Detect DS18B20 sensors and correctly assign them to relays

Question

I'm relatively new to microcontroller programming, so please excuse me if my question is dumb. I've created a simple device that allows me to control 4 relays based on temperature. I bought four DS18B20 sensors, 4 relay board and Wemos D1. Everything works fine - I'm able to read the temperature of each sensor based on their address.

But I started wondering how I can replace a single DS18B20 without recompiling the code; currently this isn't possible. After searching a bit I found a couple of questions about the order of 1Wire sensors. For example, this one. I have no control over the order in which sensors are detected.

Is there a best practice when it comes to configuring DS18B20 sensors? I would like to set up my device. By set up, I mean that I would like to assign a specific DS18B20 to a specific relay.

I imagine it like so:

1. Take a new DS18B20, connect it to a device and power the device.
2. The device should scan for DS18B20 sensors. If it finds one then it should assign it to relay 1 and store its address in EEPROM.
3. Then unplug the device from power, plug the second DS18B20 and power the device again.
4. The device again scans for DS18B20 sensors. It finds 2 devices. The first one is known (the address was stored in EEPROM) so it is skipped. The second is assigned to relay 2 and the address is stored in EEPROM.
5. The same procedure is applied to the third and fourth sensors.
6. If four sensors are connected (the addresses are from EEPROM), then the device can run.
7. When the user wants to replace a non-functioning sensor, the same procedure can be used.

As I wrote, I'm new to microcontroller programming, so if there is a better way please let me know. I'm mostly learning by following examples and tutorials, so if anyone knows of an example showing such a configuration procedure I'll be grateful for any materials.

Answer 1

If you can easily disconnect the sensors one at a time then your way is fine.

If you can't easily disconnect them then you can maybe use readings to set the order, although this depends on the environment. If, for example, all the sensors are generally room temperature then you have the code check the temp of all the sensors at start up. If it finds one sensor at less than 0C then assign that sensor to the least-recently-replaced relay index (also stored in EEPROM).

Then when you want to put a sensor into the working set, hold an ice cube on it for a few seconds before powering up the controller. There are other combinations of this technique you can imagine that use a button or jumper wires to specifically set the index of the out-of-range-at-startup sensor.

Alternately if you have an extra pin on the Arduino, then you can make a procedure where you connect a new sensor to that pin before attaching it to the string. You can make a rule like "if you ever see a sensor on pin X then remember its device ID and assign it to relay Y". There are lots of UI ways to pick Y. Note that you do not even need any extra hardware for this.