Solar water Temperature logging data

[cleanworkbench]

Am i in the right dept for asking about temp data logging. I,m looking into collecting data time vs temp for a diy passive solar system i want to build and want to use my laptop with either open source or maybe rasp pi or some very cheap method. Any suggestions please.

[maat]

I can recommend Tinkerforge (https://www.tinkerforge.com). I am not affiliated, but I use them for logging at home and in the labs at university. They are open source (both software and hardware) and have great support for different programming languages. Tinkerforge offers both a Thermocouple bicklet (https://www.tinkerforge.com/en/doc/Hardware/Bricklets/Thermocouple_V2.html#thermocouple-v2-bricklet) and a PTC bricklet (https://www.tinkerforge.com/en/doc/Hardware/Bricklets/PTC_V2.html).

[cleanworkbench]

Thanks Maat . You,ll have to excuse here as your talking to an oldie !!!
 Tinkerforge looks good . Do i need a bricklet for every thermo couple channel and is it all through RS232. Going to have to get a RS232 card for the mother board here .
Any idea of costs please.

[beanflying]

There is a huge number of hardware options out there what you should maybe look at is does the available software do what you want 'easily'. Software for this sort of project is the time killer.

If you feel like a software challenge then rolling your own with an Ardiuno or Pi base with some extra blocks of hardware is fairly straight forward. An Arduino or ESP (WiFi) based board with a couple of Maxim  K type eBay auction: #282551916471 or RTD eBay auction: #283280456965 would be one path to go down.

This neat WiFi 4 channel one was on Crowd supply recently and is now in production phase https://www.crowdsupply.com/capable-robot-components/sensetemp

Personally for a one off I would look for an off the shelf solution with the best software already available unless you have the time/skills to write code.

[maat]

@cleanworkbench: The Tinkerforge system requires one Masterbrick (https://www.tinkerforge.com/en/doc/Hardware/Bricks/Master_Brick.html), which controls up to 4 so called bricklets. Up to 4 Master bricks can be stacked onto each other. The whole stack can communicate through USB and there are several extensions available (https://www.tinkerforge.com/en/doc/Hardware/Master_Extensions/Master_Extensions.html). We usually run those stacks through Ethernet + PoE, because it removes the necessity to have a separate power cable, but RS485 is also possible.

Tinkerforge is not the cheapest system to buy into, but it is very polished and has excellent support, both hardware and software wise. The API pretty much hides any low level hardware stuff, which is also one of the reason we have it in the labs, to keep the barier to entry low for new students.

That SenseTemp project also looks very nice, but it is much closer to the hardware.

[cleanworkbench]

Thanks guys for the info . This is all new territory for me i did not even realize stuff like this existed . I,m going to have to study this info and think about whats best , very interesting Thanks.