It's late Spring. It's warm. There's time. Just ordered an Almond Agaricus Garden Kit. With a little luck, I will have mushrooms in my salad in mid to late July.
Played with the linear actuator and got the wiring figured out to my needs. The position sensor can be wired and measured in four different combos. They don't give instructions on how to wire it because it's up to you, depending on what output you want. I want fully retraced to be the lower voltage and extended to be higher but it can be done opposite and it also can be measured from two different combos of three wires.
I have it so fully retracted, aka 0% extended, ends up at 1.4 vdc and fully/100% extended ends up at 7.6 vdc. That's with a 14 vdc supply. The measurement is taken through a potentiometer used as a sensor. A potentiometer is usually a knob you would use to turn up the volume or the speed of the blender etc.
7.60 - 1.40 = a 6.20 vdc range with 1.40 representing 0 so that 1.4 needs to be added to any in between reading.
3.10 is half the 6.20 range or 50% but needs the 1.40 base added. 3.10 + 1.40 = 4.50
Ran the actuator out half way based on using a tape measure and indeed, it reads 4.50 vdc
If half is of 6.2 is 3.10 vdc then half of that is 1.55 vdc + the 1.40 starting point is 2.95 vdc or 25% extended
75% extends ends up being 6.05 vdc.
Need to plug the numbers into a formula and that will give me a number to put in the controller that will do the calculation and display 3%, 27% or anything else from 0-100% extended. Slope Intercept (y=mx+b)
I figured out 25, 50 and 75% but the formula will give me all the in betweens.
I can name it in the display whatever I want so it will be Open instead of extended. 25% Open etc.
In the end, the position sensor will be getting a regulated 12 vdc supply which will change all the numbers above but that's where the formula comes in. I'll just subtract the retracted reading from the extended reading and the difference(6.2 vdc right now) gets plugged into the formula.
The wacky stuff comes when I set up the controllers to open a certain % based on tunnel temperature vs wind speed vs rain.
I'm gonna go plant some salad now and relax the brain. Watered the bed earlier to the point of moist and will hit it a little more after sowing seeds.
So much for all those numbers I figured out. Looked at the module's manual and it tells you to use the 5 vdc reference voltage from the module. I was going to use a 12 vdc supply but I guess it's too sensitive to use an external supply.
Never could figure out how to plug in numbers to that formula but figured out I don't need to because the module will do that equation on it's own. I just needed to plug two numbers into the module, Slope and Offset. My own math got me close and then I just adjusted the numbers a little. Rounding 0.58 volts up to 0.60 was a bad idea and threw me off a little to the point of fully extended being 101% open.
Closed 
Open 
And half way extended(open) is 50% as it should be. No spaces allowed in the unit names(mph, psi vdc etc) so I couldn't do "% open" and no way to get the % sign right up against the value either so "100 %open" it is. "100% Open" would be nicer but it's good nuff.
Making the module think by adding logic will be the fun part. Scheduled Tasks are easy. Conditional Tasks not so much. Every command needs another command to stop the first one.
Me: Are you open less than 1% (closed)
Module: Yes
Me: Is it over 80 degrees?
Module: Yes
Me: Open
Module: Ok I shall now open all the way for ever and ever because I am a juggernaut.
Me: Are you open more than 99%
Module: (gets to 100%) Yes
Me: Stop opening
Then do all that again to close the window when the temp cools off. Basically the same thing but with a check for a temp lower than 65 or so and the 1% and 99% get reversed and 100% becomes 0%. Stopping it just de-energizes the relay which is needed because there's an open relay and close relay. If the open relay is energized, the close relay won't do anything and visa versa.
Geez, it's not that hot. Glanced at the web page that has all the modules' readings displayed and saw 196 Degrees. It was wind direction thankfully. Outdoor temp is 91.2 and humidity is 48% and puffs of 5 mph S-SW wind. Not bad in the shade.