Regal 2250 - Remote boat monitor

[_Ed_]

Mark

Installation is simply "croc clips" to the batteries. It derives its power from the battery it is monitoring. I had not really thought about production, certainly the "Mk 1" prototype is exactly that, a prototype full of "rats nest" wiring etc. I am building a cleaner Mk 2 version for myself so will think about what could be built. I know a number of suppliers do very small production runs of custom circuit boards for Arduino projects that have been prepared in "Fritzing" or "Eagle" format (This are online design packages)

Martin

Eagle is good, its not on line, you just download it. The free version would do this, but re-design it around a pro-mini. No need to use a huge Uno, then send it of to a PCB house to have a small batch made. Can be done for around a few hundred (or even a lot less in some cases). I've done quite a few now. The most recent ones for that project I mentioned in Annas thread.

[mlines]

Ed, thats interesting, thanks.

I am very much a beginner at this (or more accurately a 55 year old going back to something for fun that I did for a living 35 years ago after a full electronics apprenticeship).

The idea of using the the pro-mini on a custom board appeals to me, I assume that if I create an "Eagle" file that companies can take this a do something with it?
I guess I would still need to create a PCB that would take "UNO" style plugin shields as that is how I am doing the GSM phone part (a plug in shield).

The way I was originally thinking of going was to use one of these boards as an adapter and to create a "shield stack". http://mayhewlabs.com/products/go-between-shield

The problem I was trying to address was the incompatibility of standard arduino shields. As you know they are like LEGO bricks that you stack up on top of each other. ie, You can have A+B as a combination and A + C as a combination but you cannot have A+B+C as B and C require the same ports to operate and therefore clash. I cannot have the GSM shield directly as it needs ports 0 and 1 for serial data which clashes with ports 0 and 1 for the Arduino terminal connection. By putting in a "go-between" card I can "move" ports around and still use the stacking function. Therefore the Mark 2 was going to look like:



But this is still more of a development rather than production version. I think I am rapidly getting out of my depth

For those who expressed an interest, what level of "user assembly" are you happy with? Are you looking for "plug and go" or could you put a stack like that shown into a box and connect (including solder) in some wires?

[ColinR]

If the instructions are at muppet level I could fit into a box and solder some wires on if guided carefully. I'm better with bits of wood, and screws, maybe a bit of fibreglassing. Not sure if I could be trusted to actually assemble the internals though,

I did make a radio from a kit one, it never worked

[Centaur]

If the instructions are at muppet level I could fit into a box and solder some wires on if guided carefully. I'm better with bits of wood, and screws, maybe a bit of fibreglassing. Not sure if I could be trusted to actually assemble the internals though,

I did make a radio from a kit one, it never worked

Likewise... although my radio did work! It was all a very long time ago, though, as I was still at school. It was very basic too, with a single ear-plug and a ferrite core that I had to wind up and down to change the frequency! I used to listen to Radio Luxembourg ('the great 208'!) on LW until the early hours of the morning - I used to be dead tired for school, so my parents would have gone nuts if they had known.

[_Ed_]

You would have to drop the shield idea completely and instead use a radio module like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SIM800L-GPRS- ... SwjVVVm7MX

Even better dont use the pro mini at all and instead use this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FULL-KIT-Atme ... SwBLlVPAHk It could be programmed on a uno board and plugged into your module. Or have a programming header. (best way). If you want to play with SMD then perhaps one of these! Doesnt look like it has a boot loader however, but thats not a problem. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ATMEL-ATMEGA3 ... SwIrNWFCwE

But you want to keep away from the shields as it would be enormous like the picture you posted, and wont really tolerate a boat enviroment! Also, yes. Design the PCB in Eagle, (that's a learning curve!) and then have them made. Loads of places do that these days. I can advise a few if you get that far.

[annageek]

Its interesting to see that there does seem to be a bit of a market for a budget version of the more high-end versions of what you've created here (http://www.boatwarden.com/ and http://www.yacht-sentinel.com/our-products/yacht-sentinel etc)

They all seem to use a wireless sensor network rather than wired sensors for everything for easier / less hassle install, but you pay around £500 for that privilege. A £50-100 wired in jobby may be just the ticket for those with smaller boats.

[mlines]

Fell at the first hurdle

Eagle is limited in size as to the PCB you can create in the free version, so it would not get even close to fitting (I used standard components rather than SMD as there is no chance of me surface mount soldering)

[annageek]

I've never used it, but get bugged daily by emails about it at work - May be worth looking at RS's design spark EDA software. I'm pretty sure it will export Gerber files t- the standard(ish) format used by PCB fabrication companies. It's free, though, and I think has fewer restrictions than eagle, providing you don't mind selling your soul to RS.

[mlines]

Yes, just googled it as you must have typed the message, off to look at design spark http://www.rs-online.com/designspark/el ... nspark-pcb

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[_Ed_]

Martin, you should, be able to get that all on a 10x15cm PCB. Don't forget you can quite happily have two sides to it, upper and lower.

What exactly do you have on it? As far as I can tell, you have the GSM module, temp/humidity and screen?