Beeduino, Wet Honey, Inordinate Amounts of Time

This is a project that I recommend...

...that no one else do. It takes too much time, and is likely something most beekeepers won't have to deal with. But though it took inordinate amounts of time, and is a hodgepodge of parts and pieces, and electronics, it does, in the end, work.

I harvested honey that was too wet in October- at about 22%. It was late in the year, and I had to take it off. But I hadn't realized how wet it was. So when I realized it, no problem:  I thought I'd make a machine to take care of it. That's what humans do. Technology experts.

Our hero- for inventing cool beekeeping stuff, and
being andinspiration in that way. Mr. Langstroth.

I tried lots of ways to start with-after, of course, a few web searches to learn from those who have dealt with exactly the same thing (likely, out of 7 billion people)  but the basic thing was that I did not want to remove the honey from the 5 gallon buckets.  So first try- I inserted the first bucket into a foam box I made years ago on a table saw (which I totally don't recommend- super dangerous- one would think foam would cut like butter-it does- but when it catches, can kill you. Unlike butter.). And I heated the honey, and installed a 12 volt fan, and built a new cover with holes in it. And let it go for a few days.

But it basically dried a skin on the top of the honey, and sealed it off. and nothing happened. So I started mixing it every few hours. Which helped. I got down to maybe 21%. And then I thought- it needed drier air- so I flipped over another bucket on top of the honey one, weatherstripped the edges, and inserted a "Dri-Air", with calcium chloride (approved for food by the FDA). And this worked ok- but slowly. Maybe a cup of water. And well into the week.

The foam box, with a 5 gallon bucket of honey. Below
it is a 60 watt bulb on a reostat. There is a foam lid. The inner
core is metal faced foam. Its bound together with a strap.

So- I thought I'd make it more automatic, and install a Goodwill mixer, and a fan on a timer, and automate it all with a microcontroller, an "Arduino". And though I was aware that I can snowball a small project into one that is so big that I can never get it done, I thought, well- I can do this. I will refrain from snowballing and taking every free minute in figuring this out. And after about a billion hours, I sort of did.

The Goodwill mixer with a neighbor's computer fan, on a 5 gallon
bucket lid. Weatherstripped along the edge.

The bottom side, with Mixer blades, and vent holes. Fan hole
at left.

And most of my time went into trying to relearn the Arduino language (which I earlier experimented with to have sensors in my hives), and to learn the new things I needed to know. Which was quite a bit. And though a great fan of learning, I am sort of sick of learning this sort of thing- the computer things that came in the world when I wasn't paying attention,  and now...well, we all know, and:  Here we are. I had to learn very simple parts of the C++ language- or some version of it- and people who actually know this sort of thing- just over the hill from here- make a lot of money making it control things with a cold, relentless, logic. Its called C++, like an extra + would make getting a C+ somehow OK. And for all the figuring it out it took me, it should be called A++- I feel like I deserve it- and should make 6 figures just for learning how. Even if its just for drying out honey. Sheesh. I just turned 56, its not what I was thinking I'd be doing.

On the left, relays, for 120 V and 12 V devices, and in the
middle, the brain, hooked to my Chromebook. Beyond, two sensors, one
wrapped in tin foil to stick into the honey. 

But- it worked- more or less. A few problems with foaming, and I have yet to figure out that part- like the Goodwill mixer was on too much and dumped air into it?- to make it like foam on a Guinness beer- so I rewrote the code, and added some sensors to shut it off if it got to warm. And am now getting ready for trying it out again on another 5 gallons. Hopefully, I won't need to do this ever again.

And I repeat, I don't recommend any of this.