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[bkenobi]

Ahhh, ok.  I figured there would be something required to pull the data in from the weather station and into data file.  Parsing that file should be pretty simple, but, if it turns into a hassle, it's nice to know that the PPC plugin is there already.

[Tuicemen]

I've never looked into seeing if Oregon had a sdk for it. I guess I should!
There are other programs out that will get the info but most aren't free.

[luke03]

That is a pretty amazing device.  The only down sides I see are that it isn't wireless, can monitor only 1 humidity, and doesn't allow for multiple zones easily (well, without running wires of course).  I really like the price, though.  I have a couple WRT capable routers sitting around, so it would actually be feasible to install one in each attic section and use the WRT routers as wireless bridges to connect the WebControl units.

The humidity is measured as analog input. If you don't have need for other analog input measurement, you can hook up more humidity sensor to other analog inputs. However, analog inputs only give the voltage reading, you will have to convert that into relative humidity, like the board itself doing on the humidity sensor input.

[bkenobi]

I ordered an Oregon Scientific RMS600A and after a week of waiting for an invoice, the Amazon seller finally responded by saying it wasn't available in their warehouse.  Now I'm back to square one since I can't locate any RMS300/600/900 and can't afford the full weather stations.

Has anyone played with an Arduino yet?  I see that they have 8 I/O channels and are capable of reading DHT11/22 humidity/temperature sensors as well as connecting to either PL513 or TW523 X10 controllers/modems.  The question I have is how much can an Arduino do?  Can I have one set up to monitor 2 or 3 humidity/temperature sensors AND send commands out via the PL513/TW523?  If so, that sounds like a nice solution.  I would have to program the Arduino to turn on the attic fan in either end of the attic with delta humidity over a certain tolerance and over a certain temperature, but that seems really simple.  It also seems like a neat little project to tinker with for a fairly small amount of cash!

[Noam]

Has anyone played with an Arduino yet? ...  It also seems like a neat little project to tinker with for a fairly small amount of cash!

I just started on an Arduino project of my own about a month ago.
I am using the Dallas OneWire temperature sensors (I'm not measuring himidity right now), but I'm not interfacing it with X10 at all (purely for data logging and monitoring through a connected PC).

It didn't take me all that long to get the Arduino working with the OneWire temperature sensors (Maxim-IC will actually send out free samples of the sensors if you request them on the website).
I also built a box that interfaces with the thermostat, so I can map the heat/cool/fan only cycles along with the temperatures (I am currently using 6 temperature sensors, which will eventually be placed around my house, and outside).
I've been tracking the temperatures for a few weeks now, and have been tracking the HVAC cycles for almost a week.
I'm sending the data to the Pc via RS232 (on the COM port that is assigned to the Arduino). A friend of mine is writing me a simple logger that will take the RS232 data, and dump it into an Access database. In the meantime I'm using RealTerm and a CSV file, with the data being displated using Dygraphs.
I tried (briefly) to connect the Arduino to the TW523 port on my XTB-IIR. I was able to see commands on the line (using whatever sample program I downloaded), but I didn't have the ability with that program to send commands.
However, the connection to the TW523/PSC05 is really simple.
If you think you can handle the programming side of it, I'd go for it. Even if you don't end up using it, the Arduino is neat enough, and you'll probably find some other use for it.

I bought myself the Mega 2560, because it can do so much more than the Uno. I figured I'd use that as my "prototyping" board, and then buy an Uno to replace it when I go "live" with it, so the Mega is freed up for the next project.

There are plenty of Arduino thermostat projects out there, as well as Arduino X10 projects, to use as examples. You just might have to kit-bash them together.

[bkenobi]

I've been reading quite a few pages on Arduino this evening and am really intrigued.  The only issue I'm having is finding a source for the board for a reasonable price that won't take a month to arrive in the US.  Ebay has a number of different boards (which I also don't know what the difference is), but they are all shipped from Hong Kong.

Any thoughts on the "Arduino Duemilanove 2009 AVR ATmega328" for $17.50 shipped or "Arduino Duemilanove 2009 ATmega168-20PU" for  $16.99 shipped?  To me they look the same, but I'm not sure if I should be looking for something else.  YourDuino.com also has a few boards that look reasonably priced, but I'm still not sure which ones are basic but have enough features for what I need.

[Noam]

I've been reading quite a few pages on Arduino this evening and am really intrigued.  The only issue I'm having is finding a source for the board for a reasonable price that won't take a month to arrive in the US.  Ebay has a number of different boards (which I also don't know what the difference is), but they are all shipped from Hong Kong.

