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Old July 16th, 2010   #5
ericthegeek
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 375
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In most cases, you can convert whatever the percentage is reporting into the associated physical units and report that. For example, a fog machine can send the fluid level in liters. Add in the Range Min/Max and Normal Min/Max the controller has all the information it needs to present a pretty bar graph to the user just the same as it would with a percentage.

Example for a fog machine with a 4 liter tank:
SENS_VOLUME
UNITS_METERS_CUBED
PREFIX_MICRO
Range Min = 0 (Tank empty)
Range Max = 4000 (4 liters)
Normal Min = 200 (5% remaining)
Normal Max = 4000 (Tank Full)

With these values, the controller can turn the bar graph red and warn the user when the fluid hits 5% (outside of the Normal range).

I'd argue this usage better maintains the spirit of sensors. It keeps the values reported in the context of physical units.
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