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The current batch of OpenSprinkler does NOT come with microSD card pre-installed. The card is useful for storing logging data, and also for storing additional programs in the future. But it’s optional and the controller does not need it to run.
The firmware bug is also fixed and checked in (specifically, the bug generated an incorrect log record when you send a ‘turn off’ command to a station that is *not* running or scheduled to run)
So, how does one actually use it? I get how to wire it, it’s the software control, that is unclear…
As Dan said, the OSPi software has a relay plugin that shows how to turn on/off relay.
The microcontroller-based OpenSprinkler has started supporting the relay from firmware 2.0.9 — it’s implemented by allowing a station to activate relay (similar to the way Master station is handled). Also, you can define a relay pulse value, which defines if the relay should be pulsed open/close, or should remain open as long as the associated station is open. Similar support will likely be integrated into the OSPi software in the future.
@i_have_a_name: I was able to reproduce the issue. The station 3 showing red (i.e. running) is a UI bug, because it should show station 1 (master) and station 2 on, instead it showed 2 and 3 on, skipping the master station. The incorrect logging data is a firmware bug — because station 3 is not actually on, sending a ‘Turn Off’ command generated a wrong record – the fix is to ignore ‘turn off’ command for stations that are not actually running. Both should be fixed shortly today.
Just to chime in with Samer that the Weather feature is now included in firmware 2.1.0. Please see related announcement here:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=926The start time in a program is not saved. You can set it up, then leave the program, go back and the start time is missing. It’s missing from the program preview too.
I can confirm that this happens when using ‘Fixed Start Times’. It’s likely a UI bug, will be fixing this shortly today.
Then one more thing. In the stations edit, I have tried to test a station (for example #2). The “start” button has changed to a red “stop” one immediately and the water has been flowing. But a few seconds later the “start” buton for station #3 has turned red too. I have noticed that same thing happens randomly for other stations as well.
I can’t reproduce this issue. Can you go to the Current Status page and check what program (regular program, run-once, or test?) these random stations are running? Also, can you confirm if the stations are physically running? This can help us figure out if it’s a UI bug or firmware bug.
a) I closed the installer and so cannot remember exactly the error it gave. Would it be possible to log the same errors to a text file while updating ?
There should be a log.txt in the folder where you run osFirmwareUpdater from. For example, if you run it on Windows, go to the windows subfolder, and check log.txt.
b) Is it normal most of my settings were preserved after the 2.0.9 was installed ?
This is not normal, because firmware update will erase all settings and return to factory defaults. You can use the UI’s import/export feature to restore your previous settings.
c) I cannot find a way to see the FW level via the web interface. Is there ?
You can check the UI’s about page. Alternatively, open a browser and type in:
http://x.x.x.x/jo
where x.x.x.x is your OpenSprinkler’s IP address. This will return the JSON options, the first option ‘fwv’ tells the firmware version.In Client mode, the WiFi adapter does not have its own IP address so you can’t log in to re-configure it. The only way to re-configure it is to physically press the reset button on the adapter.
There are other adapters that I’ve seen that do have its own IP address in client mode. One example is the Netgear WNCE2001. This should allow you to log in and re-configure it when needed.
Another choice is to use powerline networking adapters like this:
http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-PA2010KIT-Powerline-Adapter-Starter/dp/B00AWRUIY4/
which essentially creates a wired network through your power line. It requires no setup since it’s not wireless. It’s worth a try.I can’t reproduce this error. We’ve tested it on Windows XP, and Windows 8.1, and it works fine. I don’t have a Windows 7 machine right now but I can’t imagine how it works differently on Windows 7 than XP and 8.1.
Are you running the osFirmwareUpdater.exe in the ‘windows’ subfolder, or are you compiling and running the source code in Processing? If you are running it in Processing, the working directory will be different and hence the relative path would not work.