Any thoughts on the "Arduino Duemilanove 2009 AVR ATmega328" for $17.50 shipped or "Arduino Duemilanove 2009 ATmega168-20PU" for  $16.99 shipped?  To me they look the same, but I'm not sure if I should be looking for something else.  YourDuino.com also has a few boards that look reasonably priced, but I'm still not sure which ones are basic but have enough features for what I need.

I ordered my Mega from Amazon. It arrived the day after they shipped it. (of course, it was around Thanksgiving, and for some reason it took them over a week to ACTUALLY get it out the door to me)

[Tuicemen]

Amazon reports they still have 16 Oregon i300 in stock.
http://www.amazon.com/Oregon-Scientific-I300-InstaForecaster-I/dp/B0013542AA/ref=dp_cp_ob_hg_title_2

[bkenobi]

Yeah, but the I600 (or I300) doesn't allow for more than 1 remote sensor as far as I can tell.  The manual shows that the sensors are 3 channel and the compatibility chart for both I300 and I600 show that they work with 3-/10-channel sensors.  However, I can't see anywhere in the documentation where it says that the USB hub can connect to more than the 1 sensor.  I contacted customer support at Oregon Scientific to ask, but I'm holding off till I know for sure.  If it worked as I hope (the USB hub connects to a bunch of stuff and the display can only show 1 sensor) that would be fine with me.  Even better if the display can show multiple sensor data but only 1 at a time.

If I go with the Arduino, I'm not seeing where Maxim-IC allows for 1-wire samples to be ordered.  I have ordered samples from them and TI in the past, but the 1-wire stuff seems to be either out of stock for samples or prohibited.

[bkenobi]

Well, Oregon Scientific seems very helpful when it comes to recommending current products that they sell (hoping to make a sale of course).  However, when it comes to products that are no longer available from their own web site, they are of NO USE!  I asked a simple question (several times in different ways) about the capability of the IH800 (the USB hub) and they told me each time that they could not provide any support for a product that has been discontinued.  They also said that they do not provide web support for them either (so once it's discontinued, they basically remove any support documents).

I like that they are based out of the US, but with this kind of support, I think someone from Mumbai would have been more useful (they have in the past anyway)!   

I'll have to look around online to see if anyone has used the I300/I600 (or IH800 usb hub) for any automation projects or weather stations to say whether it can connect to more than 1 remote sensor.

[Noam]

If I go with the Arduino, I'm not seeing where Maxim-IC allows for 1-wire samples to be ordered.  I have ordered samples from them and TI in the past, but the 1-wire stuff seems to be either out of stock for samples or prohibited.

I'm using the DS18B20 and DS18S20 OneWire sensors.
When you go into the product page for the sensor, then click on "Ordering Info," there are "Sample" buttons for some of them (they don't offer samples for every single item, but they do for most of them).

[bkenobi]

I just found out that one reason I couldn't order samples anyway is that my account is under my yahoo email.  They require a fixed email to order, so I'll have to figure out what my DSL account is.   

Also, I found that there is at least 1 more current model that uses the IH800 (I assume) USB hub and it is NOT discontinued in the UK anyway.  The WMR180 (which does look pretty nice if I could find it, albeit a bit pricey) includes a USB hub and a manual that's actually helpful.  It explicitly states that the sensors communicate with BOTH the USB hub and the display.  That means that (assuming the USB hub is identical), I should be able to get the I300 and disregard the display and just use the sensors.  I'll have to do a bit more reading, but so far, this looks like a very affordable option!

http://uk.oregonscientific.com/ulimages/manuals2/WMR180.PDF

[bkenobi]

This is why I'm confused with the compatibility:

http://www.weathershop.co.uk/images/pdf/oregon_sensor_matrix.pdf

That shows that the I300/I600 only support 1 channel.  BUT, the following info for the WMR180 states that the USB hub can receive data from sensors directly.  If so, then whatever it is compatibile with will be available on the PC regardless of the display.

http://www.weathershop.co.uk/shop/brands/oregon-scientific/full/oregon-scientific-wmr180-weather-station

Both units receive information wirelessly from a complete set of outdoor sensors at a range of up to 100m.

I guess for the price of one of those I300 units, I should just buy it and see if it will work.  Course, if it doesn't, that would have been the cost of an Arduino!  

[Noam]

I just found out that one reason I couldn't order samples anyway is that my account is under my yahoo email.  They require a fixed email to order, so I'll have to figure out what my DSL account is.   

Yeah, I ran into the same problem.
Luckily, I have another account that is NOT at one of the "free" providers, which then forwards to my Yahoo account.
I just used that one.

[bkenobi]

After quite a bit of bruit force searching, I found the USB hub in the FCC database.  It's actually not an IH800 as far as I can tell.  It's actually an IH300 (unless there are multiple units...which is what I'm trying to determine).  Anyway, as of right now, the info that matters is that it's FCC ID is NMTIH300-01.