Week 3 and 4 Update

So it's been a little while since my last update.  I've done some work though.  I received my sensors in the mail last week and bought most of the electronic components necessary for the project.  I built up the control circuit for the light, heating pad, and solenoid on a small breadboard.  I've got the circuit working, but have only tested it on an LED.  The picture below is the first go around and I believe it's wrong, but I doubt anyone would have noticed. Click the picture to see the rest.


As for the solenoid, I'm still having trouble figuring out what voltage to send it to get it to operate.  I get the feeling this will be the choke point in this project.

I have finally located some mister nozzles that I feel confident in purchasing.  They are 0.5 gallons/hour mister nozzles intended for outdoor patio cooling.  They connect to 1/4" flexible tubing which is really cheap.  To affix the tubing to my solenoid valve, I'll use an off the shelf adapter from Garden Hose Thread(GHT) to 1/4" barb adapter.  I have found the female GHT adapter, but can't find a male version.

In the short future, I plan to make a cost table.  I'll make two of these, one for the prototype build costs, and the other for production build costs.  The prototype cost table will include everything bought for this project, while the production cost table will only include parts used in the final build and will be a better measure of the cost for anyone that wants to duplicate my work.

Until next time, continue being creative.