#1 automated Heat system with linux

[Anonymous]

I am trying build a automated thermostat system that
runs linux. This system would be very simple. At a
certain temp a fan would come on and turn off. At a
certain temp a curtain would open or close, and at a
certain temp a gas heater would kick on and off. These
items are all controled by a simple on off switch. I am
fairly familiar with linux and running cron, and I feel like i
could write a shell script to run it. But I am not sure
what hard ware I will need. I know I need something to
send a signal to my switches and I know I would need
some sort of thermostat device that the computer could
pole for information. I would appreciate any help.
You can email me at echap@yahoo.com

Thanks
Ed

[Nobody/Anonymous]

Logged In: NO

for hardware, you need

1. Thermister to input temperature
2. Relay for the fan
3 Relay for the heater
4. Relay, motor, limit switches for curtain
5. Something that will talk to the relays and thermister. IO Select makes some great devices in the WDL family which will talk ModBus via RS 485; you can get a serial to RS485 converter for less than $10.00 USD off ebay.
6. Power supply, wires and fuses

And non-hardware, time to invest in learning control programming.