Smart Fan project

[kwakekeham]

I wanted some feedback on a project I've been working on.

It's a little inline device that controls your existing fan based on your power / speed / or hrm. Currently I've only been designing and testing it power though. If anyone is interested love if you could check out the video. I'm doing this backwards to how my original open source PM eventually became a product by a company.



Love some honest feedback. Is this cool or a dumb idea?

Thanks!

[Calnago]

Honestly, IMO it’s a dumb idea. What is a good idea is basically a two or three speed remote control fan, but those are readily available. Once on the trainer, you start with no fan, then just tap the remote as you warm up till at Max fan power. But once there, I’ve never ever wanted to turn it down variably just because I stop working as hard. You’re still gasping. You’re still sweating, and the last thing you want is for that breeze to diminish just because you eased off of your last interval. That’s when you want it most.
I know Kickr has their little smart fan, and I’m sure people buy it. But give me a big fan and once warmed up, blast away please. I’m sure there are those that will see some merit in it however. Good luck.

[kwakekeham]

Thanks for honest feedback. My plan is to see the numbers but as a long time cyclist you're words do carry weight with me. There is certainly some tuning I can do to resolve some of it but get your point. Worse case if I'm wrong is this goes open source and maybe someone has a better use for the libraries I wrote.

[wpccrunner]

using more input parameters, such as body temperature data and adjusting fan speed based on that could be more useful.

[kwakekeham]

Thats a fascinating idea.

It's a little at the edge of my scope for this unfortunately. I've seen a few projects to measure body temp, but I haven't seen anything make it to the market. Do you know of any existing body temp sensors?

[AJS914]

I have a 3 speed fan that cost $30 at Target. I press 1 to get started and within 5 or 10 minutes I'm on 3, the highest speed and I never lower it again while riding. Basically what Calnago said...

[hamd]

Is this meant to somewhat simulate the effect of riding outdoors? If so it misses the welcome cooling breeze of flying downhill with little to no effort.

But if you're going to simulate stuff: For me one of the absolute, if only occasional, pleasures of escaping the city limits to ride in the countryside is the sometimes quite widely-dispersed fragrance of flowers in bloom. So why not create a device that wafts sweet scents into the air after (say) a sustained effort, and, uh, maybe farmyard smells when the rider's badly underperforming?

(I accept this comment would have been better timed to appear 20 days from now.)

[kwakekeham]

I think scent simulation might be out of my league of things I could say I'm good at. I do get your point. We're getting some anomalous weather where I am that's unseasonably warm and with all my gadgets, I just want to ditch them and ride outside.

[dgasmd]

Controllers for a fan is an overcomplication most of us probably won't see the point or benefit of. Just my honest opinion.

[mcfarton]

I am not into having a smart fan but your infomercial is on point. And by the way I have the same Stanley fan and it is cold when I start but it goes away quickly. Good luck with your project and way to think outside of the box. If wahoo is selling theirs I am sure you could sell yours. Wahoo has some ridiculous price on it also.


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[eins4eins]

I think your ideas are great. I use the trainer mainly during winter months and to perform normally indoors, i need a lot of cooling. Therefore i open the window and run the fan on highest rpm during intervals. Inbetween intervals, i turn it off completely or slow it down, because the airflow becomes to cold and the rsik of catching a cold becomes too high. I'm always fiddling with the fan and linking fan rpm to the power would help a lot.
Maybe just programm some "lag" into it, so that rpm stays higher for a certain time, after the power dropped/interval finished.

The wahoo headwind does exactly that from what i understand, but it overpriced in my opinion.

[jfranci3]

So something similar to this - https://www.hackster.io/jmlopezdona/sma ... ner-4afa76
$15 in computing hardware, $30 AC controller, $10ish dollar housing, $5 in software loading labor, $5 in hardward labor, development cost, insurance, customer suppport to get the dang thing to connect, etc. This is going to be a $150+ item.
You're better off packaging a software/app with an off-the-shelf $20 wifi strip. Have the phone trigger fans 1, 2, and 3. Having more fan converage works better than changing fan speeds anyway. You won't have an insurance/risk nightmare.

[kode54]

true...but a variable roller control would be best. Sometimes a medium is not enough and high is too much. Controlling it with a roller type switch that is variable would be best for me. and yes, I sweat profusely even after a mild workout...and need the fan to continue after power output.

Honestly, IMO it’s a dumb idea. What is a good idea is basically a two or three speed remote control fan, but those are readily available. Once on the trainer, you start with no fan, then just tap the remote as you warm up till at Max fan power. But once there, I’ve never ever wanted to turn it down variably just because I stop working as hard. You’re still gasping. You’re still sweating, and the last thing you want is for that breeze to diminish just because you eased off of your last interval. That’s when you want it most.
I know Kickr has their little smart fan, and I’m sure people buy it. But give me a big fan and once warmed up, blast away please. I’m sure there are those that will see some merit in it however. Good luck.

[RTW]

For me, I would like a delay on my fan, and that it starts and slowly blows stronger. Like fading in over 10 minutes or something.

[joejack951]

Do you know of any existing body temp sensors?

I like projects like this, though to be honest I have no use for what you are creating. I found this IR sensor family which you could integrate into the fan (which presumably would already be pointed at the cyclist) and use it for temperature measurement: https://www.te.com/usa-en/products/sens ... =pgp-story