Well I can’t think of any obvious reason why your clock resets after the program run. Just to be sure: does the clock resets even if no program is running, or does it resets only if a program has run?
I enter 08:10 in the stop field, save the program 5, see that the value is still 08:10, exit the programs page, re-enter into program page, re-open program 5 and find 00:10 in stop field back again !!
To see whether this is a UI problem, you can try to use the classic web interface (instead of the app) and see if you can reproduce the issue. To do so, open a browser and type in:
http://x.x.x.x/
where x.x.x.x is your OpenSprinkler’s IP address. This should show you the classic web UI similar to shown here:
http://rayshobby.net/?page_id=730#homepageTry to change program settings using this web UI and see if you still get the same issue.
@TechFan: OSBee is designed for battery-operated valves. Right now the standalone OSBee is not available, we only offer OSBee Shield for Arduino. The idea is you plug in the OSBee Shield into an Arduino, and the whole assembly, including battery, can be put into a water-proof enclosure and placed outdoors near the valve. OSBee can communicate with a hub using 433MHz or 2.4G transceiver, and the hub has Internet connection. This is because WiFi or Ethernet controllers are not yet suitable for battery power, unless if you can periodically charge the battery through solar cells. So to get it connected to the web, it needs to leverage a hub.
OpenSprinkler and OpenSprinkler Pi / Beagle are different from OSBee, in that they are powred by 24VAC, and are not meant for battery-operated valves. If you want to modify OpenSprinkler or OSPi/OSBo to work with battery-operated valves, it’s going to involve quite a lot of modifications.
@erezshabtai: yes the operation pattern you described can be achieved by OSBee. The only question is if OSBee is capable to open/close two valves together. This depends on whether the 2200uF capacitor on the circuit board can store sufficient charge to open / close two valves. I haven’t done any tests myself, but I am pretty sure it can. If it turns out to be not very reliable, you can always replace the 2200uF capacitor with something bigger, like 4700uF or even 6800uF, and I am sure those would be more than enough to drive two valves. Other than that there is no issue connecting multiple valves to the same port.
The current firmware 2.0.9 allows up to 32 characters for password, you can use numbers, special characters, space, quotes. Basically no restrictions on what characters. and it’s case-sensitive.
The password you showed is 50 characters long, which exceeds the 32 limit.
In the upcoming firmware 2.1.0 I was planning to reduce password to 24 characters max but we can keep the limit to 32 if that’s necessary.
@cpaine: Windows has a built-in zip tool which shows the content of a zip file as if they were in a normal folder. But it’s not. You need to unzip the file, and extract the content into a local folder first. Especially if the zip contains an executable, you can’t run it directly in the zip file.
There are many ways to unzip a zip file: you can right click on the .zip file and select ‘Extract’; or you can double click on the zip file and drag and drop the osFirmwareUpdater folder onto your desktop. I actually recommend using a third-party tool like 7-zip because Windows’s build-in zip tool is very primitive and can’t even handle .rar, .7z files, or large zip files. It’s a pretty crappy tool.
Anyways, once you have unzipped the content, go to the osFirmwareUpdater folder -> windows subfolder, and double click on osFirmwareUpdater.exe.
@Chris: the 24V AC is really only required for sprinkler valves, the Pi itself, runs on 5V DC as you know, so there is a switching converter on OSPi to rectify and step 24V AC down to 5V DC to power RPi. If you have a 12V DC power supply, it’s probably better to step it down to 5V DC directly to power RPi. The reason is that I suspect 12V DC-> 24V AC ->5V DC is inefficient and not a very robust solution especially for WiFi. So what I am suggesting is to split 12V DC into two paths: one goes into the interver to generate 24V AC required by the sprinkler valves; the other goes into a 5V DC step-down converter to power RPi.
