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Captain Hair posted:Sticking stuff to the glass is kind of a no, because it gets swapped around and rotated after cleaning, so I'd have to do each corner. The more I look at the problem the more I feel micro switch with long lever is the way to go. Cover the metal arm with heatshrink so it doesn't scrape the glass. Could work. You're looking for a limit switch. The industrial hard plastic operators and NEMA enclosures with weatherpoof wiring are probably overkill, but long-lever microswitches are a thing. I'm not sure how your doors are rigged; a picture would be very helpful.
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May 29, 2016 17:36
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Anyone try to power the cheapy Node MCU ESP8266 board on Amazon using 10v on the Vin pin? The silk screening on the back says 10v max, but mine popped and doesn't boot any more when I tried it. Also, has anyone experiences ordering these ESP8266 boards from Aliexpress? Am I risking burning my house down?
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May 29, 2016 19:11
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Lowen SoDium posted:Anyone try to power the cheapy Node MCU ESP8266 board on Amazon using 10v on the Vin pin? The silk screening on the back says 10v max, but mine popped and doesn't boot any more when I tried it. I used this one with 3.3v and also with the battery clip with 3 AA's: http://www.amazon.com/Gikfun-ESP8266-ESP-12-Industrial-version/dp/B00RK1W7R6 and I recently bought a bag of these cheap ones from ebay that mostly work with 3v button cells: http://www.ebay.com/itm/331812990485 I haven't tried more voltage but I'd imagine 10V is too much unless it's got a beefy regulator. There's often mismarked chinese stuff. I ran a little motorized pump that said it was good from 6-12V at 12V and it shorted out the windings pretty quickly. The white sparks were neat and all but it didn't work afterwards.
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May 29, 2016 20:47
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The ESP8266 are nowhere near as forgiving as the ATM 328p Everything I'm reading says "4.5-9v, 10v MAX" so probably it's designed to take 3.3-7.4v, I think 10v is probably momentary and not sustained
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May 30, 2016 01:00
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Momentary is right. It was a very brief moment. Oh well, I have some more coming and a pile of voltage regulators.
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May 30, 2016 04:07
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Lowen SoDium posted:Anyone try to power the cheapy Node MCU ESP8266 board on Amazon using 10v on the Vin pin? The silk screening on the back says 10v max, but mine popped and doesn't boot any more when I tried it. I just power it via usb. Has anyone had issues using them with wifi on a solderless breadboard? I got constant resets until I moved to another bb. No problem without wifi turned on though.
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May 30, 2016 05:29
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Before i go too far down a bad path i'm trying something like this pH + Temp sensor v nodemcu + wifi v Raspi v Apache server v Python script v Sqlite database Looking to make a datalogging system for aquariums with multiple sensor packages on different tanks reporting back to a server on a wifi network. I think I have the whole path working in prototype, but if anyone has any tips or experience that'd be useful.
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May 30, 2016 05:41
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oop wrong thread
politicorific fucked around with this message at 05:33 on May 31, 2016 |
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May 30, 2016 06:16
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ESP8266 (nodemcu) does not have an analog input IIRC which is fine, you can get an ADC device to do the conversion for you. The one thing I haven't seen people be able to figure out yet is how to update the wifi password for your IoT devices without having to login to them and push new firmware updates etc. Otherwise that looks good. I have a simple NodeMCU api put arduino script I can share if the old one got lost.
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May 30, 2016 06:19
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Just in case you hadn't considered it, it seems like this would be a simpler option: https://hackaday.io/project/5797-plotly-esp8266Hadlock posted:
I think the "if can't connect then become AP for user to connect and enter credentials through browser" sounds pretty good on paper and apparently thre's a library is being actively developed, but supposedly it's still not very robust. rawrr fucked around with this message at 06:28 on May 30, 2016 |
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May 30, 2016 06:22
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Hadlock posted:ESP8266 (nodemcu) does not have an analog input IIRC which is fine, you can get an ADC device to do the conversion for you. It has one adc channel.
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May 30, 2016 12:58
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rawrr posted:Just in case you hadn't considered it, it seems like this would be a simpler option: https://hackaday.io/project/5797-plotly-esp8266 Stuff like that looks convenient, but I'm worried about 2 things. Permanence and scalability. Eventually this system might go to ~30 nodes dumping 2+ sensor data each every hour. I want to have complex custom visualization for that without having to pop between plots. Additionally at some point most of these services charge for use based on data writes. And I don't want to be tied to a platform that might go dark or change arbitrarily in a year.
