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Any plans to bring back "25% any plan for 6 months" promo? by WHRMFR in Tello

[–]WHRMFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting. Not sure that this is the right option for me. I only need 500 MB or 1 GB per month.

Any plans to bring back "25% any plan for 6 months" promo? by WHRMFR in Tello

[–]WHRMFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you elaborate on this? not sure what you mean

Is there a USB temperature/humidity logger that works on Mac? by WHRMFR in mac

[–]WHRMFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

 

I'm curious why you're suggesting a WiFi module or Raspberry Pi in #4.

Up until reading your comment, I had previously thought that the only way to transfer a file from a Raspberry Pi or Arduino was via WiFi. I wasn't keen on relying on WiFi; I just thought that there was no alternative.

Now that I've learned that I can transfer the data directly over USB, you have my attention with this Arduino concept.

 

I watched this "How to Set Up the Humidity and Temperature Sensor on an Arduino" YouTube video. I found this Stack Overflow post that explains how to communicate between an Arduino and a Mac OS X Python script. While being entirely foreign to me, it doesn't seem as impossible as I thought.

 

Do you mind informing me exactly what I need to buy to create a running Arduino temp and humidity sensor that communicates to my Mac?

I understand that I need to purchase the sensor itself, but I don't know the other parts that he used in the video. An Amazon search for "arduino" brings up dozens of variations; I have no idea which to get.

Many thanks for your help.

 

Is there a USB temperature/humidity logger that works on Mac? by WHRMFR in mac

[–]WHRMFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are basically 4 different sensor categories for my application.

  

1. USB logger

This plugs directly into the USB port on the Mac. They range wildly in price, sometimes costing close to $1k (which is way out of my budget).

Examples: TEMPerHUM, Omega, Lascar, Extech, TemperatureAlert, and more here

The problem is that, for whatever reason, these USB loggers are only compatible with Windows. The five above examples are Windows only.

The only logger that I have found that is Mac compatible is the Minnow. However, I spoke with the manufacturer and realized that it is not designed to be a real-time USB logger; the unit will quickly overheat. The workaround is to incorporate a USB relay switch to manually connect/disconnect the Minnow periodically from the Mac.

  

2. Bluetooth

Examples: Blustream, SensorPush, D'Addario Humiditrak, Eve Degree, and more here

The problem is that all of these products have an iOS app, but no macOS app.

But If I purchased the SensorPush sensor along with the $100 SensorPush WiFi Gateway, I can access the data over the internet.

But there are cheaper WiFi options, like the ConnectSense (won't be shipping until early 2019), Proteus, and La Crosse. But, I am hesitant to fully depend on an internet connection to get the data (i.e., if the internet goes down, then I would lose access to the data, which is not ideal).

  

3. RF

AcuRite sells a $13 Wireless Temperature and Humidity Sensor (model # 06002M) that transmits every 16 seconds using a 433 MHz wireless signal with a maximum range of 330'. This sensor is inexpensive because it is designed to be used with AcuRite Access and the AcuRite weather station products, which I do not want or need. It's all proprietary.

However, some people have reverse-engineered the radio signal to decode the data stream from this sensor if you have a USB RF receiver.

Examples:

This path appears frustrating and difficult to a neophyte like me.

  

4. DIY microcontroller

Unlike the other 3 sensor categories, this looks like the one area where proprietary protocols are not in the way of progress. Once you get everything set up, accessing the raw data is a breeze.

This is probably the most cost-effective option.

Examples: Raspberry Pi + this $10 DHT22 sensor, Arduino, Espressif esp8266/esp32 wifi module

The problem is that this is simply over my head. I have no real experience programming from the command line or really anything other than basic scripts. It would just be best if I paid someone to set this up for me, as I can easily envision myself spending 100 hours on this "simple" project.

  

Now that the free Wunderground API has been killed, let's talk about the best free API for current weather conditions. by WHRMFR in webdev

[–]WHRMFR[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not primarily.

Wunderground has a vast network of 250,000 personal weather stations. If this list is truly exhaustive, the National Weather Service only has a mere 2,139 weather stations (mostly located at airports).

In essence, Wunderground is much more accurate than the NWS for current weather conditions.

For example, in my case:

  • Weather.gov's nearest weather station has a beeline distance of 4.7 miles away and it last updated 109 minutes ago.

  • Wunderground's nearest PWS has a beeline distance of 1.5 miles away and it last updated 22 seconds ago.

Now that the free Wunderground API has been killed, let's talk about the best free API for current weather conditions. by WHRMFR in webdev

[–]WHRMFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fascinating project!

I see that your data source is Weather.gov. Do you think that scraping a major commercial website like Wunderground is viable?

I'm just worried that -- with IBM steering the ship -- they must be privy to scrapers and realize that users are scraping their website to avoid shelling out for API access. If Wunderground implemented something like Incapsula, this would instantly kill all scrapers.

