MONDAY:
My sensors arrived a day early! So today was wiring the break beam sensor, since I need a solder iron for the Lux sensor (will be getting that Tuesday, I believe) I am supposed to be doing the break beam on Friday, but will do it today and tomorrow because it is here, and I think I may need a new PowerSwitch, as the one I have is not registering any power whatsoever.
Wiring this sensor was kind of a drag, those little wire ends do not want to go in or stay in the breadboard! You can see I gave up and hooked the signal wire to a brown wire, it was giving me so much grief. Also, I am currently testing this beam at about 7 inches, and will need to come up with a way to mount them to the cage that will allow them to face each other accurately. The distance for the beam is up to 20 inches, I am hoping for that leeway.
Today:
Testing the break beam sensor with the PiCamera. The wiring and code I found for the break beam sensor was pretty much for Arduinos, so it took some digging to find someone that used it on a Pi. I did find a pretty simple code for it that works beautifully with the Pi Camera though! Wow, that last pic is awful, and my wiring looks like an electronics store blew up, but when I have everything connected and working, I will be rewiring for efficiency....it's just that those longer wires are darned easy to change! The rest of today will be spent working on the beam distance and how to time the camera.
A note about these sensors. They seem like a fluff addition, but they serve an important purpose. Chameleons are canopy dwellers, so they spend a large amount of time at the top of the foliage in their cage, basking under the UV and heat lamps. In the evening, they will move lower to a cooler part of the cage for the night. Having a sensor that sends an image to a website and a date/time will allow owners to see if their cham is moving up to bask. If they don't, it is a good indicator of a problem. Sick chams will linger lower in the cage.
