Good work mastering the new soldering skills. You did well to move on from your previous plumbing experience.
I once got asked to help a friend, who like you, had previously only soldered water pipes. He had bought himself an electronics hobby kit to make a pocket radio but, after assembly, it didn’t work. Could I tell him how to fix it?
When I opened up the case, it looked as though there had been a firestorm in there. It transpired that, not being as smart as you, he didn’t buy himself a new soldering iron but used his big, copper, hatchet iron which he heated with his blowtorch. There were no survivors… :o
I found a polycom ef2280 on ebay for $35. just curious, how are you going to hook up the mics to the ef2280? I am clueless, so talk to me like i’m 5, please.
-edit- I finally found an accessory sheet for it. I have somewhat of a clue now, but am still interested in how you plan to connect the mics
edit2- i see. phoenix connectors.
[quote=“keithj69, post:42, topic:180819”]I found a polycom ef2280 on ebay for $35. just curious, how are you going to hook up the mics to the ef2280? I am clueless, so talk to me like i’m 5, please.
-edit- I finally found an accessory sheet for it. I have somewhat of a clue now, but am still interested in how you plan to connect the mics
edit2- i see. phoenix connectors.[/quote]
If it doesn’t come with connectors you can get them at DigiKey. I don’t have the invoice with me, but if you require the P/N, I can get it for you. Finding specific items in DigiKey can sometimes be a little trying…
thank you. one more thing if it is not to much, can you get the part number off of the power supply? teaches me to buy something in the middle of the night on a cell phone.
No actually I cannot as I have yet to purchase the unit. I needed some odds and ends from Digi and knew it would be a future purchase and would require the connectors so I added them to my order.
You are not a lone victim to the midnight EBay cell phone purchase. I feel your pain there lol
Well its been a long time coming, but most of my arduino parts have shown up and I have managed to get the Arduino gateway built and installed. I was fortunate enough to get one of @rosskinard’s first prototype boards for the gateway and got everything built onto the board in no time. I loaded the gateway sketch onto the Nano (being sure to uncomment the line that allows for the inclusion button to work) and followed the installation instructions from mysensors.org and got it working in no time. I went with a 2 pole inclusion button mounted on the side of a project box instead of a board mounted 4 pole model so I had to follow the traces to see which of the 2 holes to solder the wires on, but it didn’t take too long to figure out. I purchased a project box that was too small for the finished gateway, so I’m waiting for another one to show up from eBay hopefully this week.
Unfortunately I am still waiting on screw terminals to finish off my lighting controls so I don’t actually have anything for the gateway to talk with… Again, I’m hoping they will be here this week. I have the first light controller soldered on a prototype board which seemed to take forever to get done up, so I’m hoping ross gets his prototype PCB for the LED’s debugged soon so I can use them instead. At present count I will need 7…
Also had a bit of a learning curve with the FTDI-USB to load sketches onto the pro mini’s. They have to be plugged into the mini’s with the chip and voltage pins facing down (assuming you put the 90 degree pins on the end of the board). LED’s will light up if you plug it in the wrong way, but that’s all that will work. I did breadboard test the dimmers before fabbing up the prototype board, with success, so at least I know they will work when they are installed.
Hopefully I can have one installed and working by the end of the week, so stay tuned…
[quote=“Vodden, post:5, topic:180819”]3. Lighting Control
I decided to go with Linear for all of my in-wall 120V lighting controls. I am also using Aeon Labs micro-switch and micro-dimmers for a few applications. These will be controlled directly with the WT00Z-1[/quote]
I appreciate your lengthy write-up about your HA setup as I’m just starting to research and dabble with this. I’m primarily interested in replacing traditional 3-way lighting with Vera-controlled dimmers. Why did you decide on the Linear dimmers over higher cost dimmers like Leviton? Do the Linear’s provide all the features of the Leviton with lower cost or did you have to compromise on certain features (like instant status updates)? Thank you.
I received both parts required for my antenna installation to assist with the poor reception I was experiencing with my Kwikset door lock. As mentioned in this post, I purchased the necessary parts from ebay for under $5 and figured I would tackle this to see if it would help.