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May 30, 2016 13:15
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Hadlock posted:
Would something like this help you? https://github.com/tzapu/WiFiManager
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May 30, 2016 14:37
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Spazzle posted:Before i go too far down a bad path i'm trying something like this This could be simplified to pH + temp sensor v NodeMCU + WiFi v ThingSpeak v download data as CSV whenever you need it unless you have a specific reason that you want it on your home network, or you have to store data more quickly than the ThingSpeak limit of 1 burst of 8 channels every 15 seconds.
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May 30, 2016 15:30
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I'll check it out. Looks like I can run my own thingspeak server anyways. Do you know how well it works with multiple simultaneous data visualizations? Edit: it looks like it can output different data sets on a single channel. I'm wondering how you can visualize the same kind of data across multiple channels simultaneously. Like show temperature from several channels in the same plot. Spazzle fucked around with this message at 16:14 on May 30, 2016 |
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May 30, 2016 16:00
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 First step is admitting you have an addiction.
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May 30, 2016 16:57
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CommieGIR posted:
What's the red little one that looks like it has an attached microphone?
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May 30, 2016 17:21
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xilni posted:What's the red little one that looks like it has an attached microphone? Its just a Microphone module.
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May 30, 2016 17:35
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Spazzle posted:I'll check it out. Looks like I can run my own thingspeak server anyways. Do you know how well it works with multiple simultaneous data visualizations? I've got the same sorta deal going, I use highcharts (well, technically highstocks but that's just to get the timeline functionality) to display different things from the mysql database I have.  http://www.highcharts.com/ It's free for personal use, pretty great stuff, can scale it up really well, my experiment uses it and we've got a page with ~10 things on three different plots that are all synced to the same timeline widget. Do need to fix the positioning of the legend and add the rest of my sensors though... As far as getting the data there, I just have an arduino with an ethernet shield, and I have some php sitting on my website that waits for GET requests from the arduino that filters things into the database. Could do the same thing over wifi too, doesn't matter where the request is coming from really.
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May 31, 2016 17:30
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Mr. Despair posted:I've got the same sorta deal going, I use highcharts (well, technically highstocks but that's just to get the timeline functionality) to display different things from the mysql database I have. Yeah, this is pretty close to what I'm thinking. I have a chain basically working now. Just need to create charts from stored data. Probably use python scripting.
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May 31, 2016 17:57
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If you can output your data in JSON format I'm willing to bet that highcharts will make nicer looking plots with less work than any python based stuff.
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May 31, 2016 18:16
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Mr. Despair posted:If you can output your data in JSON format I'm willing to bet that highcharts will make nicer looking plots with less work than any python based stuff. Was initially worried about the license stuff, but seems ok. It does look slick.
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May 31, 2016 18:25
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Yeah, free to use so long as it's just for personal use. They've got tons of example code to work with too , makes it really easy to get a jump start.
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May 31, 2016 18:26
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I'm stuck on killswitch relay selection. It's my understanding that the motors on the RC crawler I'm using as a chassis can draw ridiculous amps when stalled. My ESC is rated for 60 amps continuous, 360 amps peak. I have not been able to find relays (at least on the sparkfuns/polulus/etcs.) that can handle that sort of VDC current, and the ones on digikey that can are hundreds of dollars. I'm assuming the worst case scenario of a glitch/bug holding a stall long enough to fuse an inadequate relay before the ESC's automatic overheat protection kicks in. Clearly there are ways to do this. The esc has a swtich, after all. How is my near-complete ignorance of electronics biting me in the rear end this time?
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Jun 4, 2016 08:43
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An IGBT with driver circuit might do the trick.
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Jun 4, 2016 12:30
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:You're looking for a limit switch. The industrial hard plastic operators and NEMA enclosures with weatherpoof wiring are probably overkill, but long-lever microswitches are a thing. Ooh thanks, that's led me towards the spring limit switchs, ones that look like a doorstop. Appears there's a few styles of switchs that should offer what I need. I tried to get a photo but my phone just couldn't pick up the glass properly. It's pretty simple though, 2 panes of 6mm glass on 2 running tracks. Either way thanks, limit switch looks ideal  I did checkout those capacitave proximity sensors but they're real long and would stick out the front of the viv. Meanwhile on the software side of things I've figured out stare machines and holy crap it's like a different world. So much freedom, so efficient, it's great. I glance back at my first script, full of delays and laugh. I also got a data logger shield. Need to look at how to get everything into graphs and stuff on a website next Edit: here is a picture of the doors https://imgur.com/H1iAAv9 And a picture of the entire viv, 2m x 1m x 60cm. Person sat on top having picnic for scale. https://imgur.com/bV1HqZT Captain Hair fucked around with this message at 14:15 on Jun 4, 2016 |
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Jun 4, 2016 14:12
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sharkytm posted:An IGBT with driver circuit might do the trick. The IGBT wiki mentions that large ones "consist of many devices in parallel"; could I just wire a bunch of identical relays in parallel, all tied to the same control/coil signal? Would that spread the load?
