Need project ideas for a simple datalogger

[arunb]

Hi,

I just made a datalogger of the following specs.

14 Bit ADC
8 Single ended channels (0-5 V DC only)
Min. Sampling rate- 1 sample @ 1 Second, can be extended to several hours.

Uses DDE to communicate with Excel or other apps.

I saw one site ( pico dataloggers) , there they had given a list of small projects one could do with their dataloggers, like measuring capacitance, resistance etc.

I was hoping somebody could suggest similar examples ...I will be very grateful (!)

thanks
arunb

[treitmey]

Look at the Dallas Maxim DS1616. You get a RTC, inputs, VN RAM ect...
with the cost or 3 wires. ps. Its a little expensive.
http://pdfserv.maxim-ic.com/en/ds/DS1616.pdf


Anyone use this chip? Is there stock of these parts?

[Steve H]

I have a simple design posted at,

http://www.geocities.com/hagtronics/pic_das/index.html

Enjoy -

Steve H.

[libor]

I have an application/product idea:

Black box datalogger for cars (for crash investigation)
- would connect to the standard OBDII bus of the vehice to log and timestamp all relevant parameters (accelerator pedal position, speed, rpm, etc.)
- should have a 2 axis accelerometer built-in to log precise vehicle acceleration in the time domain
- log to flash eeprom or battery backed-up SRAM to store data in a non-volatile way
it would record the last 60 seconds and should stop recording when the car is involved in an accident (hard to tell this condition, lets use the accelerometer's value reaching airbag-ignition-level)
Such an inexpensive black-box device built in the vehicles would help a lot when investigating accidents.

The package should also have an analyzer software running on a PC, capable of downloading the logged data, that can be used to replay the events before and during the crash. A nice graphical, animated vehicle simulation would look great.

Version 2 could include a sound/noise recording feature, and I would also consider a version 3 recording compressed motion video with an onboard ccd camera (would require much more memory), the device could be mounted on the back side of the mirror looking forward thru the windscreen in the vehicle.

Anyone interested? (reaching here with my posting I am kinda hesitating if I should have shared my idea for free, looks not that bad at all :-)

[Steve H]

I remember the first 'Black Box' I saw for cars was designed in the 70's - same problem now as then - just who will put this in their own car? No one, so who will force one in every car? No one, since the people won't let it as they see it as an invasion of privacy.

Even when they have put these on bus's, trucks, etc. as I have seen in the 80's strangely enough they always break very soon - Hmmmm, why is that?

So this is not a new idea - but it still has the same problems - It's a big issue of personal rights. People feel like it won't help them, it will just make it easy to blame them.

The only way to make this a viable product is to change people - can't do that with code, no matter how clever it is!

:-)

Steve H.

[adrian]

[Steve H]

GM put a data recorder in the 80 something Cadillac's - I wonder if the data is admissable in court? Oh well who cares - I drive OK and if I don't and it causes a crash then I deserve to have the truth known. eh?

Interesting how this goes around and around.....

Steve H.

[Guest]