The mod was quick and simple. I have a Vera 3 so I needed to pull the little rubber feet off the bottom of the unit to expose the 4-#1 Phillips screws that hold the two halves of the unit together. After removing them, the unit comes apart very easily. The included antenna is glued into the top of the unit and is connected to the plug-in Z-wave card. After popping the connection off the board by hand, I wrapped up the existing cord around the screw post to keep it out of the way. I just left the factory antenna inside as it is not in the way. I used a cordless drill to make a hole for the new antenna cable beside the USB ports. The cable I purchased doesn’t give you many options for mounting location, as it was just long enough to reach the back of the unit. I attached the antenna cable to the unit using 2-8mm wrenches, put the unit back together with the 4 screws, re-installed the rubber feet, and screwed the antenna into place. I would say from start to finish it took me 10 min.
Then the fun began…
First, I moved the unit back to the spot where I intend on putting it and I performed a heal on the unit which took around 20 min since at present I only have a few devices configured. I didn’t bother doing a heal before I started because I was certain that after installing the antenna, I would be in better shape than I was before. I was wrong. Every device came back as unconfigured. I immediately took the unit apart again to check all the connections and everything appeared to be in good shape. ??? So, I decided to reconnect the factory antenna and do another heal to see what happens. Results weren’t the greatest, but I didn’t have a benchmark for what to expect, so I guess this IS the benchmark. I then put the new antenna back on and tried again. HUGE difference. Most devices went from 1 star to 5, but the one device that I did all this work for in the first place (my Kwikset lock) still didn’t communicate with the unit. >:(
I found that the cover on the lock is the main culprit. If I remove the cover, Vera sees the lock. But as soon as the cover is replaced, reception goes flat. Well designed. : Even with the Vera placed right beside the lock, it shows up as 4 stars and all the other devices much further away show as 5 stars. It appears to me that the device that requires an antenna is really the door lock and not the Vera, but seeing the difference it made with the other devices, I think the mod was worth voiding the warranty for. With all the micro-dimmers I have going into the 16ft. ceilings, I think this antenna is going to come in handy.
It looks like if I want the unit to communicate with the door lock, I will need to find Vera a new place to hang out…
There were a few reasons that I decided to go with the Linear’s, and price was definitely one of them. Most of my in-wall devices are not switches or dimmer’s, but controllers/accessory switches controlling micro-switches and micro-dimmers. This eliminates the need for that specific in-wall feature. The micro’s do support instant status updates, and only a handful of lights will be controlled by actual Linear switch/dimmer, with most of those on n-way circuits with controllers/accessory switches that DO support instant status, so no functionality is lost.
These devices also support associations. This means that I will be able to control a group of devices with one device without the need of a Vera. So, if Vera has a stroke and is rendered useless, I will still have basic lighting control.
Availability to Canadian buyers is also a factor. Usually there are limited options for shipping to Canada, and the limited options offered are often very cost prohibitive. At present there is only one Canadian on-line distributor for Linear (there are a few for Evolve, but at a poor price point), so that factors as well. Thanks to www.haworldonline.com I managed to get them here without breaking the bank. Kelly, the owner of HAWorld is also a frequent contributor on this forum and spent a great deal of time assisting me with questions I had regarding these products.
Another factor that affects all of my choices is color. All of my switches and plugs are black and not every manufacturer offers this as an option (I hope you’re listening GE)
Do the micro switches and dimmers really support instant status or is because the scene control is linked through the vera? I’m guessing the former because you are using direct associations. I find that kind of cool because they are relatively cheap among those that have instant status.
I hope to have an update on this in the next few days. I have the arduino ‘pushing the buttons’ on the remote but purchased the wrong Ethernet card so @RexBeckett went out of his way to write a new sketch to support it, but I have yet to make time to look at it. Hopefully tonight.
Are you using the Aeon micro-switches...
Yes I am. I have them but have yet to install one. This will happen during renovations. I am planning to do a little bench testing in the meantime tho.
I’m using Ross’s excellent Serial Gateway PCB and plan to switch to the Ethernet GW when he finishes the PCB testing and releases it. But I’ve yet to find any blank PCBs for sensor use, to the point where I’m looking at designing my own.
Right now I’m starting to build sensors on prototyping boards but I’m not happy with “scramble wiring,” too many possibilities for error, loose connections, bad wiring, etc.
