Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Ok, I see. Going back to your earlier question: yes you can run your valves as many individual programs (assume Sequential mode is turned off). Alternatively, you can exploit the available features in Sequential mode to achieve or approximate what you want.
The part name difference should not be a problem: we buy parts in different batches. Usually even if you order from the same supplier a few days apart, the part number can be slightly different. ‘ST CHN 063AC 41E241’ is an MC34063 chip, so no worry about that.
You can use this thread as a reference to troubleshooting:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=137My suggested list in order:
1. test the resistance between VIN and GND. If it’s less than at least several kilo-ohms, some components must have been damaged and shorted. Start with zener diode D3, desolder it or simply clip it off, measure VIN-GND resistance again; if still too low, desolder or clip the MCP1703-33 linear regulator. Basically follow the components that have to do with the VIN line, and check them one after another, and replace if necessary.2. If the VIN-GND resistance is above several kilo-ohms, the next thing you should try is to power the controller through USB. Plug in a USB cable, and measure VIN-GND voltage, which should be somewhere around 4.7V to 5V. Then measure VCC-GND voltage, which should be around 3.2 to 3.3V. At this point, you can plug in the other ICs and the controller should function normally (except since there is no 24VAC it can’t activate solenoids).
3. If your MC34063 is damaged, you should get it replaced. The final step is to go back to what you did before: test the power supply with 24VAC transformer. Just to be safe, you should take out all ICs except IC1. If it passes the voltage tests, you can then plug all ICs back.
To get replacement components, you can either follow the part list to buy them from Digikey, or you can send me an email and I will send you requested components at a nominal cost.
Wait, I thought you want the next zone to open a few seconds before the previous zone (your bullet 2). But in the example program you gave, zone 3 opens after zone 2 has closed. If this is the case, the firmware can already do this, and you can keep the controller in sequential mode. The firmware also supports fine tuning when the master valve will open. As I said in my previous reply: what’s not supported by default is opening a zone a few seconds before the next zone.
1 and 3 can be done using the built-in features of the firmware (i.e. master on/off time). 2 is not a built-in feature, so you will have to modify the source code to achieve it.
Another solution is to use the concurrent running mode (i.e. turn off sequential), where you can set the on/off time of each valve independently. However, one caveat is that while the ‘water time’ of a valve is on per-second granularity, the ‘open time’ of a valve is on per-minute granularity. For example, you can set valve 1 to open at 8:30, run for 55 seconds, and valve 2 to open at 8:31, run for 55 seconds and so on. Also you can designate any station as a master station, and set its open/close time.
I received updated scripts from Dan a couple of days ago, and I just checked it into the Github repository. Please update and see if this has fixed the issue.
Odd/even days with interval schedules should be fairly straightforward to implement. I did consider this when I wrote the firmware, but eventually decided to not include it due to a rather technical reason to save program data structure size. Anyways, I will add this to my to-do list. Thanks for the suggestion.
In theory you can, but this is not implemented as a built-in feature. So if you want to do this you will need to modify the source code yourself. Here is a possible solution: for the salve controllers, you can modify the firmware to start the controller by default in ‘manual operation’ mode, this way you can use HTTP commands to open or close a valve individually.
For the master controller, you can change the firmware such that if a station to be opened or closed is on a slave controller, it sends an HTTP command to the slave controller accordingly. If you have some programming background, these shouldn’t be too difficult to do.
According to the specification of the valves, it consumes 1.2A current @ 24VAC, so it’s a little bit beyond the capacity of one single channel on OpenSprinkler (rated at 800mA max). But I am pretty sure you can combine two channels in parallel to increase the current output. Specifically, one wire from the valve goes to the COMMON line as usual, the other wire will connect simultaneously to, say stations 1 and 2 (the best way is to use two separate short wires from stations 1 and 2, then solder them and join them with the valve wire). Next, it’s important to always schedule stations 1 and 2 together (you will have to turn ‘Sequential’ mode off so that stations 1 and 2 can be activated at the same time). This way, stations 1 and 2 will simultaneously open to share the current load.
Alternatively, you can replace the current triac with a beefier traic that is rated at 1.2A or above.
The last solution, which is safer (given that these valves are very expensive) is to use a relay. Specifically, OpenSprinkler will control a relay, which in turn opens or closes the valve. You can either use a single 24VAC power supply, in which case the relay should be a 24VAC relay; or you can use two separate power supplies (so that one power supply powers the controller, the other is 24VAC that powers the valve).