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Jun 5, 2016 02:25
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scandoslav posted:The IGBT wiki mentions that large ones "consist of many devices in parallel"; could I just wire a bunch of identical relays in parallel, all tied to the same control/coil signal? Would that spread the load? Sort of, with some caveats. There are 2 problems with high current handling, the first one is while the current is flowing it generates heat. Multiple relays would help here. The other problem is that current doesn't like to stop flowing, just because because you broke the connection. It'll cause an arc, and the more current flowing, the hotter the arc will be, up to destroying contacts, or welding them together. So what could easily happen is that since nothing is truly identical, your relays won't open at the exact same time, and the last one to open will take the brunt of the arc. Since it's not like it would be used often, this may not be much of a problem. How common are these kill switches? I assume the common solution is to just pull the plug. This will also damage the contacts in your connector of course. You could also make your own switch-esque-thing with some kind of busbar type setup. For what it's worth, your speed controller has a bunch of mosfets in parallel to share current.
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Jun 5, 2016 02:52
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Aurium posted:Since it's not like it would be used often, this may not be much of a problem. How common are these kill switches? I assume the common solution is to just pull the plug. This will also damage the contacts in your connector of course. You could also make your own switch-esque-thing with some kind of busbar type setup. I'll usually be close enough to catch and unplug the thing, so I'll probably just drop the idea for now. I can revisit it if/when the bot starts operating outside of my immediate vicinity. Actually, since stopping the motors would be the real concern in any "emergency", I can probably just use the ESC's existing switch's wiring. It's just weird that two hobby motors could present such a (admittedly minor) hassle.
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Jun 5, 2016 07:21
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Aurium posted:Sort of, with some caveats. Even worse, the relay that arcs will be the shortest path to ground, so the current will want to go there. You'll cook one relay until it sticks shut... They make solid-state controls for these applications for a reason. Your "hobby motors" are drawing a lot of current, which means lots of heat and some significant hazards if something goes wrong.
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Jun 6, 2016 22:12
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scandoslav posted:I'm stuck on killswitch relay selection. It's my understanding that the motors on the RC crawler I'm using as a chassis can draw ridiculous amps when stalled. My ESC is rated for 60 amps continuous, 360 amps peak. I have not been able to find relays (at least on the sparkfuns/polulus/etcs.) that can handle that sort of VDC current, and the ones on digikey that can are hundreds of dollars. I'm assuming the worst case scenario of a glitch/bug holding a stall long enough to fuse an inadequate relay before the ESC's automatic overheat protection kicks in. Do you want a killswitch or just overcurrent protection? A fusible link or a slow-blow fuse should be fine. Otherwise, you're looking at industrial contactor territory; they've got beefy springs to open contacts quickly, and arc chutes to throw the arc into catch cans so the arcs don't melt stuff. Look into medium-amp relays. I know there are 12-24VDC controlled relays that switch 24VDC loads@30A and aren't all that large. If you're doing killswitch-style stuff, then you just need the interrupt rating of the relay; that's what it can handle a couple of times without welding itself. Just looking at my maintenance manuals, ANL-xxx series current limiters or MS28937/MS28938 (bussman ACH series) fuses will hold crazy current for a little bit, then pop. Current limiters are slower-blow than fuses, but fuses have a faster response time to high-current shorts. Unfortuantely, my pubs are for aircraft manufactured in the 70s and 80s, so the relays are NLA by that part number, and I don't have the logins to get to the parts xref database to figure out who makes them now. babyeatingpsychopath fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Jun 7, 2016 |
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Jun 7, 2016 03:07
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scandoslav posted:I'll usually be close enough to catch and unplug the thing, so I'll probably just drop the idea for now. I can revisit it if/when the bot starts operating outside of my immediate vicinity. Hobby motors themselves are actually pretty weird. They need to put out a good amount of power, but batteries are pretty low voltage. They're built to draw lots of current to put out that power.
