USB Heatermeter


 
J

John Bostwick

TVWBB Wizard
Well kind of anyways, lol. I have a customer that is building 5 smokers and wanted to build them designed to work with heatermeters and Rotodampers. He wanted to be able to have TC and probe connections be part of the smoker, inside a junction box. That way all the wires would be out of sight except for one cable from the heatermeter and of course power.

Since the Cat5 jack only has 4 free wires and one of them needs to be dedicated ground for the TC and probes, that only leaves 2 wires available for 2 probes. Well we needed one more wire connection and I stumbled on a USB3 type A jack, which has 9 wires available to use, and there by giving us the 3 probes connection and TC. I had to build the part in Eagle, and since I had lots of practice with the RD adapter board, that was easy to do, on the first try. I checked all the connections and all seems good to go to solder the rest of the boards this weekend.

Also note that this fits all cases just fine, although there is a small gap between the power plug and the USB jack and also a small gap above the usb jack and on this version it does stick out a tad more, but I will fix that if anybody would want to try this themselves as I was not sure how it was going to work when I placed the part on the board.

Also, this adds about .60 cents more to the cost, not including USB cable

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Yeah definitely an option although now I would say it causes even more confusion about where to plug into, given that there are 4 other USB jacks right next to the USB jack that isn't a USB jack! I've actually ordered a ton of silicone RJ45 plugs to include in the HeaterMeter kits so people can plug their Pi's ethernet jack to not cause confusion. I've plugged into it several times by mistake.

That's what's so great about open source though, you make it fit your needs!
 
Bryan Mayland said:
Yeah definitely an option although now I would say it causes even more confusion about where to plug into, given that there are 4 other USB jacks right next to the USB jack that isn't a USB jack! I've actually ordered a ton of silicone RJ45 plugs to include in the HeaterMeter kits so people can plug their Pi's ethernet jack to not cause confusion. I've plugged into it several times by mistake.

That's what's so great about open source though, you make it fit your needs!
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Most people, now days, are probably using the A+, as its cheaper and easier to find. But, you are correct in that it would be an issue with the Rpi B version. The Rj45 jacks can be easily mistaken as the only difference then the two is ones plastic and the Pi has metal shield around it. I have done it a few times myself, lol.
 
Yah, I have plugged the CAT5 jack into the wrong plug too, good news is either way you make that mistake it wont harm anything. Im not sure about your USB plug, depending on how it is wired it may or may not cause a problem with whatever USB device you mistakenly plug into it.
The extra wire is nice for your scenario, but I still prefer the CAT5 cable for the HM output because they are available in longer lengths (USB cable are generally short) and CAT5 cables can be easily custom made to any length.
 
RalphTrimble said:
The extra wire is nice for your scenario, but I still prefer the CAT5 cable for the HM output because they are available in longer lengths (USB cable are generally short) and CAT5 cables can be easily custom made to any length.
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I just keep breaking the little tab off mine, so I got the kind when the little cozy that goes around the tab and those are just a pain to unplug. :( #HeaterMeterProblems
 
The tab on the CAT5 jacks can fail, 'cause typically a LAN cable isn't disconnected regularly, so they are not designed to be heavy duty.... but crimping a new end on a CAT5 cable is pretty easy, and cheap after you own the crimper.

On the 9-pin connector, another option would be a DB-9 serial port type connector... Though probably not as sleek as the USB connectors, you could wire them up using whatever kind of wires you want, at whatever length, rather than having to use the wires they have in the USB cable. But from what I've heard about this project John is working on the USB plug should be pretty slick, as long as the inside wiring scheme of the USB cable plays nice with the HM.....
 
Yeah, I will get pictures of the final install. From what I have seen so far the smokers are going to be pretty nice. Made with old telephone cabinets.
 
John Bostwick said:
Yeah, I will get pictures of the final install. From what I have seen so far the smokers are going to be pretty nice. Made with old telephone cabinets.
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Would really love to see a smoker made from a old telco cabinet. Part of my work is telephone systems and my supplier is a friend and I know he will want to see that. Please post pics when available.
 
I have the board almost all soldered up and the USB works fine. It would work fine in a standard case but the Customer that's getting the USB version will be modifying the case to fit the USB. I still need to solder up the switch for the TC, I will do that Sunday, well today, I guess, lol.

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