In simple terms, I need to grab the output of a temp sensor and make that information available to either a web page or perhaps even better a phone app.

I also would need to log and plot said temp against time.

Anyone got any advice on where to start with this?!!?!?!?!? I am quite willing to learn some programming or app creation but need a clue on where to start.

Starting with the basics, what sort of output does the temp sensor provide? RS232? USB? Bluetooth? WebService? etc.

I have a blank page, i don't have anything yet. though i would like to keep hardware to a min. ie I don't want an old pc running linux doing data aquisition and then running a webserver if I can avoid it.

I think I might be able to use my Netgear NAS to serve out web content.

I wouldn't mind doing a microcontroller project to collect and send it on

There are commercially available things that do what you are asking...

Or, the more "DIY" approach... http://www.open-electronics.org/products-page/


If you could send the data via a GSM link you could have a recieving computer somewhere to aslimilate the data.

Google's App Inventor is quite nice and easy to use

http://www.appinventorbeta.com

Under the "Not ready for prime time" it does have a facility to pull from an external web source

http://www.newportus.com/ppt/zseries.html offer an all in one device for not much money?

Before you get carried away with web apps and phone apps, how do you get the data out of the sensor? Without that all apps are pointless.

What is the sensor?

Where is the sensor?

I had planned on using a thermocouple to measure the liquid temp of a small tank??

If I used an arduino or something similar could I not just get one of the analogue pins to monitor the voltage from the thermocouple and display the value as in this example which uses the ethernet shield to serve the output to the web.

Seems like it would do everything I want, plus i'd learn a bit about programming.

quote:

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Originally posted by liam.mccaffrey
I had planned on using a thermocouple to measure the liquid temp of a small tank??

If I used an arduino or something similar could I not just get one of the analogue pins to monitor the voltage from the thermocouple and display the value as in this example which uses the ethernet shield to serve the output to the web.

Seems like it would do everything I want, plus i'd learn a bit about programming.

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Look at these http://www.quasarelectronics.com/3145-ds18s20-computer-serial-temperature-data-logger.htm

Or http://www.ladyada.net/make/logshield/lighttemp.html

thankyou for all your suggestions guys, very interesting
I think i can do what i want and more

I'm working on a project at work at the moment using type K thermocouples, and I've used the MAX31855 chip from Maxim which gives the temperature reading via a simple SPI interface. Free samples on the Maxim website!

May be worth a look?