Update 10.10.2018 - sensor glued into comb for test purposes
Today I tried "melting in" a sensor into a pre-formed comb / foundation. The 4-stranded copper wire is wrapped around the stainless steel wire with 3 turns, then the wax foundation is laid on top of it. Later, the stainless wire is heated by putting some amps through it and the foundation sinks in a bit. (Haven't done this step here).
What I have done is the wrapping part and aligning the test-sensor:
![](https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/5825191539172643000.jpg)
Then I heated a small metal rod and pressed it on the sensor so it melts into the wax foundation:
![](https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/5303251539172723575.jpg)
The other side looks like this:
![](https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/8819031539172785004.jpg)
I added a drop of molten wax so the bees won't abandon the cell because of a foreign body. Hope that'll do :)
The micrologger has that name for a reason :) It is so small, that it can be placed right in the frames which are put in the bee hives! Here you see a frame with a wax foundation:
![](https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/211301534358349808.jpg)
The top "bar" is 20mm wide, that's why I decided to shrink the logger to 25x20mm. I use very thin battery-pack heat shrink tubing to protect the circuit.
![](https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/1424961534358584639.jpg)
It will be glued in the space you see outlined.
To not disturb the bees while building the cells, I can't use normal multi stranded wire to connect the sensors. So I chose enameled copper wire of 0.15mm diameter.
![](https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/5882371534358687656.jpg)
4 strands are first color coded and then twisted with a hand drill. The finished wire is 0.4mm in diameter, which can easily be routed on the pre-made wax foundation plates. It is quite durable, so you can bend it a few times without breaking the insulation.
![](https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/2770841534358754375.jpg)
The next picture shows two different packages:
![](https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/6153511534358783838.jpg)
TO-92, left and SOT-23 next to it. I just ordered my TMP112 sensors which are even smaller than the SOT-23 package seen here. Will be quite the hassle soldering wires directly to it but let's see how/if it works.
I want to add it directly into the cell bottom!
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