Terrarium Update

As promised yesterday, I have got a terrarium update for you today.

Last week my father prepared it so I can be moved to my Apartment. Yesterday a coworker helped me to bring it upstairs. It only got the tiles on the bottom inside, but it is already pretty heavy.

With the acrylic glass on two sides and the rest wood, it really needs two people to take it somewhere.

After we lifted it up the stairs, we placed it on a designated table. Later, I started to work on the electronics. On the bottom I’ve got three 1Wire temperature sensors placed and on top on the left side is a radiant heater mounted.

On Friday evening I prepared one of my raspberry pies to be the controller of everything. I think in one of the last updates I wrote about TerrariumPI, the software I’m using.

It reads all sensor data and can also control stuff (I’ve got an 8-part relais module for 230-volt power).

Currently, only the heating light and the temperature sensors are measured and controlled, but I already ordered some more sensors.

Today I had it running for the first time on “full auto mode”. The temperature average throughout the day should be at 28 degrees celsius. Sadly, with the one heating element, I can get this temperature only on the left side.

But on the left side, it should have about 40 degrees celsius at day. To be the best for the geckos the terrarium should provide a temperature gradient from the 40-degree warm side to a 28-degree cold side. At night the temperature should drop to about 20 degrees. At least that is working.

In the upcoming week, I probably won’t have time to work on it, but I’m not in a rush. The breeder I want to order from doesn’t have babies anyway.

If put some pictures on the GitHub page of terrarium pi, you can view them here.