Hobby Project - Looking for some Scales Advice

[robbo]

Am thinking at the moment of remote monitoring and trending of one of my bee hives weight in an apiary.

I would like to collect the weight data at 30 minute intervals and 3G that info back to my scada pc probably once a day for trending. All that stuff is easy enough.

Been looking at platform scales and they do a base model for $100. It has no 'output' options fitted though.

Any idea how to get the weight signal out of something like this? 0-10 or 4-20 would be fine. Is there likely to be a pickup point on the PCB or something?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Electron...t=AU_Envelopes_Bags_Boxes&hash=item3a66a30aac

Its a personal hobby project, so time/hours = no issue, but $$ is an issue - haha

 

[JeffKiper]

Yes there are several scales that will have a serial or analog out.

How many frames do you have in your hive? We found the putting 9 frames in a 10 frame body work better.
I don't think I would do 30 minute intervals. Most low cost scales will not have enough resolution to pick up the difference in that. You could use that for alarms. If something is attacking your hives you can sound some siren.
Notice your activity times by the loss in weight.

 

[JesperMP]

I am guessing that there is a full-bridge resistive strain-gauge in there somewhere.
So you need a transmitter for a full-bridge resistive strain-gauge.
The display device probably has an all-integrated design, so there is nowhere to drain a signal.

The picture alone is not much to go by. You could try to get a full manual for the thing, or have look inside, or a specification sheet, anything.

 

[robbo]

Ok, that gives me a lead on some research I can do. Thanks for that jesper!!

Yea, the more expensive ones have output modules on board already. Still for $100 for something brand new - with a bit of modifying, might be what I need. Its only got to last 12 months protected in the weather.

We have moved to a new area, and i dont really understand the flora and flows. I thought I could see when the flows come on, and also check the weights to help a bit with swarm prevention, and when to take honey off etc. We have a LOT of rain here too, so i could see what they are eating themselves etc

I use 9 or 10 - depends how they look. I figured the 150kg scales have a 50 gram resolution. The 300kg set goes to 100 gram. 50 gram should be good.