If you are going with the LED & sensor idea, have the LED's below the bottles (stacked upright) and the sensors above, so that the bottle cap covers the sensor's field of view. Perhaps some form of sleeve over each sensor would reduce the chance of indirect illumination from adjacent bottles, when a single bottle is removed...
Perhaps sensor outputs could be connected to a R2R network and the voltage displayed via a LM339..
It could just have a lid on it and one of these sensors and every time you lift the lid it sends it to a hex inverter. You could process it from their in a pic or something.
Then you drill you hole from underneath the fridge and put the electronics in the compressor area. Coil up the cable and send it RJ45 to a card on your computer or UART the code and send an e-mail and a txt to your phone
It could just have a lid on it and one of these sensors and every time you lift the lid it sends it to a hex inverter. You could process it from their in a pic or something.
Then you drill you hole from underneath the fridge and put the electronics in the compressor area. Coil up the cable and send it RJ45 to a card on your computer or UART the code and send an e-mail and a txt to your phone
Good thinking, so what you have to do is have the mag lock on it. So, you would need an app on your phone. That would allow you to control it through rs232 controller and it would just be an XML gui.
Just the lock code in a GUI Button for quick access. Plus any unwanted drinker will be denied.
RFID authentication & cap-sense on the fridge handle - the legitimate user only has to extend a hand to within 1" of the fridge handle. At this point, the door opens and the coolest beer is indicated by a flashing LED beneath the bottle....
RFID authentication & cap-sense on the fridge handle - the legitimate user only has to extend a hand to within 1" of the fridge handle. At this point, the door opens and the coolest beer is indicated by a flashing LED beneath the bottle....
Goes into some detail on how a cheap digital scale works, and how to get at a useful signal, even some source code. For what you want, might not need the microcontroller, since you are only interested in being signaled when the weight drops below an 'Alarming' level. Seems like a good start.
RFID authentication & cap-sense on the fridge handle - the legitimate user only has to extend a hand to within 1" of the fridge handle. At this point, the door opens and the coolest beer is indicated by a flashing LED beneath the bottle....
Coors Brewing Co. of Golden, CO is taking the guesswork out of wondering how cold its beer is. The label on the company’s Cold Activated Bottle for 12-oz glass bottles of Coors Light indicates when it’s ready for drinking. Thermochromic inks used on the label’s white lettering and Rocky Mountain icon turn blue once the beer reaches optimal drinking temperature.
When the label turns blue the beer is cold. Unfortunately you would have to drink Coors Light (note my earlier comment as to beer preceded by lite or light) which I sort of view as American Puppy Pee when it comes to beer.
When the label turns blue the beer is cold. Unfortunately you would have to drink Coors Light (note my earlier comment as to beer preceded by lite or light) which I sort of view as American Puppy Pee when it comes to beer.
Personally I don't care if beer is warm or cold including my wine. Now, a margarita on the other hand is another story.
You could have something like a "Lazy Susan" brings the coldest beer around to the front.
At that point you just lost a lot of room for food.
Um, how about cutting the cabinets out and putting in a Stainless steel commercial fridge and you could modify it to suit your needs. Dispensing through a door in the front no need to even open it.
That way you can invite your friends over for the Super Bowl or Parties I know my 27 year old and her crowd would think it was the bomb.
Coors used to make a beer called Herman Josephs. Really good beer if youlike dark beer.
As for my favorite good quality beer - look no further than Betrams Brewery here in downtown Salmon. It has won numerious awards at beer contests. My favorite is Sacajewia Stout. Excellent beer for sure. Nade on the premissies.
The digital scale hack IMO is the best idea yet.
Here's a tiny glass RFID capsule. Its from Sparkfun. I would implant it in your arm, maybe between thumb and index finger. That way when you reach for fridge, it's easily sensed...
You can easily interface with the reader with serial and an AVR or PIC. From there all you'll need is the locking (solenoid?) for the fridge, and some simple coding!
Considering the bathroom scale hack, I'd say the weighing method is making a comeback. Not that I have room in my fridge for a big scale, but I've always known any system needs to sense the beer in the fridge and those left back in the cabnet ( unfortunately, I do have alot of the non-essentials in compeating for refridgerator space ) So... I'll have to see about hacking a scale. I have to buy one and take it apart before I'll know if it is suffiently non-integrated to be useful. Guess I can always re-assemble it and return it to the store
Considering the bathroom scale hack, I'd say the weighing method is making a comeback. Not that I have room in my fridge for a big scale, but I've always known any system needs to sense the beer in the fridge and those left back in the cabnet ( unfortunately, I do have alot of the non-essentials in compeating for refridgerator space ) So...
So, you side line them in a shoot which is a rectangular shaped box tall enough and wide enough for a beer.
Then you make it long enough to go back to the back of the fridge. Make sure you put a refill opening which is a side panel that might be hinged and a twist lock at the top.
This will mount on the wall of the fridge opposite the hinge of the door and on the top shelf.
Take an Ice maker motor assemble it will make a full rotation which is enough to move one beer at a time on a conveyor belt. A lever switch to stop it when it comes forward.
Each time it moves forward it counts one beer after the other. Then reset the counter after each fill, put an alarm on it when the counter reaches the set point.
Place a large coil above the beer shelf and make a tuned (LC) circuit. Drive the circuit with a pulse and measure the resonant frequency. The resonant frequency will vary as the number of bottle tops changes.
Place a large coil above the beer shelf and make a tuned (LC) circuit. Drive the circuit with a pulse and measure the resonant frequency. The resonant frequency will vary as the number of bottle tops changes.