Forget PID... go Arduino - Page 2

#11: Post by **JimG** » October 4th, 2012, 4:37 pm

adriel wrote:Keeping in mind that my Rocket's instruction manual suggested not touching the power source (i.e. no outlet timers), what solutions have Home-Barista.commers employed?

Thinking out loud here....

Shouldn't be too hard to insert a timer switch into the circuit for the heating element. During "off" times, the switch would inhibit power from reaching only the heater. All other systems would remain fully controlled by the main switch.

Jim

October 5th, 2012, 5:41 am

That sounds like a straightforward enough patch, Jim.
I wonder if it would mess with the ECU computer unit and/or other components, though.

Has anyone tried this or similar? (or are there other posts relating to this?)

#13: Post by **Billc** » October 5th, 2012, 9:03 am

Normally the manufacturers code in a safety feature to show an error when the boiler does not heat to set temp in a certain amount of time. You can always check this by unplugging the heating element and let the machine sit for an hour.

Bill

#14: Post by **cmin** » October 5th, 2012, 9:44 am

Be cool if I could do pressure profiling on my CC1 lol

#15: Post by **JimG** » October 6th, 2012, 11:00 am

Billc wrote:Normally the manufacturers code in a safety feature to show an error when the boiler does not heat to set temp in a certain amount of time.

I had wondered if that might be an issue with externally switching the heater. Some commercial PID controllers I've worked with include a similar feature, although it can usually be disabled with a parameter change.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Jim

#16: Post by **Billc** » October 7th, 2012, 2:41 am

Jim,
Followed your stuff for quite a while. Great to chat with you here. Some software allows you to change this variable but most do not. Unfortunate. However there are quite a few boards that use the atmel chip so potentially, with a FTDI you could reprogram the board and use the arduino IDE......?

#17: Post by **JimG** » October 7th, 2012, 8:50 am

Billc wrote:However there are quite a few boards that use the atmel chip so potentially, with a FTDI you could reprogram the board and use the arduino IDE......?

It would take someone waaaay smarter than me to reverse engineer a control unit

Jim

#18: Post by **dsc** » October 8th, 2012, 6:59 am

Wouldn't it be easier to simply ditch the factory ECU and go with a custom built ECU using an Atmel, ATmega, PIC etc.? It's a coffee machine, not a space rocket, so writing a bit of code to do what you want it do it shouldn't take too long and it would be much easier to add custom bits and optimise operation.

Regards,
dsc.

October 8th, 2012, 8:50 am

dsc, I suspect many of us here only understand "C+" to mean a passing test score...

#20: Post by **dsc** » October 8th, 2012, 9:14 am

C+? I thought ASM would be more fun;)

Seriously though, if someone is planning to rip into an existing ECU, I reckon he/she has enough knowledge to write the code from scratch.

Regards,
dsc.