Repurpose SBC2 and SBC3

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anewsome
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Repurpose SBC2 and SBC3

Post by anewsome »

Hello everyone. Many years ago, around 2012 I made a few cool projects using Phidgets. I purchased an SBC2 and then later an SBC3. For the past few years, they've been collecting dust since I don't really use the Phidgets ecosystem any longer.

I'm wondering if anyone has done anything interesting with repurposing the SBC2 or 3 to do something other than collect dust.

Thanks in advance!
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Patrick
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Re: Repurpose SBC2 and SBC3

Post by Patrick »

I'm using a few of them around the house to collect temperature (indoor/outdoor), humidity, power, etc. data.

The SBC4 is a pretty big upgrade in terms of speed - much nicer to develop on, but the old SBCs still keep on trucking, and still support the latest libraries and devices.

-Patrick
anewsome
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Re: Repurpose SBC2 and SBC3

Post by anewsome »

Hey Patrick. Good to hear from ya. It's been a few years, maybe 10 years or so. I do have plenty of Arduino MCU collecting temp, humidty, plant moisture, etc.

I'll get the old SBC plugged in and make sure they work, then I'll see if I'll get something useful going on them.
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mparadis
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Re: Repurpose SBC2 and SBC3

Post by mparadis »

For a while I was using one with a webcam and the free Motion library because weird stuff was showing up in my recycling bins.

I recently set up a pihole at my house for DNS-level ad blocking (on a pi zero), it might be possible to run it on an SBC instead.
landryphidget
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Re: Repurpose SBC2 and SBC3

Post by landryphidget »

They may be collecting dust, however my two sbc's are still working in my smart home :
These images are from my iPhone. The phidgets solar hot water texts me if there are temps and pressures out of spec or water leaks present and there is an emergency shut off. Yea, these systems do fail and mine has.
The phidgets weather station texts me if sudden drops in barometric or increases wind gusts, and these sensors interface with may smart devices for example sprinkler so off after so may inches of rain.

Just need three things sbc, a sensor, and indigo domomtics home automation software with the phidget plug in installed. With that set up you can have phidget inputs interact with over 50 brands of smart devices in your house. For ex. have indigo turn on pipe tape heater plugged into a smart plug after pipe temperatures sensor input from phidgets sbc reaches a certain temperature. The list is endless. The learning curve involves 4 functions in indigo. Everything is a device or variable ( calc value from a device or set of devices). 1 create a device (ex phidgets sensor) 2 Create a Trigger ( ex do something with input like toggle a switch). 3 Create a schedule 4 It is all easy GUI however it has a built in python IDE so program away ( ex: custom sensor formula). So dust off that SBC and make a really smart home .
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