Arduino Real-Time Sensors

I programmed temperature and light level sensors controlled by an Arduino to provide real time output to an LCD display and the serial bus (for connection to a computer and potentially the internet).

Application

I chose to use the device to monitor my office.

I regularly feel that my office is cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon so I was interested to see what those temps actually were. I also think it's interesting to see the differences in light levels produced by my various lighting setups - bright fluorescents, dim incandescent, and even computer screens in the dark room.

I ended up completing the same project on two different Arduino boards:

• An advanced version with color backlight on the LCD display: Arduino Office Sensors with Backlight.

• The original version with the standard LCD display: Arduino Office Sensors.

Output

Sample LCD output:

.------------------.
| - JD's Office -  |
|  76.5°F  28 fc   |
'------------------'

Sample serial data:

Lighting - raw: 703, fc: 27;   Temperature - raw: 153, voltage: 0.75, °C: 24.72, °F: 76.50;

Source Code

You can view the source for both versions here: Colored Backlight Version and Original Version