This isn’t in the plan yet, because network upgrade would require a network-based bootloader. Someone may have written one for avr chips, but I haven’t found one yet.
No it shouldn’t. The ATtiny is programmed to function as a USBtiny programmer. You don’t need it if you have an external ISP programmer to directly flash a program to ATmega328.
Cool, thanks for sharing. At the Maker Faire this year we used the same setup: OpenSprinkler with RPi to serve javascripts. There is no reliable Internet connection at the Maker Faire, so this worked out very nicely and I was able to demonstrate all the features of the firmware.
There is currently no way to re-order the programs, other than deleting them and adding them in the order you’d like. I agree this is less than ideal, but hopefully you don’t need to re-order too often.
The Wiki page is now fixed (it was due to a large amount of spam that consumed the sql database quota). Now it’s set to be editable with an account. Also, file upload has been disabled, but you can upload files to somewhere else (like Google docs or Dropbox) and share the link on the Wiki.
OK, apparently the mysql database is full, probably due to spam (should have required logging in before editing). Anyways, I have to delete the database and recreate it later tonight.
I will check that later tonight. But in the meantime, try to edit without creating an account — I think the wiki is set up to be editable without logging in.
Yes, it’s true that the master station can only be one of the first 8 stations. so please add this constraint to your app too. Thanks.
I am very impressed by the interface you designed. Now, I haven’t tried it yet, but I am a bit confused how to get it running. From your instructions, I am guessing that this is a front end that runs on a local server which talks to OpenSprinkler and outputs a mobile webpage, is this correct? I would like to give it a try and blog about it. Thanks!
My understanding is that the password is defined in a file. So you can simply open the file and edit the password.
By the way, if you have a multimeter, you should also check the connections of the 8-pin ribbon cable: our most recent batch of the ribbon cable had a high failure rate (i.e. wires are not connected internally), and I won’t be surprised if this is the cause of the issue you have encountered. We will be sending out replacement cables to all recent orders that are likely affected.
@salbahra: awesome. I like your post and pictures. Very neat. And the app interface is very clean. As soon as you have a version that you are satisfied with, let me know and I’d be happy to blog about it. Thanks!
To program a new mcu, you need to do the following:
1) program the fuse bits:
avrdude -c usbtiny -p m328p -B 250 -F -U lfuse:w:0xe2:m -U hfuse:w:0xd1:m -U efuse:w:0x06:m
(this sets various configurations, including setting the mcu to run with internal 8MHz clock. the -B 250 part is important because OpenSprinkler’s built-in usbtiny programmer is set to run at the highest speed, and a stock atmeg328 runs only at 1MHz so it cannot handle that speed. therefore you need to first use a slow programming speed to set the clock to run at 8MHz).2) flash the firmware:
avrdude -c usbtiny -p m328p -F -U flash:w:firmware1.8.3.hexwunderground is what a lot of people recommend. You do need to apply for an ID but you can get a free one if you don’t query it too frequently per day.
1) the 8MHz crystal is optional, although I recommend you to solder it because if you happen to set the mcu’s fuse bits wrong, you can still re-program it (otherwise, if you set the mcu’s fuse bits to use external crystal and if that crystal is not present, it will not be able to start and hence you can’t program it). The spacing of the pins is much narrower than a standard 8MHz crystal, so try to pinch the pins together and fit them in. You actually don’t really need cx1 and cx2: those are there to stabilize the crystal but it usually works fine without cx1 and cx2.
2) RD+/- can be either 47ohm or 68ohm, but I would recommend 47ohm because that’s a standard value recommended by the V-USB design. That being said, 68ohm works just fine.
3) RN2 and RN3 can be either 220×4, or 330×4. RN1 can be almost any value: 220×4, 330×4, 1Kx4, 10Kx4 (basically it forms a voltage divider so the absolute value does not matter).All assembled OpenSprinklers have been tested and should be able to connect. It’s possible that its DHCP doesn’t work with every router. You can try to disable DHCP and set a static IP. You can do so by entering setup options (press and hold button B3 while starting the controller), navigate to the ‘Use DHCP’ option, turn it off, then set the four fields of the IP address (make sure it’s unique and compatible with your router’s settings), and also the four fields of the router’s IP. Then press and hold B3 to save the options. See if this makes it work.
