Open-Source Microcontrollers for Science - Open-Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Research Costs - page 75

FIGURE 4.17 Hose connections between the chamber and the polar bear dehumidifier.
4.5.5 Bear Chamber software and controls
To download the free and open-source software needed to run your Bear Chamber, go
to http://sourceforge.net/projects/bearproject/ . 31 Download the file En-
viro_Chamber_V1_RodrigoFaria.zip by clicking on the green download buton. This software
written by Rodrigo Faria should work out of the box. It will not involve any changes or coding
understanding if you followed the wiring instructions above. However, improvements, im-
proved functionality, or alternative implementations can be done (and are encouraged) by as-
signing different pins to the components and by editing the programming source code. 32 In-
side the zip file are two folders: (1) Enviro_Chamber_V1_RodrigoFaria and (2) libraries along
with a readme.txt file. The first folder contains the Arduino .ino files specific for this project
and the second, the generalizable libraries that make coding with an Arduino so fast and easy.
Follow the instructions in the readme.txt, which are the following:
1. Copy the folders inside libraries to Arduino's libraries folder on your computer.
2. Open Enviro_Chmaber_V1_RodrigoFaria and upload to Arduino MEGA 2560. 33 To do this,
follow the details in the “Working with Arduino” section above. Be sure to select the correct
serial port and board, press the upload buton in the toolbar or select File > Upload in the
menu.
4.5.6 Controller concepts
With the sketches uploaded to the Arduino, the Bear Chamber is now ready for operation and
is controlled with the keypad and display as shown in Figure 4.18 . There are two basic control
concepts that need to be understood to operate the Bear Chamber: temperature and humidity.