Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I forgot to mention that you may want to consider OpenSprinkler Pi, which has no software limitation on the number of expansion boards.
I suggest using the VirtualBox image as you mentioned, since it has all the settings ready configured.
If you want to make it work with a native system (note that unlike 1.8.3 firmware which only compiles on a specific version of Linux, 2.0.0 firmware can compile on all platforms), make sure you have added the fies in ‘arduino-code / hardware ‘ folder to your Arduino’s hardware directory. Also you need to select ‘OpenSprinkler2’ as the board in Arduino, as it contains the necessary mcu and parameters. If you select other boards, the code will not flash because Arduino will complain that it’s the wrong mcu.
Firmware 1.8.3 (for hardware 1.x) supports up to 3 expansion boards, and 2.0 (for hardware 2.x) supports up to 5.
Your 1.42u runs on ATmega328 which has very limited EEPROM (1KB). If you want to try 4 expansion boards, you should change the MAX_EXT_BOARDS macro define in defines.h. You cannot run 2.0 firmware on 1.42u because 2.0 is for generation 2 hardware.
You may be able to run up to 9 expansion boards on 2.0, although I have not tried it myself. Does this mean you have close to 80 stations? That’s very impressive 😯
For connecting to GPIO pins, you can probably use jumper wires similar to the 8-pin and 3-pin cables. But if you have a board designed to sit on top of RPi, then you have to either keep the RPi out of the enclosure, or just remove the top cover.
I will consider adding cutouts for the Ethernet and USB.
If you just need to run garden lights, keep in mind that you may be able to use opensprinkler as is without any modification. This is because you can run dc lights on AC power – it will produce some flickering but usually not noticeable. With 24vac you can connect a light bulb rated 24dc and that should work fine (because 24vac is measured in terms of rms average). If you need to run 12vdc bulb instead, you can connect a 1n4007 diode in series to block half of the AC wave and hence reduce the equivalent rms voltage by half.
To be honest, I don’t think ‘% Watering% would make it obviously clear to a typical user what the parameter is for either. The matter of fact is that there are technical terms that are difficult to explain without at least one sentence of explanation. I understand that most users don’t read user manuals and don’t want to read user manuals. I agree that most products should be designed to be self-explanatory. But at least they should be aware there is a user manual they can refer to when something is not immediately clear.
As some personal experience: I regularly upgrade my cameras. A product like a camera has been designed and refined over so many years that I should think I don’t need to read a user manual any more. But there are still a lot of advanced features that I simple do not understand without reading the manual. Maybe if one day Apple designs a camera, or sprinkler controller, they can do it in such a way that you don’t need to read the user manual. Until then 🙂
Once the controller start, you can click on the first pushbutton (B1) and the LCD display will show the ip address assigned to it. You can also check your router’s configuration page, where there is usually a page that shows the list of all clients and ip addresses.
Your post title is ‘mac address’. That is different from ip address. OpenSprinkler’s default mac address is:
00:69:69:2D:30:00
where the last byte can be customized by using the ‘Device ID’ option.Technically it’s pretty straightforward to add LCDs and buttons to OSPi. It will just need to take a few extra GPIO pins. However, the usability design, particularly how to stack everything together and still keep the unit compact, is more tricky. I can’t think of a really elegant design without involving three layers (OSPi, RPi, and display/buttons), and this number of layers would also make the enclosure look really ugly.
Ultimately the plan should be to integrate RPi (or any embedded Linux chip) together with the OSPi board. This way the product will look exactly like the current mcu-based OpenSprinkler but runs embedded Linux internally. I am investigating this option but still pretty far from having the first functioning prototype.
Indeed transistors / MOSFETs in SOT223 package are somewhat uncommon. However, since SOT223 is fairly large, you may consider using through-hole replacements. Just bend the pins close to the transistor body, and solder them onto the PCB pads. I’ve done this before and it works well.
If you are going to interface with inductive load (such as DC solenoids), you may find it easier to just get one of those relay boards (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=relay+board). Will save you a lot of work of having to solder the flyback diodes.
@hf3 wrote:
Sorry, I’m a s/w, not a h/w guy…. Is there a simple circuit using one of the new ADC channels to measure the 24V current? If there were, seems that would be a good indication of whether a valve is open or shorted, which would be a nice utility to have.
hf
Some commercial sprinkler controllers do have a feature which allows them to scan through all connected valves and detect those that are shorted. I don’t know what’s the easiest implementation, but one possible way is to use an additional resistor to form a voltage divider with the solenoid, and detect the voltage on the resistor using an ADC channel. Probably another approach is to add a current limiter circuit to limit the amount of current supplied to each channel. In any case, I am very interested in finding a simple and low-cost way to address shorted solenoids.
@manithree: I suspect that RPi is more fragile to electric shocks or overvoltage damage since it has a lot more components, of which many are sensitive to high voltages. The OSPi board has a relatively small number of components and many of them (like the shift register) can take a lot of abuse.
I damaged my first RPi by simply connecting a digital output pin to GND. That fried the power circuit instantly 🙁
Just to chime in on this topic: the run-once program allows setting a timer, also, the manual operation mode in the standard front end (i.e. by typing in the ip address in a browser, instead of using the app) allows setting a timer as well. In any case, run-once program is recommended as it automatically returns the controller back to program mode (while the manual operation mode will leave the controller in manual mode until you switch it back).
Very nice. Thanks for making the code work with Mega2560 and the Ethernet shield. I just recently ordered a Mega2560. Haven’t received it yet, but will give it a try soon.
It’s recommended that the 24V AC transformer is rated 500mA or above. If you searched for ‘sprinkler transformer’ or ’24v ac transformer’ on Amazon, there should be some available choices. For example, this one on amazon.co.uk:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Orbit-57056-European-Transformer/dp/B004RUHA5M/As long as it’s AC transformer, it doesn’t matter which order you insert the wires — AC has no polarity.
The password has a 15 character limit. I may have forgotten to add a checker in the firmware to check if it’s more than 15 characters. So if you put in more than 15 characters I am sure it will cause a problem. Will fix this in the firmware.
You can find plenty of information by Googling. This diagram shows how the valves are connected to a standard sprinkler controller:
http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/DIY-wire-valves-s/6547.htmAlso, you can go to home improvement stores and ask a store person to help you.
I am pretty sure the Adafruit LCD uses I2C interface (the SDA, SCL lines). You can share multiple devices on the same I2C bus, because each device has its own unique ID.
Did you check the online user manual?
http://rayshobby.net/?page_id=192
Master (or pump) station is a built-in feature of the OpenSprinkler firmware. You can designate any of the first 8 stations as a master / pump station (which turn on when any other station is on), and you can fine tune the timing when the master station turns on.The support pillars are all designed in positions that only touch solder masked regions of the Pi board. So unless if your Pi board has exposed PCB trace (i.e. broken solder mask), the pillars should not cause any shorting.
One potential issue could be the cable that comes with OSPi. A couple of months ago we had one batch of cables that had connection issues, but ever since that batch I haven’t heard any further issue with the cables.
First, you should be careful buying an AC/AC adapter from the US and use it in the UK. The mains here are 110V, and I believe in the UK it’s 230V. If you use the rain bird transformer (110V -> 24V AC) in the UK, it will probably output 48V AC, which will destroy OpenSprinkler in no time.
It’s possible to modify OpenSprinkler to use DC power instead. The power conversion circuit works with DC as is, so no need to change that. However, the triacs need to be replaced by transistors or mosfets in order to interface with DC devices. Flyback diodes should also be added to interface with sprinkler solenoids. On the microcontroller-based OpenSprinkler 2.0, the PCB design has considered these potential modifications (including PCB holes for both transistors/mosfets and flyback diodes). But OpenSprinkler Pi doesn’t have these yet.
The main reason *not* to go with DC is that most sprinkler solenoids are designed to work with AC power. So all standard sprinkler controllers are also powered by AC adapter. Since we don’t make custom sprinkler solenoids, we have to stick to the industry standard. While you can probably operate them with DC as well, there is a liability issue if things go wrong.
So in the end, we can leave these options available, but you have to make your own modifications if you want it to work with DC, well, unless if you can convince me that in the UK market, most sprinkler solenoids operate on DC power 🙂
Cool, looks nice and thanks for sharing.
I suspect it can’t fit all together to the current enclosure, since the enclosure (Serpac 032C) isn’t very high. However, if you have some way of making cutouts yourself, you can get Serpac 033 or 133 enclosure, which has extended height and I believe can fit with the base of 032C enclosure:
http://www.serpac.com/sx3x.aspx
Digikey and Mouser both have these enclosures at very reasonable price.
