After examining the technical details of his new heating device, Martijn discovered that it communicated with the thermostat via OpenTherm, which is a non-manufacturer-dependent system of communication between modulating HVAC heating appliances and room thermostats. Instead of observing this and moving on, Martjin created an Arduino library and also describes the hardware required in order to completely monitor and log data form the OpenThem communications.
It's an impressive project, and one sure to help many people. For a complete design diary, code, library and information visit Martjin's site here. And we're on twitter, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
This type of project lends itself to not only Arduino-based control, but also monitoring over a network or the Internet. To take advantage of these features, consider the Freetronics EtherTen. Apart from being fully Arduino Uno-compatible, it has onboard Ethernet, microSD socket and supports optional Power-over-Ethernet:
