computer in my house and click a button and I can get the data from the EEPROM on to my computer. Its getting pretty cold outside at the moment and I don't want to trudge through the garden to get to shed.

Any ideas for how I can do this cheaply?

My computer is about 40meters from the shed. I have a wireless hub in the garage which is only about 5-10 meters away from the shed if that helps?

I was thinking of getting a network card and seeing if I can connect to that - seems quite hard to do though. Or maybe a RF transmitter to transfer it - I don't think it would reach my computer though.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Craig

After playing around and stumbling over a few things on the internet I have come up with this possible solution.

PIC 1 <-> PIC 2 <-> ENC28J60 ethernet encoder <-> wireless LAN

Where PIC 1 is the processor that samples my data and stores it.

PIC 2 is a HTTP server that upon a GET request will signal PIC1 for the data and receive it via RS485 protocol on a single wire (need this as running out of pins)

Ideally I would join PIC1 and PIC2 together but I am using the PIC1 pins for LED display. If my PIC programmer could program a PIC16F887 I would buy the chip and combine these...oh well.

ENC28J60 will then encode reading for ethernet communication.

I will then need a wireless LAN chip that will reach the 5m to the garage...any ideas? This is the only thing I have left outstanding.

I should then be able to do a https://10.1.1.60/u from my computer and it will access the PIC2 chip HTTP server which I can then stream out the figures in the response.

Thanks,

Craig

Better than building one, (unless you really have the desire). Look for and buy a "Serial Client Bridge" They have wireless and wired ones. I've used the Symbol brand ones and they worked great.

Thanks, found some and looked at them. They are rather pricey though $599. All I need to do is connect to the network, I have all the other bits and peices. Maybe I should think about running an ethernet cable out to the shed?

The other option is to get a cheap CC1020 rf transceiver and transmit the signal over that before putting it through the ENC28J60 ethernet encoder and then just plug it straight in to the RF45 jack.

Does that sound feasible?

Craig

You'll still have to write the software for the ENC28J60 but the serial link RF transveiver looks fine.