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which microcontroller should i use ?

tonny

Aug 10, 2015
5
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Aug 10, 2015
Messages
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so im just an electronic hobbyist here,i came up with an idea to replace all the thermocontroller (the one in the yellow square)
http://s1072.photobucket.com/user/Tonny_Cassidy/media/20150810_215142_zps4cwon1ih.jpg.html

with a homemade digital controller that only have 1 7 or 10 inch LCD which looks like this
this is my concept design
http://s1072.photobucket.com/user/Tonny_Cassidy/media/2 B_zpsk04gotzl.jpg.html

the problem is that i dont know which microcontroller is suitable for this

the microcontroller will :
drive an lcd display
receiving reading from a current transformer (5 OF THEM)
receive a thermocouple reading (5 OF THEM)
have enough output for a relay array (x8 relay array ,only 5 will be used)
read 3 phase mains voltage

any recommendations ?
 

Gryd3

Jun 25, 2014
4,098
Joined
Jun 25, 2014
Messages
4,098
Well... luckily you aren't asking the 'best' microcontroller to use... because that is a loaded question.

That said. What kind of programming experience do you have?

You can of course do this with a microcontroller, but that's certainly way above my head.
Other may be able to help you do this.

I'm mostly computer oriented, so I would personally recommend an 'embedded' linux solution. This may not be ideal depending on how you look at it, but I think it leaves you with more options for updates/upgrades down the road.
You would essentially find and buy a small sbc (Single Board Computer) like the raspberrypi or beaglebone (as examples), but any device should do just fine.
There are a number of displays here as well... and although they are smaller than you had requested, they offer touch screen and most have an embedded OS. http://www.4dsystems.com.au/products
From here, you need to look as sensors. You can directly interface with them, or you can rely on additional modules that the microcontroller or sbc can address and request data from. An example of this is an "i2c ADC". This device offloads the job of converting the analogue voltage to digital from the main microcontroller to a small dedicated IC. Regardless of the communication protocol, this method will allow you to deal with many more inputs and outputs by offloading the responsibility to other parts. This also means that a power surge or short circuit on an output may only damage the i2c device which may only cost between $1-5 instead of burning out a more expensive microcontroller or very expensive embedded computer.

I wish you the best of luck, and wish I had more details. Hopefully someone else can fill in some more blanks ;)
 
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