April 28, 2013

New Humidor with "HumidorControl F"

After my plastic boxes for storing cigarboxes starts to burst again and I didn't even want to buy another box, I've decided to home build a humidorcabinet with active humidifier.

Base is an older solid wood cabinet from an internet auction. Especially practical was that the cabinet has a sufficiently large drawer that can hold the humidifier. As a self-made humidifier solution comes with acrylic polymers for use. This is controlled by an Arduino Uno with the self-developed software "HumidorControl F". The humidity is measured with 3 hygrometers type AM2303.

The following considerations for the hygrometer were in the foreground: If the humidor has an active air circulation, it doesn't matter where to measure the humidity. More important is the question, how to monitor the plausibility of the measured values​​? If I only use one hygrometer, I have to believe the measured value and do not mind if the hygrometer runs "out of hand". If I however use at least 3 hygrometers, which are installed so that they would provide the same values, I notice very quickly if a hygrometer provides incorrect values​​. In this case I do not consider the incorrect value and still have plausible values​​.
Another advantage is that I can smooth the measured values ​​with the mean. This is necessary because the hygrometer have technically fluctuations.

Humidor:
- Body made of pine wood, 10 years old
- Lined with neutral poplar plywood
- Aroma sheets of Cedro (not on photo)
- 150 L volume
- Drawer to hold the humidifier
- LED lighting (door and single switching)
- Sealing strip made ​​of solid wood
- Shelves made ​​of solid wood round logs
- Moisture loss of approximately 0.2% per day

Humidifier:
- 100 g of acrylic polymers
- 5 L capacity
- Speed ​​controlled fan 120 mm
- Performance in the humidor: 1% per minute in maximum

Controller:
- Hidden control electronics in the top cover
- Arduino Uno
- Self-developed control board on ProtoShield
- Relay Shield
- Display Shield 2x16, including input buttons

Addition May 2015: In the meantime I replaced the ProtoShield with a self-developed board, the HumiCon-Shield.

Software "HumidorControl F":
- Interval controlled air recirculation function
- Freely adjustable humidity (min, max)
- Different display modes for humidity and temperature
- Mean values​​, individual values
- Fault monitoring of the hygrometers
- Automatic error correction
- Display of the error in the display and the outside of the humidor