Just in time for winter, this Maker added smart temperature control to his infrared heater.
The IoT refers to the idea that things, in this case an infrared heater, can be connected to the Internet. Although at times this may seem like overkill, in this case, it seems like a very practical solution. As creator Yuvaltz puts it, “Both IR heaters I have at home have only two power levels. Without any control, it’s easy to get to either a too hot or a not hot enough situation.” Naturally the Arduino-compatible and Wi-Fi-enabled Cactus Micro (ATmega32U4) was used to take his heater into the 21st century!
The Cactus module controls a relay, which turns the heater on when appropriate. The control scheme is based on something called a proportional-integral-derivitave (PID) loop, which allows for several factors to be taken into account when deciding on the appropriate heater state.
Since the Cactus is Wi-Fi-enabled, temperature variation as well as power output can be uploaded to a website. Yuvaltz setup a ThingSpeak channel for this device, and was able to generate two very interesting plots. One comparing the temperature data gleaned from two sensors that he tried, while the other plotted the temperature as well as how much power the heater put out at a certain time.
As Yuvaltz notes, don’t try something like this unless you’re familiar with high-voltage safety. A simple remote control is suggested as an alternative, but perhaps even that could be hacked for PID control! Check out his entire build here.
Filed under: Arduino-Compatible, Don’t Try This At Home
