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Pre-made complete units


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#1 BitFlipper

BitFlipper

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Posted 17 July 2012 - 12:51 AM

OK it's been a while since I've posted here or even visited these forums so I'm a bit out of the loop so excuse my ignorance...

I bought a house and it came with a pool that has a solar water heater. The solar water heater controller is ancient (see here), and frankly isn't working properly. There is some interactions between currently available sunlight, current water temperature, and how long the main pump has already been on. The controller basically opens/closes a valve that allows water to either flow through the panels or bypass the panels. The reason it isn't working properly right now is a bit involved to go into but basically has to do with startup conditions where the pump has to initially push the water up two stories and this sometimes prevents the pump from priming properly. There needs to be some delay introduced before the panel valve opens.

Anyway, I'm thinking of creating my own controller that can manage the solar panel valve more accurately. I'm also considering making this new controller take over ALL management, including the main pump and booster pump operations (which is really just turning each pump on/off at the right time and making sure the booster pump only runs when the main pump is running - simple stuff really). I recently replaced the ancient mechanical pump timers with this unit.

Well, that's not really the problem (and probably a bit more info than what is required but it is good to give some context I guess). What I really want to get at is that I'm looking for a pre-made complete Netduino unit that has the following features:

1. Contained in an all-weather enclosure that can be placed outside. This is not a deal-breaker as I can always put the unit inside another all-weather enclosure if needed.

2. Has a dot-matrix LCD display that can be programmed to display whatever I need (including the current time, soft-buttons, setup steps etc).

3. Has 4 or more soft-buttons (more would be better).

4. Has outputs that can drive at least 3 relays directly.

5. Has inputs for at least 2 temperature sensors.

6. Has a backup battery that can retain the current setup in case of power failures (also not a deal breaker but would be nice).

I have done a few Netduino projects in the past however this time I really don't want to spend too much time making a klugy box that is never going to look right. I need a professional pre-made box that has all the right hardware already wired in.

Any suggestions?

EDIT: Hmm, stumbled up this. Might be a bit overkill but it'll sure make a cool, professional looking control panel for any project. Anyone have experience with this particular product?




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