+Peter van der Walt, question for you. I’ve been working on setting up my laser safety system based on @funinthefalls 's design. I was curious whether it would be possible to merge the safety system code into the ESP8266 code and have the ESP run wifi and the safety system.
I tried to compile the safety system code for the ESP, but I got errors. Likely the processor type on the ESP is different than on the Arduino, but I’m not good enough a coder (yet) to figure those things out.
+Peter van der Walt you can have a hardware fail safe (switches) in series with a software one (temperature+flow). So the hardware one doesn’t fail on a software glitch, you can lose a tube due to bad temperature/flow reading but not your eyesight.
OK. I get it. It could be done if, say, the laser safety system only monitors the flow and temperature components. Thanks for the responses.
+Jon Bruno and I are in the midst of a major redesign and recoding to address just those concerns +Peter van der Walt .The interlocks will be purely mechanical, but we will be reading their state and using the arduino/LCD as a info display system primarily. The software will not be controlling any critical safety features. Even flow sensor will be in the mechanical chain, only the temp sensor will be under software control, and I am hoping to find a solution to this as well. The arduino and lcd/encoder will set some of the parameters however, such as min/max temps to trigger alarms, minimum acceptable flow rate before setting off alarm, etc. Will also have a digital pin lock option (Along with an actual keyed switch) I would be interested in any other feedback you may have +Peter van der Walt , want to make this as good, but also as SAFE as possible, I do not want people to be under the false impression that they are being protected if in fact they are not. My ego is never an issue when it comes to safety. But I still like to get an “atta boy!” once in a while 