Alpha test of arduino-pi-wifi for monitoring another buildin
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 3:06 pmWell, the recent cold snap (under 2 deg F which is a record for here) gave me an excuse to pull a project I've been working on - kind of home automation or a "LAN of things" (why give someone else access to all my home data?).
This shows a few days worth. The first huge peak on the barometer was the wicked cold snap. The rest is since then, and as it's been warming up, I've not bothered to heat that place except when I was over there using the plumbing.
I did learn one very important lesson (other than the usual glitches involved in going wireless and automated) and that was this - the obvious interpretation of some of the data was dead wrong when I went over to check.
I saw humidity falling along with temperature - normally they go in opposite directions, all else equal, so I assumed that a propane heater I KNEW was low on gas had run out, or the woodstove (that first night both were cranking full blast) had either gone out, or had boiled off all the water in the usual top of stove water pan most woodburning people will know about wanting to have. So, I go over there - and the missing water? All on the windows as ice...duh. It's important to learn from things like this that don't matter much, because later I'll be using mostly these same tools to remote-control my fusor from over there (where the leakage gamma rays and neutrons don't reach) and in that case, a misinterpretation can cause real damage...it gave me some more ideas for what I want to have to be able to "observe all possible things" while running the fusor. Here I am testing Kazam, the screen area recorder for linux, on one of my two monitors (didn't need both and it makes the movie require fewer bytes to upload). At least it doesn't have the built in hum generator that "recordmydesktop" seems to have...though it's a bit picky about input audio, it has possibilities as a useful tool for sharing results in areas other than plumbing-avoidance.
"I'm a physicist damnit, not a plumber" though of course those pipes and tanks didn't just jump into place by looking at them.
http://youtu.be/dsorJYyJRNs
This shows a few days worth. The first huge peak on the barometer was the wicked cold snap. The rest is since then, and as it's been warming up, I've not bothered to heat that place except when I was over there using the plumbing.
I did learn one very important lesson (other than the usual glitches involved in going wireless and automated) and that was this - the obvious interpretation of some of the data was dead wrong when I went over to check.
I saw humidity falling along with temperature - normally they go in opposite directions, all else equal, so I assumed that a propane heater I KNEW was low on gas had run out, or the woodstove (that first night both were cranking full blast) had either gone out, or had boiled off all the water in the usual top of stove water pan most woodburning people will know about wanting to have. So, I go over there - and the missing water? All on the windows as ice...duh. It's important to learn from things like this that don't matter much, because later I'll be using mostly these same tools to remote-control my fusor from over there (where the leakage gamma rays and neutrons don't reach) and in that case, a misinterpretation can cause real damage...it gave me some more ideas for what I want to have to be able to "observe all possible things" while running the fusor. Here I am testing Kazam, the screen area recorder for linux, on one of my two monitors (didn't need both and it makes the movie require fewer bytes to upload). At least it doesn't have the built in hum generator that "recordmydesktop" seems to have...though it's a bit picky about input audio, it has possibilities as a useful tool for sharing results in areas other than plumbing-avoidance.
"I'm a physicist damnit, not a plumber" though of course those pipes and tanks didn't just jump into place by looking at them.
http://youtu.be/dsorJYyJRNs