Burgerman wrote:I heard arduino, programming and my head exploded. I cannot do that. Be easier to learn klingon.
It is FAR simpler than the Roboteq, especially since it sounds like what you are doing is pretty simple....
The Arduino is basically intended as an 'entry level' system, so there are huge amounts of resources on how to, and everything is kept as simple as possible.
An Arduino basically has a bunch of pins that are inputs or outputs - and you have a section in the program to tell it which they are... If I'm understanding the way you've described the system, there are really just two signals you control - one for each set of cells... The pressure is automatically handled by the pump electronics... (if there is a pump sensor that would be a 3rd signal) Being paranoid, I'd be tempted to add a simple pressure switch of some sort that would let you know if there is a loss of pressure (leak, pump failure, etc), and an alarm...
Wire each signal to a pin - you might need to use relays, FETs or other stuff to get to the right voltage, and not pull to much current... You will also give it a power supply, 5-12VDC
Then the programming fun begins...
There is an entire development environment, with lots of sample code and so forth that you install on your PC. You do all the code writing on the PC and download it to the Arduino via USB...
The first section is just telling it what pins you are using, and what they are for. Optionally (and recommended) you can give them nice names to call them later, and what state they should go to when the board boots up or resets... You can also define names for variables that you refer to later
So.... (imitation code, I'd have to look up the exact syntax...)
Pin 7 - Output, CELL_A (off)
Pin 8 - Output, CELL_B (off)
Pin 9 - Input, PRESSURE_SWITCH
Pin10 - Output, ALARM (off)
DEFINE WAIT_TIME = (5 minutes in milliseconds)
The second section is the main part, which loops endlessly once the board is booted up, and does the real work....
CELL_A - ON
CELL_B - OFF
IF PRESSURE_SWITCH = <good> DO NOTHING, ELSE ALARM ON
PAUSE_WITHOUT_DELAY WAIT_TIME
CELL_A - OFF
CELL_B - ON
IF PRESSURE_SWITCH = <good> DO NOTHING, ELSE ALARM ON
PAUSE_WITHOUT_DELAY WAIT_TIME
Now you can change the timing just by changing the value for "WAIT_TIME" in the first section, recompiling and downloading the new code....
Compare that with doing the same thing in discrete components, and then changing the timing....
ex-Gooserider