Weekend Project: Mandometer

[fww]

Hi all,

I'm currently in the process of learning Python programming (in addition to Mandolin, of course!) and am looking for a project to get me started. My current idea is to create a "Mandometer" that will measure the temperature and humidity of the room my mando lives in, and then alert me if the climate gets out of the optimal environment for the mando.

My question is: what should I set as the calibration ranges for temperature and humidity?

In doing some research I found this from the Weber website:

https://webermandolins.com/support/playability

They suggest a temperature of 70° Fahrenheit with relative humidity between 40%-50% with 45% being optimal. My assumption is that advice isn't Weber specific, but can apply across the board.

Technical details:

I plan to use a Raspberry Pi, with a Sense HAT attached.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products...-model-b-plus/

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/sense-hat/

The sense hat has a temperature sensor, humidity sensor, and LED matrix on board, which I will use for the alerts.

LED Key

• Green display: Optimal conditions
• Orange display: Warning that things are getting close to the danger zone
• Red display: I need to make an adjustment to the temperature or humidity in the room.

Potential Feature Roadmap:

• Send me a text alert when things are in the "Danger" or "Critical" zone
• Graphing the temperature and humidity over time
• Displaying the current temperature and humidity on the LED matrix

Does anyone else have ideas on what I should include?? Thanks for the feedback!

-Frankie

[fww]

I made a bit of progress today

Now you can see the green state, which means "everything is good." As well as the red state, which means "Your Mando's in trouble!"

I'd still love confirmation about the proper temperature and relative humidity for mandolins. Anyone have a rule of thumb they follow? Thanks everyone!

-Frankie

[Phil Goodson]

I usually humidify if RH is at or below 35%.
Others may have other routines.

[fww]

Thank you, sir! :-)

[Marty Jacobson]

Cool idea. I would set something like this:
20% RH - Very low, take action as soon as practicable (but nothing drastic - quick changes are what really do the damage)
35% RH - A bit on the low side, may want to humidify
40-50% RH - optimal
60% RH - may want to dehumidify
90% RH - Welcome to Georgia

Temperature doesn't matter too much, but maybe just a nice readout? Now if you want to make a cool case accessory everyone would want, make it track temp/humidity and control it as well. Not sure how... open a box of moistened silica gel or open a box of dry silica gel? Then allow folks to track it on an app. I bet people would buy them.

[fww]

Wahoo, thank you Marty! That's super great guidance. I'll take a crack at adding the values you suggested.

I did try having the temperature display for the "Green" state as well as the "Red" state, but it got a little annoying. Hopefully 99% of the time it will just sit there with a green screen minding it's own business. I could add a physical button that would allow you to get the read out on demand. That might be nice.

Also, for v2 I can try to affect the RH levels as you suggest. That would be closer to a thermostat than a thermometer though. Might need to change the name at that point. Mandostat?

[CES]

I keep RH 40-50%. Temp is not as critical, as Marty said. Consistency is more important than the actual temp probably between 45 and 85 degrees F. Drastic quick changes and avoidance of extremes is more important. I’m in NC, so have to humidify in winter and often dehumidify from April through mid November. In winter we usually set the thermostat at 68 and burn some wood if needed. In summer we set it 76-78, cuz I’m a cheapskate, lol. I have way too many instruments that have done well with this approach for over 14 years.

Neat project, btw. Good luck!

[Toni Schula]

Avoid the C#
when programming in Python
not so when playing your mandolin