Another option, which is probably simpler, is to use 12V DC to directly power everything, including sprinkler solenoids. While most sprinkler valves are designed to work with 24V AC, they CAN operate under 12V DC too (see my blog post here: http://rayshobby.net/?p=9529). If you use this approach, you can feed 12V DC directly to OSPi (OSPi’s switching converter can work with any input voltage between 7V-40V DC). However, you do need to replace the 8 triacs onboard by NPN transistors or N-channel MOSFETs, because triacs will not work with DC current (more technically, they can turn on DC devices but once on they cannot turn them off).
My BS and MS are from UMass and I lived in Amherst for 5 years.
Awesome, I live in Amherst, MA. You can email me directly at [email protected]
In folder osFirmwareUpdater/windows I see file osFirmwareUpdater.exe.
But when I plug in the OS to USB, the updater does not run.Your description sounded like you’ve never clicked on osFirmwareUpdater.exe. Can you double click on that executable file? The updater GUI will NOT automatically pop up when you insert the device, you have to double click on it to Run it.
From time to time I find the from/to values of some of my programs changed to xxx
I don’t see how this can happen: because the program settings are stored in non-volatile memory, the only way the settings can change is if you modified the programs yourself. Otherwise the program settings cannot change on their own.
It looks like the space in the folder name was the issue.
OK, I am able to reproduce the problem as you said. This only happens on Mac (if the folder path has a SPACE character in it), because for some reason Processing assumes the ‘current directory’ on Mac is the home directory; whereas in Windows and Linux the ‘current directory’ is the folder where the executable program exists. Therefore for Windows and Linux you can use the relative path ./ or ../ to reference the firmware files. That’s also why on Mac the code has to use sketchPath(“”) to obtain the absolute path name of the ‘current directory’.
Anyways, the issue can be fixed by wrapping the path around quotes, something like this:
command = “”” + sketchPath(“”) + “../avr-macos/bin/avrdude” -C “”+sketchPath(“”)+”../avr-macos/etc/avrdude.conf “”;
this should solve the SPACE character issue. Will update the programs later today.the windows version also seems to have issues with the avr lines. . .
Can you be more specific? I am not sure what you mean.
I have the same TP-Link model and it’s configured as Client. I’ve encountered the case where I type in OpenSprinkler’s IP and it shows me the router’s configuration page. I am not sure why that happens because the router should be on a different IP (or has a hidden IP). In any case, if this is a constant issue, you may consider setting OpenSprinkler to use a different port number (such as 8080).
Do you have OpenSprinkler 2.1 or 2.0? The main difference (in appearance) between them is that 2.1 uses an orange-colored 24V AC terminal block, while 2.0 uses green-colored. The ‘pressing B2 while plugging in USB’ is only needed for 2.1 (due to its bootloader implementation). If you have 2.0, you do NOT need to press B2.
For now the work-around is to create multiple programs that have the same start times, with different stations and water time in each program.
On the microcontroller-based OpenSprinkler, per-station water time will be added in the upcoming firmware 2.1.0. I assume the same changes will be made on OSPi soon too.
If you connect two DC valves to the same port, they will always open or close at the same time. Is it what you intend to do? I assume you would like all valves to be independent from each other.
OpenSprinkler Pi cannot work with latching solenoid valves — it’s designed to work with 24V AC valves only.
What version of OpenSprinkler do you have, and which firmware is it running? This sounds like a RTC (real-time clock) issue. The microcontroller reads time from the RTC every minute, and if the RTC is not running correctly the time will be wrong. In other threads you mentioned checking the RTC battery, is the battery is good condition (the voltage should be at least 2.7V)?
What is the spare current (after you subtract what’s needed for the OSPi) that I can draw from the +5V regulator LM2596S for my external circuitry?
LM2596S is rated for 3A output, although in practice I don’t recommend drawing more than 1A because 3A is only a theoretical limit, and the circuit has never been tested under 3A output. Just for your reference, RPi normally draws about 250 to 400mA (with WiFi dongle), and the OSPi circuit draws very little, so the overall current draw is well below 500mA.
