Can I Separate the Twisted Pairs to Run a Temp Sensing Network?

SG09

Hello,

I would like to use a BS2 w/Homework Board (coupled with Peter Anderson's 1-wire interface) to monitor the temperature of my solar thermal heating system with four DS18S20s; each one on a different channel.

Thanks to the Basic Stamp forum, as a complete beginner, I was able to assemble the interface and set up one sensor.·
My questions are:

·· What is the best way to handle the wiring of the sensors? Can I skin one length of·Cat5 cable I have and tie-in each twisted pair to the controller - then run the wire (still in the sheathing) to the garage (where the water storage tank is), skin it there for one pair of wires at the bottom and one pair at the top of the tank, then run one pair to the panel on the roof and one to the outside air?· I know I 'm probably not being clear...

·· Or, do I need one Cat5 cable, still sheathed, for each sensor wire?

Many Thanks,
Bill
·

Mike Green

You could use a single Cat5 cable with each twisted pair handling one sensor running from your Stamp to the garage next to the water tank. The crucial piece is that you connect the ground leads together only at one end of the cable, probably the Stamp end. At the garage end, you could attach the Cat5 cable to some kind of terminator block, then run separate, relatively short single twisted pairs to the DS18S20s.

Franklin

DS18S20s talk 1wire protocol and you can run them all on the same pair. Dallas(Maxim) has application notes on 1-wire networking that can help understand this.

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- Stephen