I was able to put the bee weighter project to some tests. Some thoughts and insights from the process.
Three rechargeable AA batteries gave out 4V under the minuscule load the electronics represent, even including the load from the internal voltage regulator. I was expecting them to give 3 x 1.2V = 3.6V, which would be perfectly in the range of most used components. Currently still using the internal regulator, which is wasting power until I figure more details out.
Storing weight in dekagrams proved useful as it is using the full resolution the HX711 is offering without the need to use the decimal point, which is a little bit problematic.
I have used a logging interval of 6 hours which gives me memory storage for 64 days until the circular buffer overruns and I start loosing entries.
The tests right now in the backyard should show how long would batteries last with the regulator still in place. Hopefully I can make another version with the proper measurements soon since I have invested so much time in putting the microcontroller to sleep to conserve power.
I wonder how big the market for this could be. With the alarm rate bees are disappearing I am not sure. There is also a question about how long would it take for a non-industrial honey keeper till his investment into such product would pay off. But for the industrial ones, Grafana is sometimes marketing itself as a sutiable way to monitor a beehive. I would love to see the two integrated, and there are many open-source projects available already.
This is a 67th post of #100daystooffload.