@rosskinard had some prototyped here but there were some issues with pin-out so he was working on a fix. I’m not too sure how far he got with this but I am eagerly awaiting them as well. My missus spied the soil moisture sensors and has decided she wants her plants to text her when they are thirsty. I am also waiting on his integrated arduino/LED board for my cable lighting.
I'm using Ross's excellent Serial Gateway PCB...
Me too, it’s a fine piece of work.
Right now I'm starting to build sensors on prototyping boards but I'm not happy with "scramble wiring," too many possibilities for error, loose connections, bad wiring, etc.
Yeah, I feel your pain there. My first LED board looks like a plate of Techni-color spaghetti.
@rosskinard had some prototyped here but there were some issues with pin-out so he was working on a fix. I’m not too sure how far he got with this but I am eagerly awaiting them as well. My missus spied the soil moisture sensors and has decided she wants her plants to text her when they are thirsty. I am also waiting on his integrated arduino/LED board for my cable lighting.
I'm using Ross's excellent Serial Gateway PCB...
Me too, it’s a fine piece of work.
Right now I'm starting to build sensors on prototyping boards but I'm not happy with "scramble wiring," too many possibilities for error, loose connections, bad wiring, etc.
Yeah, I feel your pain there. My first LED board looks like a plate of Techni-color spaghetti.[/quote]
Hand soldered “scramble wiring” is “just barely OK” for a one-off but I’m planning on at least 12-18 sensors of various kinds so that’s just not going to cut it.
If I do my own PCB it will most likely support:
CR123A 3V Lithium battery (long life and compact form factor) with a “0.8-3.3v” voltage regulator onboard
screw terminal blocks for sensor input/output and sensor Vcc/Gnd
[quote=“clippermiami, post:57, topic:180819”]If I do my own PCB it will most likely support:
CR123A 3V Lithium battery (long life and compact form factor) with a “0.8-3.3v” voltage regulator onboard
screw terminal blocks for sensor input/output and sensor Vcc/Gnd
3.3v Pro-Mini 328 Arduino 8M
pads for 5V plug-in and 5v-3.3v regulator option
pads for 3.3->5v up-regulator option[/quote]
It appears you’ve been putting some thought into this. That sounds like a very complete board. I’m a big fan of the CR123V batteries too. I just purchased a Dakota Alert driveway sensor and the sending unit has 4 of them. Estimated life of 3 years. My kind of battery. They work in -40 degree weather too (a valid concern where I live).
Do you have any experience designing PCB’s? This is something I would like to delve into myself but find that I am frequently short on time and have no experience whatsoever.
EDIT: Just realized it was you looking for PCB design software on the other post. I guess I already know the answer to that question
[quote=“Vodden, post:58, topic:180819”][quote=“clippermiami, post:57, topic:180819”]If I do my own PCB it will most likely support:
CR123A 3V Lithium battery (long life and compact form factor) with a “0.8-3.3v” voltage regulator onboard
screw terminal blocks for sensor input/output and sensor Vcc/Gnd
3.3v Pro-Mini 328 Arduino 8M
pads for 5V plug-in and 5v-3.3v regulator option
pads for 3.3->5v up-regulator option[/quote]
It appears you’ve been putting some thought into this. That sounds like a very complete board. I’m a big fan of the CR123V batteries too. I just purchased a Dakota Alert driveway sensor and the sending unit has 4 of them. Estimated life of 3 years. My kind of battery. They work in -40 degree weather too (a valid concern where I live).
Do you have any experience designing PCB’s? This is something I would like to delve into myself but find that I am frequently short on time and have no experience whatsoever.
EDIT: Just realized it was you looking for PCB design software on the other post. I guess I already know the answer to that question :)[/quote]
You are right but I think i do understand some of the pitfalls, differences in component pinout can screw your design, trying to keep common functions closely associated, don’t put Vcc on one end of the board and Gnd on the other The biggest hurdle in this case is the learning curve for the design software.
Yep. Agreed. I think I have a decent handle on the practical aspect of design, but making it all work within the software is where I fall short. I too have downloaded the EagleCAD software but don’t even know where to start.
Even with the Vera placed right beside the lock, it shows up as 4 stars and all the other devices much further away show as 5 stars. It appears to me that the device that requires an antenna is really the door lock and not the Vera, but seeing the difference it made with the other devices, I think the mod was worth voiding the warranty for.