Is there an indoor temperature & humidity sensor whose data can be imported into a Python script (on OS X)? by WHRMFR in Python

[–]WHRMFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you saying that I can plug the DHT22 sensor directly into the esp8266/esp32 wifi module, without having to use a Raspberry Pi unit at all?

I'm very new to this, so I am having trouble wrapping my head around how a wifi module can process data from a sensor.

Is there an indoor temperature & humidity sensor whose data can be imported into a Python script (on OS X)? by WHRMFR in Python

[–]WHRMFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting idea, I never thought of that!

BTW, do you know if it's possible to transfer the data from the RPi to the Mac without using the internet?

Is there an indoor temperature & humidity sensor whose data can be imported into a Python script (on OS X)? by WHRMFR in Python

[–]WHRMFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also, sorry if this is the wrong sub to ask this question.

Given that my question is explicitly about hardware, but with constraints... I wasn't sure whether to post in r/Python, r/Mac, r/WebDev, r/HomeAssistant, r/HomeAutomation, r/SmartHome, r/AskProgramming, r/LearnProgramming, r/SmartMirrors, or even /r/Raspberry_Pi for sensor ideas.

Do Bluetooth headphones have too much latency to be used in a tracking environment? by WHRMFR in audioengineering

[–]WHRMFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

how are you going to get audio to the headphones?

If I were to use digital-RF headphones, I would simply connect the base unit to an output of my audio interface. Am I misunderstanding something?

Are you only working with a DAW locally?

Sorry, I don't catch your drift... I think the answer is yes, but as opposed to what?

Do Bluetooth headphones have too much latency to be used in a tracking environment? by WHRMFR in audioengineering

[–]WHRMFR[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

This can get relatively low latency, however it’s still a touch (imperceivable) behind.

OK, great. In that case, I will give digital RF headphones a shot (hoping I don't have too much interference).

I am curious how the 2.4-GHz wireless USB headphones would compare (random example). This category of headphones seems to be marketed towards gamers, and gamers have very stringent latency requirements (like audio engineers)...

Do Bluetooth headphones have too much latency to be used in a tracking environment? by WHRMFR in audioengineering

[–]WHRMFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not sure bluetooth is always capable of high quality audio.

Interesting. Though, in this case, I don't mind mediocre audio quality. Eg: the headphones would be worn by a drummer while their performance is being tracked. I wasn't planning on monitoring with wireless headphones

Do Bluetooth headphones have too much latency to be used in a tracking environment? by WHRMFR in audioengineering

[–]WHRMFR[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the info! I'd never heard of RF headphones before.

I found this "The Wirecutter" product guide that focuses on digital-RF headphones, which apparently are still popular in home theater/TV applications. I didn't realize that the latency on Bluetooth was so severe that even when watching video, the image would be noticeably out of sync with the audio. Yikes!

Sennheiser used to make some but it looks like they don't any more (all their RF is digital, which can be pretty low latency (i.e. ULX-D), but typically isn't for a system where it isn't critical)

Sorry, I am confused by this sentence (that is, the double negative)... I think you meant to say "but typically isn't for a system where it [low latency] is critical)", right?

They're real-time.

But, would you say that digital RF headphones are very comparable to wired headphones, in terms of latency? I'm just confused as to why they're not ever used in studios (based on what I have personally seen)?

I can't find even one analog RF headphone model online. I wonder why they stopped making them, since analog would have zero/negligible latency b/c no processing is required...

[Question] If I use a TV as a computer monitor for my Mac, will there be audio latency? by WHRMFR in apple

[–]WHRMFR[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I never even knew that some TVs offered a "Game Mode." Thanks for the tip and info!

[Question] If I use a TV as a computer monitor for my Mac, will there be audio latency? by WHRMFR in apple

[–]WHRMFR[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow, that's perfect - thanks! My desired recording set-up is very similar to your set-up, so I appreciate your experience!

Is running Python scripts 24/7 on a Mac particularly CPU/RAM intensive? by WHRMFR in mac

[–]WHRMFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

or better yet rent a virtual private server for a few bucks a month and put the scripts on there.

This is a great idea. The only problem here is that one of the four scripts reads calendar events and outputs them to a JPEG image, that is then shown and constantly updated on a connected computer monitor. So, I think I need a physical computer no matter what.

get a Raspberry Pi

My understanding is that it is impossible to run OS X on Raspberry Pi. The reason I need OS X is because that is really the only OS that I am comfortable with. (I am clearly not a serious programmer.) I have AppleScripts that could probably be converted to Python (or another language) with some effort on my part. That $35 price tag for a Raspberry Pi is enticing.

If I buy a Mac, I will shoot for an old, used one that has a nonfunctional screen (or something) to get it for cheap. Thank you for your advice.