u/JCrotts

Location: North Carolina. I came up with another idea and yet again I saw that it was already being produced. It wasn't very popular and it was at a very high cost. I found a way to produce roughly the same product for less than a 1/10th the cost. I think it would be popular at a lower cost. I feel like I could make a lot of money doing this. Should I visit a patent lawyer just to make sure I'm not stepping on toes? BTW. I see this a lot in water treatment.

I was looking at doing a few work arounds, mostly making cheap DACs. I looked at the Ras Pi and I noticed it doesn't have dedicated terminals for input/output or digital/analog. Pretty much all the pins can do any function. This seems like it would make for a PLC that could do a lot more especially down the line when modifications need to be made.

So... Why aren't industrial PLCs made this way? I know there are a few small exceptions like Niagra PLCs for instance, the analog inputs can be setup to do RTDs, thermocouples, 4-20mA, or whatever. But I haven't seen any that can be fully configured in the software.

I'm wanting to keep a small watering hole(20'x20') with some water in it. I want to build a 30'-50' well and supply it with water. I would like to do it off-grid. I really don't care if it only pumps about 1/10th of a gallon per minute, as long as it pumps enough to keep some water in the watering hole. I haven't found any pump setup that is meant for this kind of thing. I'm fine with setting up the solar myself but I need a really low power submersible to finish the job. Any suggestions?