# bee scale using arduino



## Jim Hancock (Dec 30, 2016)

Yes, please post details. What did you use for weigh cells?


----------



## bushpilot (May 14, 2017)

Jim Hancock said:


> Yes, please post details. What did you use for weigh cells?


Yes, please do.


----------



## RBRamsey (Mar 1, 2015)

I'm interested.


----------



## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

I've been meaning to build one, maybe with a Raspberry instead. 

I'd love to see what load sensors you came up with.


----------



## papavras (Oct 30, 2016)

i have used this load sensor http://www.ebay.com/itm/Weighing-Se...098391?hash=item3d2359e2d7:g:H5UAAOSwgZ1Xt8DF
the gsm shield i used http://www.ebay.com/itm/GSM-GPRS-Sh...220201?hash=item3382b4d129:g:p0kAAOSwd4tT1cAQ Quad-Band 850 / 900/ 1800 / 1900 MHz, works fine in greece, i hope its the same in us
and the switch timer http://www.ebay.com/itm/CN101-DC-12...302315?hash=item5d69b3142b:g:MHgAAOSwmLlX~h1U
i promise i will post details just give me 1-2 weeks. i am waiting some parts to arrive to make a new one to show to you. the project is easy, i think that anyone can make it

why raspberry? its more expensive. you can buy an arduino for 4 euros.


----------



## kaizen (Mar 20, 2015)

papavras said:


> i have used this load sensor http://www.ebay.com/itm/Weighing-Se...098391?hash=item3d2359e2d7:g:H5UAAOSwgZ1Xt8DF
> the gsm shield i used http://www.ebay.com/itm/GSM-GPRS-Sh...220201?hash=item3382b4d129:g:p0kAAOSwd4tT1cAQ Quad-Band 850 / 900/ 1800 / 1900 MHz, works fine in greece, i hope its the same in us
> and the switch timer http://www.ebay.com/itm/CN101-DC-12...302315?hash=item5d69b3142b:g:MHgAAOSwmLlX~h1U
> i promise i will post details just give me 1-2 weeks. i am waiting some parts to arrive to make a new one to show to you. the project is easy, i think that anyone can make it
> ...


whats the total cost to you for the one you have working? euros is fine


----------



## papavras (Oct 30, 2016)

its somewhere between 100-130 euros. it deppends on how much the baterry will cost in us. here i paid 20 euros for a 12v 4.5ah.
also i paid 40 euros to the guy who did the welding

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3bxdcujat1w950y/scale.jpg?dl=0


----------



## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

I think Raspberry Pi's are great, and have a handful of 'em. But a Pi (out of the box) only accepts digital inputs, and affordable load sensors seem to be largely analog. As an Arduino does accept analog input, it seems to be well suited for this purpose.


----------



## John Davis (Apr 29, 2014)

I think Brood minder is around $280 US out of the box and gives you temp and humidity as well.


----------



## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

I have a bunch of the broodminder equipment here. You can see live data from the broodminder scale, 7 day and 30 day graphs on this page:- http://www.rozehaven.ca/farm/?page_id=57

I've had issues with battery life on the brood minder in-hive temp/humidity sensors, so haven't put them back in for the last 6 weeks after the batteries died (took 2 months to die from fresh new batteries). the scale has not had that problem, been going for a few months now and showing 50% life still in the battery. The scale does have significant temperature sensativity and I haven't been able to come up with a set of correction equations that actually work with that one. I'm running with the scale on only the back (shaded in full sun) side of the hive, so in theory actual hive weights are around double the numbers shown. My data shows a substantial difference between the left and right sensor, they differ by about 8lb. Example, the reading last hour shows 26.1lb left, 33.8lb right, for a total 59.9lb.

My other hive scale, which I have had running for years also has temperature sensativity, but it's very predictable and my scripts to manage the data and produce graphs do factor in weight reading variations due to ambient temperature.

The load cell linked above looks interesting as the blurb suggests it is temperature compensated internally. Temp compensation is a big deal for a hive scale that sits out in the weather 24x7, swings due to temperature change from night to day can be dramatic. I worked up the correction factors for our original scale by leaving it sit out in the weather with a big chunk of steel on it for a month, weighed and took temperature every 5 minutes. The above linked load cell says in the docs, temp effects is 0.02%, which is very good. But, if that's a translation error, and it's actualy 0.02 ie 2%, then it can be problematic with a hive scale. 2% change due to temperature means you see a 2lb change in the readings when all that has changed is the ambient temperature. We monitor the hive weight drop in the morning to get an estimate of hive population. Figuring that there are roughly 3000 bees in a pound, if we see a 1lb drop shortly after sunup, that's about 3000 foragers headed out. Hard to make those kind of determinations if the drop is 1lb due to foragers leaving, and 2lb due to temp increase as the sun comes up.

FWIW, my original hive scale can give us this level of monitoring, the BM scale cannot.


----------



## sweetas (Apr 16, 2012)

papavras said:


> hi beekeepers. my name is Nikos and i am from Greece. Recently i created a beescale using the arduino. the scale sends every day sms the weight of the scale. the battery consumption is very low because i use a timer switch and the scale is on power 1 minute per day so the battery will last several months. i am willing to post a detailed guide for you all if there is interest



I would like a lot more detail. do you have a link. Thanks Geoff


----------



## aiannar974 (Mar 29, 2017)

Hello Papavras - are able to post a link to your code? Maybe on a site like github. This will be a fun project. I have not had too many practical uses for the arduino. The last project I did measured ph and dosed acid. I have not done one that sends info out.


----------



## aiannar974 (Mar 29, 2017)

I cannot get the dropbox link to work


----------



## bchains (Mar 22, 2015)

duplicate


----------



## bchains (Mar 22, 2015)

You all should check out hivetool.org. Its an open-source linux (raspberry pi is great for it) hive monitoring package that uses off the shelf hardware. You can make one for $200 or so. I built 2 systems and ran them for almost 3 years continuously and produced really interesting data (every 5 min sampling period), but alas one of my computers is down and I'm considering switching to broodminder. 

http://hivetool.org/w/index.php?title=HiveTool.org


----------

