With CentOS being less than attractive to use now when Red Hat has changed how it is updated, the Amazon AMI2 Linux distribution can be an excellent alternative.
However, when deploying an Amazon AMI2 on vSphere for the first time there are a few hoops to jump through. This video shows how to create a golden image and deploy it with Terraform in less than 15 minutes
The environmental control system for Mr. Snuggles the ball python is now nearly finished. Throughout the last couple of weeks I’ve worked on learning Fusion 360 in order to create a new case. The previous one was done with Tinkercad and the one before that in FreeCAD. The first iteration was a Tupperware case, lol
Work in progress while designing the case
The electronics didn’t end up as clean as I was hoping it would be but it works and that’s always been rule number one for this project. There will likely be a version after this and for that it would be great to etch a proper circuit board rather than using universal PCB boards as I have done up to now.
An old Wii U gave up its case fan for this project. It’s very quiet and perfect for case cooling
Currently I’m tuning the settings to dial in the right temperatures and humidity in the different parts of the enclosure. Grafana is a lifesaver as always 🙂
Work in progress on dialing in correct temperatures and humidity
The next step may be to add a humidifier of some sort and hook it up to the humidity values. The biggest challenge in controlling the environment has been the humidity. This seems to be a common gripe among those who use glass terrariums and I can certainly see why. Right now a couple of towels on top of the mesh screen in the lid help keep things under control but it’s not an ideal solution as it also limits air flow.
As part of revising the entire environmental control system for the ball python “Mr. Snuggles” I’ve re-done the code for getting sensor telemetry and control of relays for heat mats and the heat lamp from scratch.
Last weekend I finished the updated wiring diagram and soldering. This weekend was the coding update, which will still require some work until it’s done. However, the main modules for DS18b20 sensor telemetry, DHT22 humidity and temperature as well as the actual relay control are done. These files can now be accessed from GitHub as per the below
Next step is to integrate Grafana with buttons for controlling the temperature. This previously required re-building the docker images and was rather inconvenient. Soon it will be as simple as tapping a touch panel. That part will require creating an API which Grafana can interact with and will likely be done next weekend if time allows.
Two years ago I built the “Snakeinator 2000” system for controlling temperature, humidity and lighting for my ballpython “Mr. Snuggles”. Currently I’m re-working the wiring and updating the sensors. As part of this effort it made sense to finally documenting the wiring as per the below. This will be supplemented with an update of the code base in the coming weeks.
Note: The 12V power supply / converter I’m using didn’t have a Fritzing model so the one included is a placeholder.
