Have my work cut out for me

[jevan23]

Well, its time. That special time when an electronic systems engineering student must put his knowledge to the test and create a project to complete in the next 8 months. "Do something your interested in" says Dr. C. Hmmm.. now what could that be? Something to do with a marine tank? Yes indeed. By April of '06, I will have created a marine aquarium controller/monitor.
Ever had a heater go on the fritz and fry all your fish?
Ever had fluctuating salinity because of evaporation?
Ever thought it would be handy to be able to turn off those 2 pumps when its feeding time?
Ever wanted to know your pH without getting out your chemistry set?
Ever wondered how much power your fish tank is actually using?
Ever forget when your last water change was?

I plan to solve these problems by making a small, easy to use unit with an LCD screen to display all pertanent information, along with easy calibration for all measurements mentioned above.

Since theres a lot of you out there thats been in the hobby for decades, i wanted to post my idea here to see if you see any flaws in the idea, or if theres some other important parameter or function i have overlooked.

All critizism will be appreciated! :toss-pute

[JAFO]

I'd buy one for $29.99 ....... make it so, number 1.

[Invigor]

I'd buy one for $29.99 ....... make it so, number 1.

no deal, the microprocessor alone is like $100. :P

and I've already got dibs on "beta 2" as ryan's is beta 1

[cary Henderson]

off hand what processor you gonna use?

[stinga]

I would use the Xr5600lmnop,they work great!:Naughty:

[jevan23]

Im using the motorolla 68HC9S12, or HC12 for short. 68 pin version, runs at a blistering 24MHz!
:cop2:

[cary Henderson]

well speed isn't the factor its all gonna be how well you know your chip to be able to pull all the tests/factors you need out of it..personally was an old atmel guy and still love em..big 8 mhz but knew the chip inside out...good luck..

[Bob Roberts]

So now you have a nice little controler, but how much is the hardware going to be to get it to do all these things? This I thik will be the factor that will kill it.

[clown_boy]

shouldnt be too bad, money wise. most of the work i will try to do in software, such as calibration and whatnot. Of course prototypes are always more expensive, cause its just trial and error to see what chips will perform what i need them to do best.
Oh one question, if you were going to buy something like this, would you want the LCD screen and select buttons in a small box sitting by your aquarium, or in a sort of multi-meter casing, or something you could stick on the corner of your aquarium?

P.S. John, i found another supplier of the microprocessor, $36