Howto: Use a Linksys Router as Wireless Reef Controller - WRRC

[mloebl]

Hi aka_BigRed,

Wasn't going to post it for sure until I knew definitely it would work (just in case ), but it is American Meter C700 Polymer 3/4"-9" LL 100% polymer version except for the register itself. There is an addon unit for it that adds a digital counter to it, as well as an optional 3/4" MPT connection kit for it. I ordered it from http://submetersystems.com , however I had to email the guy directly to get the right connection kit as the site doesn't have the MPT plastic kit on it. They claim no metal comes in contact at all to the water, and it should be able to keep up with my ~600gph I estimate my pump is at. It can do sustained around 15-20gpm with peaks around 30gpm without a problem. He wasn't 100% sure it was in stock, so it may take a couple weeks before I get it before I know how well it will/won't work.

Can you post a close up pic of your modified Vernier? I'd like to do the same thing to mine.

Thanks!

-Mike

[aka_BigRed]

I'm a little curious how much head something like that would add to the pump and restrict flow. It might be pretty substantial.... just a thought w/out looking at a spec sheet or anything.

I'll try to take a closer pic tonight, but a wiring diagram/mapping would probably be better. It's kind of a hack job so all my wires are soldered then taped or shrink-wrapped. It's really just a matter of matching the right color wires together and soldering in the capacitors which would be pretty hard to discern from a pic of mine.

For my ORP one I hope to etch a board so it looks a little more professional, but I was trying to get this one working as a semi-prototype then improve (if needed) when etching the board for the other one.

[pista01]

Originally posted by bad inferno

After using the temp and A/D 1wire devices for a year now I am currently testing some 1wire outputs (DS2405) for reliability. Been continually pulsing two outputs (OFF 2 sec / ON 5 sec) now for 1 week and it hasn't skipped a beat.

I've been switching DS2409's (MicroLAN Coupler) every 5 seconds for the past 10 months or so. I have a multi-segment 1-wire bus, so I switch between legs of the network based on where the device is. I don't think you'd have any reliability issues. I also poll the sensors for their current state, so if the switches aren't in the intended state, it will get switched next time it's scanned.

[mloebl]

Originally posted by aka_BigRed
I'm a little curious how much head something like that would add to the pump and restrict flow. It might be pretty substantial.... just a thought w/out looking at a spec sheet or anything.

I'll try to take a closer pic tonight, but a wiring diagram/mapping would probably be better. It's kind of a hack job so all my wires are soldered then taped or shrink-wrapped. It's really just a matter of matching the right color wires together and soldering in the capacitors which would be pretty hard to discern from a pic of mine.

Supposedly they are very low-restrictive, but figured worse case I clean it out, and can monitor my house water usage with it, hehe

Basic schematic may help too, thanks!

-Mike

[aka_BigRed]

I have a quick general question for you other guys running 1-wire devices: Do you supply 5v Regulated & 12v+ Unregulated on your network as seems to be standard?




I ask because my pH amplifier mod depends on line provided reg 5V to work. If you do supply voltage, do you know roughly how much current you pull from those lines with all your devices?

(image source changed)

[mloebl]

I'm honestly not sure... I have never tried to run anything else off of my 1-wire network besides 1-wire devices. I use the Hobby-Boards hub that I think has a built in power injector, but there is also one of these:
http://www.hobby-boards.com/catalog/...products_id=78

-Mike

[bad inferno]

I only use the 5VDC to power my 1 wire devices and any opto isolators...You could run into resistance issues (voltage drop)drawing too much current if you have extended the 1 wire bus with standard ethernet cable. I also think that changes in the 5VDC supply may effect the A/D 1wire devices. I just use the 5VDC directly from my USB connection. I'm running on a NSLU2.

rob

[BeanAnimal]

If you are concerned (it should not be a problem) why not send 24V unreg down the line and build a small recifier/vreg (they come in single 4 pin packages now) into the probe interface. In that way you will not run into current issues.

Bean

[aka_BigRed]

Bean, That's probably what I'll do long term. I've got an old PC power supply that will be wired up to the bus. I get 5v and 12v both nicely regulated and more than enough to go around.

I'm fuse protecting it so that it won't put enough to melt the wires if something shorts. I was planning to supply most of the simple (low draw) sensors from the bus lines, and then any relay boards, LCD's, etc would have their own external power supply.

BTW, what is the max rated amperage of CAT5e cable? Anyone know?

[BeanAnimal]

It depends on the gauge of the wire and the length of the run.

Remember CAT5e and Cat6 come in various guages. Also remember that the because the pairs are twisted, the actual wire length is abotu 30% more than the cable length.

48V would be even better (POE is 48V).

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

You will notice how conservative those numbers are if you look at #12 and #14 copper. If you use plenum cable (teflon) then the ampacity will be somewhat higher.

So in an nutshell for 22AWG you can get between .6 amps and 3 amps depending on the table you look at and the length you wish to use. Voltage drop (on both the high volt and 5v bus can be significant).

[pista01]

I use the HobbyBoards hub as well. I only use the injected power for those 1-wire devices that support it. For other power needs like a pH transmitter or relay board, I use an external power supply.