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Jun 7, 2016 04:51
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sharkytm posted:Even worse, the relay that arcs will be the shortest path to ground, so the current will want to go there. You'll cook one relay until it sticks shut... They make solid-state controls for these applications for a reason. Aurium posted:Hobby motors themselves are actually pretty weird. They need to put out a good amount of power, but batteries are pretty low voltage. They're built to draw lots of current to put out that power. Excellent info. My implicit assumption was that they were small and thus weak/harmless. There's a lesson in there, somewhere, probably.  babyeatingpsychopath posted:Do you want a killswitch or just overcurrent protection? A fusible link or a slow-blow fuse should be fine. Otherwise, you're looking at industrial contactor territory; they've got beefy springs to open contacts quickly, and arc chutes to throw the arc into catch cans so the arcs don't melt stuff. Killswitch. The ESC and the step-down regulator for the other electronics have built-in overcurrent protection. This is something for the big red chassis-mounted button (and/or remote mechanism) that'll let me avoid having to subdue the bot to unplug it an absolute worst case scenario. I'm pretty sure I'll never actually have to use it. babyeatingpsychopath posted:Look into medium-amp relays. I know there are 12-24VDC controlled relays that switch 24VDC loads@30A and aren't all that large. If you're doing killswitch-style stuff, then you just need the interrupt rating of the relay; that's what it can handle a couple of times without welding itself. This brings up another question: if a relay is rated for 10 amps at 30 VDC (for example), could it handle higher current at 6-7.5 VDC? Anyhow, since the ESC can--presumably--turn itself off without frying, I'll just wire the big red button to both it and a smaller relay for the servos/sensors/etc., which are off on their own parallel branch. Happily, the way the switch is wired means I won't have to mutilate anything important: 
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Jun 7, 2016 05:53
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scandoslav posted:Killswitch. The ESC and the step-down regulator for the other electronics have built-in overcurrent protection. This is something for the big red chassis-mounted button (and/or remote mechanism) that'll let me avoid having to subdue the bot to unplug it an absolute worst case scenario. I'm pretty sure I'll never actually have to use it. If you're just looking for a huge manual killswitch to cut off battery power in an emergency, use this thing: http://www.andymark.com/120-amp-robot-main-circuit-breaker-p/am-0282.htm In addition to the manual trigger, it's a thermal slow-blow breaker rated for 120 amps continuous. It will handle short spikes up to 360A, like your ESC provides, but I don't know for how long (it's a current/time curve that's probably available in the product datasheet). It sounds like you're trying to have some kind of remote control shutoff too, though. Maybe stick a solenoid right above that device to push the button, leaving enough room to still hit it yourself? I sure wouldn't want my only killswitch to be electronically controlled, since the whole point is to have a fail-safe way of turning the thing off when the electronics fail.
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Jun 7, 2016 14:02
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Sagebrush posted:If you're just looking for a huge manual killswitch to cut off battery power in an emergency, use this thing: This is perfect. I've been searching for relays and e stops and killswitches; "circuit breaker" never occurred to me. Sagebrush posted:It sounds like you're trying to have some kind of remote control shutoff too, though. Maybe stick a solenoid right above that device to push the button, leaving enough room to still hit it yourself? I sure wouldn't want my only killswitch to be electronically controlled, since the whole point is to have a fail-safe way of turning the thing off when the electronics fail.  Thanks everybody, I'll post more about this project when it starts taking shape.
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Jun 7, 2016 21:23
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Why isn't my LCD doing anything?  code:
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Jun 7, 2016 22:04
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COOL CORN posted:Why isn't my LCD doing anything? Does it light up and/or change when you adjust the potentiometer? Does it require 5 volts?
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Jun 7, 2016 22:58
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COOL CORN posted:Why isn't my LCD doing anything? Is that a 120K resistor on the LED+ leg? edit: 120 ohm would give you 27mA if you are running it off of 5V. The datasheet I found on Adafruit says the minimum operating voltage of the LCD is 4.8V, so you might be out of luck if your Arduino is only putting out 3.3V. One thing that threw me off when I first hooked up an LCD was the contrast adjustment potentiometer. I thought it was a regular single turn pot, but it was actually more like 10-12 turns. I had to give it 6-7 turns before I saw any letters appear on the screen. Skunkduster fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Jun 8, 2016 |
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Jun 8, 2016 01:38
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Is there an Arduino simulator that I can use that actually creates a COM port to interface with other applications? I want to virtually breadboard out a project that would interface with software on my laptop, before I buy any hardware.
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Jun 8, 2016 14:20
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scandoslav posted:Excellent info. My implicit assumption was that they were small and thus weak/harmless. There's a lesson in there, somewhere, probably. Not weak at all. If you take a 2s battery, it's voltage peaks around 8.4V, and if we take your esc's 60A constant current rating as expected draw, we're talking 504W, or 2/3 of a hp. Now, the battery voltage will drop, and motors aren't 100% efficient, but you're still talking serious power.
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Jun 9, 2016 02:32
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