arduino incubator controls for dummies

[gpop1]

connecting the hardware together

I am not responsible for any damage. Smoke can be considered part of learning.

some of the connection are going to be done via the breadboard as certain hardware will share the same pins and this will make the wiring easier
This in listed in steps to allow you to see if you have made a mistake before getting to a point you are confused


part 1

install breadboard power supply to breadboard and set jumper to 5v. Plug in power brick #1 then plug into the breadboard power supply.

Power light should indicate that supply is online
(unplug power brick when adding wiring)

part 2 lcd

if you have loaded the arduino with the program provided then you are ready to go to the next step.

wire#1 arduino negative to breadboard negative
wire#2 breadboard positive to lcd negative
wire#3 breadboard negative to lcd negative
wire#4 uno A4 to breadboard A1 (mega sda pin 20)
wire#5 uno A5 to breadboard A2 (mega scl pin 21)
wire#6 breadboard b1 to lcd pin marked sda
wire#7 breadboard b2 to lcd pin marked scl

test by plugging in power brick to #2 to arduino and power brick #1 to the bead board power supply

lcd should light up and something should be displayed. If nothing is displayed check screw on back of lcd to adjust brightness, Next check wiring, then check that you entered the correct number in the code as explained during arduino set up..(the 0x3f).....the 0 is a zero not the letter o.

LiquidCrystal_I2C lcd(0x3F, 2, 1, 0, 4, 5, 6, 7, 3, POSITIVE);

part 3 rtc

push the rtc into the bread board at i1 to i6 (some rtc are different so look at the rtc and follow the names on the board)

wire#8 breadboard positive to rtc postive
wire#9 breadboard negative to rtc negative
wire#10 breadboard c1 to sda pin on rtc
wire#11 breadboard c2 to scl pin on rtc

plug in and test.....you should now see the seconds ticking on the clock.

part 4 keyboard

wire#12 arduino pin 4 to breadboard A10
wire#13 arduino pin 5 to breadboard A11
wire#14 arduino pin 6 to breadboard A12
wire#15 arduino pin 7 to breadboard A13
wire#16 breadboard b10 to keypad button 2
wire#17 breadboard b11 to keypad button 1
wire#18 breadboard b12 to keypad button 3
wire#19 breadboard b13 to keypad button 4
wire#20 keypad common to breadboard neagtive

plug in and test..... 1 key should make the screen change 2 keys should be up and down and the last key will return to home screen.

If no keys work check wiring common has to be negative on bread board.

if keys work but in the wrong order swap wires around between keys until you get them in the order you are happy with (do not change the common wire)

part 5

connecting the dht22 sensor

wire#21 arduino positive to breadboard A20
wire#22 dht22 positive to breadboard b20
wire#23 dht22 negative to breadboard negative
wire#24 arduino pin 2 to breadboard e21
wire#25 dht22 sense pin to breadboard d21
10k resistor from breadboard c21 to breadboard positive (anyway around)

test and you should see after a few seconds temp and humidity displayed on the screen

now is a good time to use the buttons and screen to do a factory reset.


part 6

connecting the relays

by now you should understand the basics so im just going to list arduino to relay pins.

wire#26 relay pin marked positive to breadboard positive
wire#27 relay pin marked negative to breadboard negative
wire#28 arduino A0 to relay in1 (heater)
wire#29 arduino A1 to relay in2 (turner relay 1)
wire#30 arduino A2 to relay in3 (turner relay 2)
wire#31 arduino A3 to relay in4 (alarm relay)
wire#32 arduino 10 to relay in5 (humidity relay)
wire#33 arduino 12 to relay in6 (light relay)



part 6 options

if you are using a tilt table turner or a passive speaker then pick the wiring connections are listed below

(tells when turner is tilted on cam or reversing)
Wire#34 Breadboard negative to micro switch (turner stop)
wire#35 arduino 8 to micro switch (turner stop)

(tells if turner went to far only used on reversing turner)
Wire#36 Breadboard negative to micro switch (E stop)
wire#37 arduino 9 to micro switch (E stop)

(audio alarm passive speaker)
wire#38 breadboard negative to speaker negative (via breadboard)
wire#39 arduino pin 11 to speaker positive (via breadboard)

Thats the arduino side wired.

 

[gpop1]

connecting relays to items.



Turn all power off before making any connections.

If you can wire a light switch then this should be simple as the relay is nothing more than a light switch that's turned on and off by the arduino.

relay one is for the heater so lets start there.

on a normal light bulb you run plug live to the light switch line screw then from the light switch load screw to the bulb holder gold screw. Neutral goes from the other side of the light bulb base (silver screw) back to the plug.

Using a relay you run live from the plug to the relay common then connect the normally open on the relay to the bulb base. Neutral still goes back to the plug from the bulb base like it normally would.

The relays are switches so they are not bothered by the voltage being used. So the heater might be 120v AC and the humidity pump might be 5vDC as long as you connect one relay at a time and don't mix them up then everything should be fine.

No harm is posting pictures or asking questions so we can check your work before testing

 

[gpop1]

Tilt table reverse option dc

if you plan to use this option be aware that it is direct current only (dc)

a easy way to slow down a dc motor is to reduce the voltage so a motor rated for 12vdc would run slower if you connect it to 6vdc

this is more designed to be used with a linear actuator or a car window motor

 

[gpop1]

always on turner option is the standard tray design that comes in some incubators. The motor runs really slow and turns in about 2hrs

the timed on/delay option is the cheap made in china turner that turns ever 2 hours for about 15 seconds (times are settable in the program and you can test the turner with out having to wait until its ready to turn)

all turners can be disabled/enabled from the keypad

the cam turner option in the program is for a design that I have used in the past on a home made tilt table




it uses a 0.6rpm gear reduced 12vdc motor

I can post more details on how this works if anyone's interested. I wrote this program as I plan on using it on incubators I build in the future so I have added some options that I will be using in the future but they might be something you are interested in.

 

[gpop1]

Thinking about adding a cool down option im just not sure how the logic of that should work

I know the idea is to make the condition in the incubator similar to the conditions in a nest. So allowing the eggs to cool the same way they would when a broody leaves to eat could be a option.

The question is
1/ how often
2/ how long would they be allowed to cool
3/ what's the min temp you would allow before stabilizing the heat
4/ any other conditions (no turning during this time? etc)

 

[Natchez]

I'm trying to run this code on a arduino uno with a adafruit i2c adapter and the display is shiwing blocks and no backlight can you help with my problem

 

[zakato]

Hi all. I want to practice this incub chicken egg incubator control code as a project but i have some problem when i compile the code.
1) I can compile it but There are some warning.
2) Then dht sensor send nothing on the lcd. To make sure my dht is ok, i already tested it several time with different code and it works.
3) I can not change month and year setting via lcd
See error attached
Could you help please as it is very important for me.
Thanks in advance

 

[Natchez]

hi can anybody help me with this code I can't set the month and year only the day and time

 

[essam]

how we ca add cooling to the code

 

[mirec319]

Hi, this is great project. Have one problem. The button Menu, and Home screen works well, but buttons plus a minus don't work at all. I put them on different pins (22, and 23), and still nothing. Can someone help me please. Thans from Slovakia