DS18B20 Sensors from eBay

[mtennant]

I have some hot air collectors that are mostly complete. My plan for fan control is to have the Elk read the inside thermostat temp and activate an X10 unit that the fan is plugged into if the house needs heat. The snap switch in the collector will complete the circuit if the collector is hot enough. When the house has enough heat, I'll send an off command to the X10 unit. Of course, I'll also needs some kind of delay to avoid too much cycling. It would be easy to add additional logic to run the routine only between sunrise and sunset.

I'm not a fan of snap switches for solar collectors. I can't imagine placing a fixed value sensor/switch in a sealed box when a 1-Wire or standard thermocouple will do the job, connected to a programmable controller. The conventional wisdom is 110 on, 90 off. I found that wrong for me.

I'm actually using an STC-1000 controller off eBay right now set at 98° on, 80° off, and my collector is staying on longer and cycling less, while putting out more useful heat.

I look forward to replacing the STC-1000 with my WebControl. I'll use 1-Wire sensors and solid state relays.

If you aren't familiar with the STC-1000, it is a worthy controller in its own right. Lots of home brewing enthusiast use it for fermentation control.

 

[mstarks01]

If you are using WebControl for any part of fan control, then why no do 100% of it with WebControl? Do you have other ELK variables that go into the control logic?

Actually, I am not planning on using the WebControl at all for operation of the system. At most, I will add a sensor for temperature monitoring. The basic application at this time is temperature monitoring around the house and outside.