Rasberry PII PID Controller

[salfter]

Pi zero needs a laptop or other machine to program it, even for simple temp change. Save your time and $$ and get a commercial ready made working one. Tinker with a DC motor controlled prop or something, not a 700F pot of lead.

Not necessarily. Small touchscreens are available at low cost. I knocked together this temperature controller for controlling beer fermentation:

https://alfter.us/wp/beer-stuff/brew...-raspberry-pi/

It's a simple on/off job, not PID, but there's no reason you couldn't implement a PID algorithm on the Raspberry Pi. The article includes a description of the 1-Wire/I2C interface board I designed to connect a temperature sensor and a solid-state relay to the Pi:



Action shot:



Is this level of hardware hacking for everyone? Maybe not, but just as I've knocked together a fair bit of my homebrewing gear, I'm not above doing the same with shooting, reloading, or casting equipment if I see an opportunity. It's one more thing to tinker around with...after all, if this were all about saving time, we could just go down to the gun store and buy commercial ammo.

That said, the particular solution described here might not last too long around a lead spill. Either keep it well away from your pot, or consider other I/O options, like maybe a non-touch LCD plugged into the HDMI or composite port and a small USB keyboard, or maybe even a USB keypad if that'd be sufficient for the task at hand. Also, the DS18B20 won't last a second in a lead pot, but something like an LTC2485 will connect a thermocouple to I2C (or a MAX6675 if you want to use SPI).

...and all that said, I would be halfway-inclined to just buy a cheapie PID controller off of eBay and call it a day. I think you can get one for the cost of a Raspberry Pi, give or take.

[Walter Laich]

I see two sides to this, not that anyone asked.

The guys who are using the PID for either pot or oven control...

and the guys who want to experiment Blueberry Pi or whatever it's called (attempt at humor here, folks)

I know enough to build one from a kit but then I think of electricity as water running through a pipe so my skill is following printed directions with plenty of pictures. I'm happy and enjoy casting and powder coating a bit more with my assembly of them with off the shelf parts.

Others like the challenge of taking an inexpensive 'computer thingy' and trying to get it to work for this application. They are happy too.

There are many different roads to bliss, Kung Fu Panda

[BACKTOSHOOTING]

For S&G's, do a poll to find out just HOW many people on here even know what you are talking about!

Not a friggen clue