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Thread: Hive monitoring - DIY

  1. #1
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Default Hive monitoring - DIY

    This is an attempt to corral discussion of DIY hive monitoring equipment - temperature, humidity, weight, noise etc. in a single thread.

    There are two recent relevant threads:
    1. Varroa estimations in winter - where Jon first mentioned Arnia monitors in post #9
    2. Build the Buzz - which started with an 'advert' from the BBKA website and quickly developed into a discussion of home-brew technology to monitor hives.

    The most complete solution at the time of posting is the ear trumpet proposed by Gavin.

    ear-trumpet-3.jpg
    Oddly, neither can I. But I can reinstate it.

    Wow! Lucky I didn't post anything abusive by accident or I'd have been reprimanded
    Last edited by fatshark; 19-12-2015 at 12:53 PM. Reason: Hmmm ... can't delete an embedded image after posting

  2. #2

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    Hi fatshark
    I'll keep an eye on this thread now
    Still fiddling around with the AtTiny85 at the moment
    If you are planning to get one of them then the Arduino IDE latest version causes some issues so the previous version 1.6.5 (I think) is the one to download


    Sent from my LIFETAB_S1034X using Tapatalk

  3. #3
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    I've gone for a UNO clone for convenience. All seems OK so far. The DHT22 seems to generate sense and I'm scrabbling round trying to find an SD card for data storage. I've got a vague memory of chucking out some small capacity ones ... that'll teach me

    The intention is to create something that works (more of less) and then to port it to one of the micro clones lacking the USB, LEDs etc. or even a bare chip for power saving. I've not got all the necessary additional boards and stuff and now isn't the time to impatiently wait for things coming through the post.

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    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    The DHT22 works fine and I can now read/write to an SD card and have some 433 MHz RF modules being delivered by Santa with the intention of having a hive-based low-power transmitter and a separate receiver.

    In terms of practicality I'm not convinced that a combined temperature/humidity monitor is ideal (and am also wondering what sort of casing I can build to prevent the DHT22 becoming totally gummed up with propolis). I've therefore also ordered a few waterproof DS18B20 digital sensors. They look a whole lot more propolis-resistant:
    $_12.JPG
    These have unique addresses so can be wired in series if needed (loads of info here on getting addresses etc. Two libraries required and readily available). With 1m of wire on each it should be possible to get the broodnest temperature and the external temperature reasonably easily. I presume humidity can be measured in any suitable corner of the hive.

    Next ... power, and how to use less of it.

  5. #5

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    Hi fatshark
    I have a few of the ds18 sensors but haven't done anything with them yet
    The DHT22 was a bit dear to have the bees destroy
    DHT11 is much cheaper and pretty much good enough I think
    The Digispark ATTiny 85 is what I have been messing around with at the moment
    I got a little barometric sensor for a couple of pounds
    My brother in law is in hospital and Xmas taking up most of the energies at the moment but I have managed to do a little bit with timers etc
    Well done getting the SDCard recording done
    MicroSD are cheap so it seems a good solution( for out apiaries anyway)

    Sent from my LIFETAB_S1034X using Tapatalk

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    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Hi DR
    I'm intending to protect the sensor by placing it in a 'tube' of insect mesh. I use this stuff for travel screens and have yards of it (somewhere!). It will allow good airflow and can be replaced if it gets caked in propolis. However, the DHT22 seems very slow to respond to changes in temperature.

    My efforts to save energy currently (no pun intended) hampered by a) Christmas, b) work and c) losing my multimeter in the move up here. I have solutions for both (c) and (b). It's clear from stuff on the web that optimising battery life needs hardware (and the ATtiny85 will undoubtedly have the advantage here) and software changes e.g. barebones chip, low voltage and libraries that put everything to sleep between readings. Two years from 2xAA appears readily achievable, but the data storage/transmission will inevitably reduce this. I'm currently dabbling with the imaginative-named narcoleptic library

  7. #7

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    Hi Fatshark
    I mentioned this already but the Digispark AtTiny85 will moan a lot and not work properly with the latest Arduino IDE
    The one to download is 1.6.5 https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/OldSo...eases#previous
    It will get fixed soon I expect
    I have bookmarked the links you gave me thanks a lot
    ps stumbled on this project it uses the Linkit One
    http://www.instructables.com/id/Prot...h-Tilt-Sensor/

  8. #8
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Hi DR ... my last contribution before locking myself away for a few days with a soldering iron, a few bottles of honey beer and a pile of stuff in anti-static envelopes. Oh yes, and a family Christmas ...
    All of the really low power Arduino-based systems use some sort of deep sleep functions - essentially shutting down until re-started by a watchdog timer. There's a neat description here of a system that wakes at 10 minute intervals and transmits a reading by 433MHz transmitter ... with an estimated 6 months runtime off a single 3.7V 1200mAh battery. This sounds like just the ticket for the sort of thing I have in mind. In addition to software trickery, it also uses a bare Atmega328 chip which reduces power to something around 0.005mAh (from 50mAh). It looks like the ATtiny85 can be at least as frugal.
    Second Arduino arrived this morning so I'll see if I can get them to talk to each other ... and to find out how far they can 'shout'.
    It's been windy enough here over the last few weeks that a 'tilt sensor' might be very useful ... interesting.
    Happy Christmas
    Last edited by fatshark; 22-12-2015 at 03:12 PM. Reason: ATtiny85 frugality English errors

  9. #9

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    Both great links -- thanks Fatshark I have bookmarked them as well
    If you are looking for solar panels etc try http://www.banggood.com/search/solar-panel.html
    I have bought quite a lot of components and stuff from them this year
    They have been pretty good
    When you pick something it will show as in the European Warehouse or Chinese one
    The delivery is faster from Europe but the price is higher
    You can pay less on Ebay sometimes but theres not much in it
    you do get some points from Bangood and know who they are (to some extent)

  10. #10
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Here's someone else doing the same sort of thing ... but this includes hive weights as well. Just a single (long and appended) post but some useful background info, particularly on load cells and displaying the data.
    I guess investigating solar power around the winter solstice is the ultimate in optimism

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