[bad inferno]

Well I got my Digital I/O boards completed.

Used the US$13.00 Futurlec boards, cut 1" of the end off, and mounted the 1wire DS2406/2405 devices onto the board as well.

Relay board with transistor drivers removed.


Mounted into enclosure, see the 1wire chips on the left hand side



Digital Input board


Show minor mods required


cheers

rob

[bad inferno]

everyone gone to sleep on this thread or what. Surely somebody has done something in the last month !

[em21701]

This project showed up on hack-a-day 6/1

http://www.hackaday.com/2007/06/01/w...ef-automation/

[ds18s20]

Hi everyone,

This is a great OWFS project. I have been using Paul's software since its early infancy and I love the metaphore of representing ICs as file system objects. I think the FUSE developers deserve credit too, since without it we couldnt have been able to write easy almost script-like custom file systems. However, one thing I am very new to -- writing WRT54G software.

Can someome post a good wiki on how to write simple programs for wrt54g. Yah I have one, can un-brick it with jtag, etc but when it comes to compiling even the simplest source code I am stuck. Sure, I have the toolchain, I can run gcc but then the produced binary doesnt run. And the issue of loosing my stuff upon reboot is also one of quesitons.

I am sure this has been answered somehwere on the embedded world so blast as you may.. I have to start somewhere right

[erics3000]

Wow great info guys

[bad inferno]

I have progressed into assembly and got the I/O boards mounted on a back plate. I am currently writing a simple script that will control the fill drain solenoids. You can see the float switch attached. This has been hooked up to my controller now for 2 weeks and seems very stable. This unit will be fitted into my new tank which I am saving for and hope to get in July..

This setup has a couple of failsafe features....One of the four relays control the 24VDC power to the other three relays thus I have to explicitly turn on two relays to either open the drain valve or the fill valve. So if a 1wire digital output glitches ON nothing will happen. The other thing was the fact that I have installed a DIN rail mount relay( its the blue one) this insures that if either of the two float switches which are mounted in the tank detect high level it cuts power off to the fill valve.




rob

[bad inferno]

This is the water change solenoids built about 2 years ago and up until now have been controlled via switches. This is what the 1wire outputs (shown on above post) will switch on / off automatically. Solenoids and pump are low power 24VDC

[BeanAnimal]

Great progress. More than I can say for my controller. I have actually taken a step back and built some interim circuits to do things like feeding pump timing and light dimming. Sadly they will not be part of the final design. I just had to get something up and running as all of the manual work is starting to kill me.

[bad inferno]

Well this thread had been dead for a while so I thought I'd give it a bounce and show an improved look and feel to my web interface....I now filter out any occasional data spikes and log any of these errors in a system messages window. I have also found the ability to overlay data on the trends and can pop up target with range bands with alarm info on a transparent overlay. Next enhancements over the coming months is to link a help / info system to each parameter and get a user interface to easily insert log information into the event lists. The last will be providing logs/report of water changes..I do have a great trend showing water changed on what day and accumulated water changed for the week...need to consolidate data into monthly event reports. Can't think of any more enhancements for the short term, any future idea's to extend functionality ?

[aka_BigRed]

That looks awesome! Would you consider sharing the backend code to that web interface? I'd be interested to see what your database schema looks like too. My perl scripts are pretty basic, but I'll share them with anyone interested in them.

I've got my setup monitoring temps every 5 mins and controlling heaters fans to keep within a given range. It's got a couple basic 3 day temp trends, but not nearly as slick as yours.

[C4Vette]

Looks really good!

I'm following the trail so to speak; bought myself a router (Asus WL-500gP) and installed OpenWRT with 1Wire and RRD. This is operational now for a few days logging and graphing some system-stats like in/out traffic, cpu and memory utilization. The ordered 1wire stuff has arrived and soon the soldering will start.
Can you pls share some information on how to display (overlay) on top of the graphs? Looks great! Maybe also some explanation on what the function of "Aquarium water parameters" radio-button is or is it just eyecandy for an legenda?

Ideas?
Well, maybe an 'admin' page for making settings for dimming TL's?
Logging on/off-switching for the heating. Maybe presenting this in the temperature-graph. Same for on/off switching CO2.

greetings from the Netherlands,

Ed

[C4Vette]

@bad inferno
Am I right that you are the person in the topic:
http://www.mail-archive.com/owfs-dev.../msg03029.html with topic-name:
Reading 1 wire data every minute with an NSLU2 (SLUG)

If so, are you still using the OWshell-tools?
Does it work well?
These questions because FUSE gives me the same troubles reading /tmp/1wire : shell hangs until I kill owfs. This is on a Asus router wl-500gP with OpenWRT White-Russian RC6.

If using the OWshell-tools can I uninstall FUSE and OWFS all together?

Ed

[bad inferno]

Yes thats me .....The only thing I run now is owserver and just use owread and owwrite in my scripts. This has proved the most reliable. I just changed my startup scripts to just load owserver.

[bad inferno]

c4vette I PM'd you my read script....you only need to run owserver.

rob