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scottmi1
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| Posted: March 17 2010 at 07:55 | IP Logged
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OK, I had promised in another thread to share my experiences with this.
I had been been looking for a reasonably priced I/O option for PH and happened across a thread on CocoonTech describing this product called WebControl from CAI Networks.
It's an ethernet connected, web interface based board with 3 analog inputs, 8 TTL outputs, 8 TTL inputs and can also support up to 8 1-wire temperature sensors along with another input for a humidity sensor. The board has some basic logic programming capabilities to control the outputs based on input conditions and time, but I have ignored this and have instead been using it directly with PH for basic I/O.
The best news is that this board costs just $35 plus $5 shipping! I've had one for about 3 months now and have been using it for some energy monitoring and to control my furnace humidifier. So far, it's been rock solid.
So far I'm using the analog inputs to monitor 2 gas hot water heaters via photocells to measure gas usage and I'm using digital inputs to monitor the on/off status of the furnace, drier and a gas stove (more gas usage). 2 more digital inputs are being used to monitor sump pumps runs. One of the digital outputs is being used to control the humidifier on the furnace based on indoor humidity and outdoor temperature (from my weather station).
It would be ideal if the WebControl was supported natively as a controller in PH or if someone could write a plugin for it (hint, hint  ). Unfortunately writing plugins is above my skill level, so I just wrote some macros that periodically poll the board's inputs and update the outputs based on virtual I/O in PH. The macros are pretty simple as all interaction with the board is via geturls. I'll be happy to post the macros if there is interest.
Here are links to the user guide for the board, the CocoonTech thread discussing it and to the listing on Amazon where I bought it.
Mike..
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raven77
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| Posted: September 10 2010 at 01:09 | IP Logged
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scottmi1 wrote:
OK, I had promised in another thread to share my experiences with this.
I had been been looking for a reasonably priced I/O option for PH and happened across a thread on CocoonTech describing this product called WebControl from CAI Networks.
It's an ethernet connected, web interface based board with 3 analog inputs, 8 TTL outputs, 8 TTL inputs and can also support up to 8 1-wire temperature sensors along with another input for a humidity sensor. The board has some basic logic programming capabilities to control the outputs based on input conditions and time, but I have ignored this and have instead been using it directly with PH for basic I/O.
The best news is that this board costs just $35 plus $5 shipping! I've had one for about 3 months now and have been using it for some energy monitoring and to control my furnace humidifier. So far, it's been rock solid.
So far I'm using the analog inputs to monitor 2 gas hot water heaters via photocells to measure gas usage and I'm using digital inputs to monitor the on/off status of the furnace, drier and a gas stove (more gas usage). 2 more digital inputs are being used to monitor sump pumps runs. One of the digital outputs is being used to control the humidifier on the furnace based on indoor humidity and outdoor temperature (from my weather station).
It would be ideal if the WebControl was supported natively as a controller in PH or if someone could write a plugin for it (hint, hint ). Unfortunately writing plugins is above my skill level, so I just wrote some macros that periodically poll the board's inputs and update the outputs based on virtual I/O in PH. The macros are pretty simple as all interaction with the board is via geturls. I'll be happy to post the macros if there is interest.
Here are links to the user guide for the board, the CocoonTech thread discussing it and to the listing on Amazon where I bought it.
Mike.. |
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I just got one of these. Price is unreal!
Just wondering how you monitor your sump pump on/off status? current sensing?
I am looking for either sonar or photo sensors now to try to monitor my oil tank level. I found a few but I think its going to be hard to get an accurate reading, But I am gonna give a shot!
Thanks for sharing your experiences!!
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scottmi1
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| Posted: September 10 2010 at 11:39 | IP Logged
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I use a pretty low tech way of monitoring the sump pumps. The pumps each have a level switch that the pump plugs into. I added a cube tap between the socket for the switch and the pump plug so I could plug in a 5v DC wall-wart along with the pump. The output of the wall-wart goes to one of the digital inputs of the Webcontrol. So now when the level switch turns on, the pump turns on and the wall-wart turns on the digital output.
Mike..
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raven77m
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Joined: December 31 2006
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| Posted: September 13 2010 at 21:09 | IP Logged
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That works! I seen a few cheap current sensing sensors around, I may try one of them.
and FYI I found a super cheap source for sonar sensors with analog voltage outputs! I order but didn't get it yet. I will let everyone know how/if it works then.
So far I am only using 2 inputs.
1 when the furnace is running and 1 when it is faulted.
Here is the link for the level sensors...
www.maxbotix.com
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Topic: WebControl Ethernet I/O Board
