Software for monitoring Dallas Microlan / 1-Wire sensors.
The program will run in demo mode with one temperature sensor... you can "try before you buy". If you like what you see, you can upgrade to a more capable license without having to reinstall the program.
Especially if you already have Dallas 1-Wire (aka MicroLan) weather sensors deployed please give this product, DS025, a try? It won't upset your current software. (Though you won't be able to run both at the same time on the same Dallas sensors! I should also mention that DS025 is not hub friendly.) When DS025 installs, it doesn't make registry entries or require any .dlls beyond the free ones from Dallas, needed for any MicroLan.
The program displays graphs of the last 9 days' weather. It records the weather data in a text file for later use.
While throughout this I speak of "weather", the program can perfectly well display other data. It will collect data from 1-Wire temperature sensors, counters and ADCs. (DS1820 - type chips, DS2423 counters, and the marvelous DS2438... analog to digital converter and temperature sensor.) If you are using the application for non-weather data, please let me know?
This is what the program produces....
Note also: The text which is in color was added to the screenshot, to explain what different lines portray.
Remote monitoring: In conjunction with FarWatch, the display can be seen from any computer on the internet.
Since that screenshot was created, a new feature has been added to the program. With some additional hardware, the program can monitor "on/off" phenomena... e.g. the operation of a water pump, the opening of a door, the turning on of a heating system. A separate page with details is provided, if you are interested.
The diagonal green line shows that the program had just been restarted. The data in the display had been reloaded from the data log. "Now" is always at the right hand edge. As time passes, the display scrolls to the left. (The green line is gradually lost.)
Not shown in the screenshot are two further windows. One gives the current values of most of your sensors, displayed numerically. The other shows recent errors as reported by the MicroLan.
The circular icon at the upper right, between "Insert comment" and "Show Celsius" was displaying the current wind direction. Wind direction sensing is not part of the current version of the program. (Sorry).
Of course, the program is not confined to monitoring weather. It will display readings from Dallas temperature sensing chips (DS1820), counters (DS2423), and ADC chips (DS2438). Another user of Dallas chips amused his children by monitoring their hamster's exercise wheel, showing that the hamster was most active at night. This program could handle that. It can also monitor more than one temperature, so you could compare, say, house, greenhouse, pond and garden temperatures.
The program as it stands is not well suited to monitoring rapidly changing parameters, although if you need something for, say, 4 parameters, checked, say, once a minute, let me know, I'll see what I can do!
While the program does, at present, have rough edges, it is not user un-friendly in all respects! To configure this program for your chips, you just edit a simple text file. (Notepad will do fine, though I prefer Textpad from www.textpad.com)
If you do not already have 1-Wire sensors deployed, you'll need a little hardware and software... but neither is too expensive in cash or hassle. See my "Setting up for 1-Wire".
Click here to download a zip archive with the various files of the application in it. After you have saved it, and unzip files into the directory of your choice. BE ADVISED: When the .exe file is run, it will create two text files in the root directory of your C: drive. This is No Big Deal, and implicit in the declared function of the application, but I just wanted to be certain you are aware that this is going to happen. (The files hold the weather data records, and a log of any error reports.) The application does NOT make any changes to your registry.
Some "set up" details follow the "updates" section.
Updates.Start by downloading the file described in the previous paragraph, and using the files in that for an initial set-up. (You'll have to put them in the right places, and make a small edit to DS025ini.txt). DS025 should then run.
After that, consider replacing the following files....
DS025.exe
DS025.hlp
DS025manual.txt
You could, if you wanted, just over-write the copy arising from the self-extracting archive. However, instead I would recommend re-naming that something like "DS025old at 2009-11-17.exe" first, and then putting the new DS025.exe in the folder.
If you are a registered user of the program, and there haven't been extensive upgrades since you registered, you won't have to make any changes to your ini file... the new version will run with the old ini file. (This, for people who registered before 6/09 is probably NOT true. You may need to contact me for a new key, because of significant upgrades. Until February 2010, there will be no charge for such replacement keys... and the old software will continue to run with the old key indefinitely, if you don't want to upgrade.)
You will have to take "newer" out of the names of the following after downloading them. Your browser may simply open the last document. If it does, use your browser's "File | Save" menu option. Remember to move the renamed files to the right folders.
Click on the required item to download the update. You can do just one, or two, or all three.
Click here to download "DS025newer.exe" (Don't bother, if the version ID in your current DS025.exe (visible in title bar) is 20 November 2009... you already have the latest!)
Click here to download "DS025newer.hlp" (Don't bother, if the version ID in your current DS025.hlp (at the top of the Table of Contents page) is 20 November 2009... you already have the latest!) Note: The program does not (yet!) detect or display wind direction, despite a reference to wind direction (and the DS2450) in the help file.
Click here to download "DS025manual.txt" (Don't bother, if the version ID in your current DS025manual.txt (at the top of the page) is 20 November 2009... you already have the latest!)
As I said... sorry about all of that... but you would rather have the latest version, wouldn't you? (And if not, the old one works, anyway!)
When you've downloaded the files, you're not quite ready to run DS025.
If you use the optional DS025ini2.txt (which you will probably wish to), I'm afraid it must (sorry) be in a folder called DS025 in your C drive's root. I.e. "C:\DS025".
DS025.exe, DS025.hlp and DS025ini.txt can be where you want them, but must be in the same folder as each other. They might as well go in the folder "C:\DS025" along with the file DS025ini2.txt. (A simple shortcut to DS025.exe is all that's needed to start up the program.)
Lastly, to get the software running, use any simple text editor, open up DS025ini.txt, and...
Put your chip's id (obtain it with OneWireViewer) into the place indicated in the eleventh line, the one beginning with "k e" (K-space-E... that "e" or "d" at the start of each line is for "enabled/disabled")
Depending on the 1-wire adapter you are using, and where it is plugged in, you may need to change lines 8 and 9 (start "h" and "i".) (If you get the "TKB Error 20/ Dallas Error 3..." message, suspect this. Close DS025, re-edit the ini file, re-save the ini file. Try starting DS025 again. It should run now! There is more you can do, much more, to fine tune things and add features, but that's a story for another time, another place! (Details in help file and DS025manual.txt, supplied in the zip archive.)
Save your modified DS025ini.txt file, and try running DS025. (The first time it runs to a certain point, you'll see messages about the data recording files being created.)
Enjoy! I've had fun watching the weather with this program and antecedents since 1982. "Discovered" something I had not know about the wind despite a university degree and 8 years (by then) of teaching science.
My hobbyist weather-watching was also a good foundation for the meteorology elements of what I had to learn to pass a private pilot's license.
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