Suggestions for new plugs « Jee Labs Talk

Suggestions for new plugs

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bmj

Hi, Two suggestions for new plugs.
1) A joystick plug like this one http://www.parallax.com/Store/Accessories/HumanInterfaceDevices/tabid/822/CategoryID/90/List/0/SortField/0/Level/a/ProductID/581/Default.aspx but using I2C for use whide the LCD-plug to scroll in menus. I use a ugly hack based on a ATTiny but I beat you could do much better! I use the 'hack' to connect the joystick the LCD (both located on the front panel of my box) and then the LCD to the JeeNode at the bottom of the box using your cables.
2) A CO2 and CO sensor plug for air quality control (e.g exhaust fan speed) I think this has been discussed before but a like to add my vote for it (-;

Posted 10/09/2010 20:23:48
tankslappa

1) Did you really mean to use an analogue joystick? I've implemented a nice little menu with scrolling and sub menu system using a 5 way miniature navigation switch. You can connect it via a little resistor ladder to a single analogue port. http://uk.farnell.com/alps/skqucaa010/navigation-switch-5way/dp/1435775 I mounted mine and its little resistors onto a bit of stripboard, it's quite neat but a custom board would be very nice.

Posted 10/09/2010 21:17:46
adilson

I would like a dimmer plug. I mean AC/mains dimmer, with a zero-crossing detector and opto-isolation. Why? Because I am working on it :)

Posted 10/09/2010 23:05:05
max

i second to that dimmer opto mosfet idea with 220 v and 200 to 300 w

Posted 13/09/2010 07:51:48
jcw

Nice suggestion - how should this work: the plug will be live, i.e. @ 220V (or 110V) - or should we create a separate little board for the live side, and then hook it up to a port with 3 or 4 wires?
High-voltage terminal connectors? Form factor for a specific way of mounting this?
Lots of choices...

Posted 13/09/2010 08:40:43
max

It does not matter so much how you make connectors. Opto separation from live is essential i think and power levels that pcb and connectors can handle.
But as always small and tidy :)

Posted 13/09/2010 13:00:43
tankslappa

Re light dimmer...
I'm not sure how well this fits into the port module design methodology.
A zero crossing pulse is required for the delayed triac switch on, that will take an I/O pin. However only one will be required per Jeenode... So a single port board could contain one zero cross detection circuit and one triac to dim a light, but the after that you could put two triacs on each port. Two completely different designs. Not something I imagine JC really wants to get stuck with!
Then again... How many would actually want a Jeenode to dim more than one thing?
I think physical separation is a good idea. Not just for the mains safety, but the triac might need a heat sync.
A little board that provided opto-isolation for the DIO and AIO and then let you hang things like triacs off the other end of it via a nice connector would have other uses too... http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevesnaps/4567175228/ although I used the DIO from two ports so I had a more solid physical mounting for my little board.

Posted 13/09/2010 14:13:48

jcw

It would be great to do more with mains power - switching (both resistive and inductive loads) and dimming come to mind, of course. But also perhaps sensing whether an appliance is drawing power (not necessarily measuring it, that's a lot harder to do with decent range and accuracy).
We can think about simple relays, latching relays, triacs with built-in zero-crossing detector, and triacs with a separate zero-crossing input to allow dimming. Perhaps there's also a way to feed some existing smart/cheap dimmer - such as shining an LED on an LDR to act as variable resistor on the mains side.
My main concerns are the electrocution- and fire hazards. Re-purposing something that handles the high-voltage side would be 100x preferable to full DIY solution, as far as I'm concerned. That's one reason why I keep coming back to the FS20 devices, which take 868 MHz OOK signals to do their switching and dimming thing.
How about hijacking one of those master-slave power strips?

Posted 13/09/2010 16:25:59

sysrun

A simple solution for switching 230V AC are solid state relays like this: http://www.pollin.de/shop/dt/MTA2OTU2OTk-/Bauelemente/Mechanisch/RelaisZugmagnete/SolidStateRelaisZG3NC240B.html
They can do up to 40Amps on 230Volt.

Posted 13/09/2010 20:01:35

tankslappa

@sysrun You could use a solid state relay, which is just a triac and opto isolator in a box, but they are €9.95 each, and rather big!
I think a more generic opto-isolator board, which could hold two 6 pin DIL isolators like the MOC3020 opto-triac isolators (There are also opto-transistor with the same pin out) and a current limiting resistor for the LED input side would be more flexible. It protects the Jeenode, doesn't cost much, and you can then connect whatever specification triac you like to the outputs. Whether those big triacs live on the same board or are connected via some of the big power connectors JC has recently been using would depend on how comfortably the high voltage parts can physically fit on the same board.
I'm thinking these could be great PCB and high voltage connector only boards, then we can pick and mix whatever isolator we want to use, triac, transistor, zero-crossing (for low RF interference) etc etc. Unless JC fancies stocking a range?
Only warning I would give is that you can't put the 6 pin DIL chips right next to each other, they over-hang the sockets. I made this mistake and had to sand them down! Scary!
@JC, I do seem to remember seeing mention of an opto-resistor isolator out on the interwibble, I will see if I can track it down.

Posted 13/09/2010 21:02:47

jcw

@sysrun - ah, of course. SSR's should be usable out of the box with a JN. I wonder whether a series resistor is even necessary with 3.3V I/O pins. This was one reason why the Utility Plug has an option for an extra series resistor, btw.
@tankslappa - "rather big" is not necessarily a disadvantage: nice and sturdy mounting points for all the wires, with very large isolation distances between them - so there is little risk of wires coming loose or shorting out.
Are SSR's able to deal with inductive loads? Or perhaps at least modest ones, such as the transformer in a power supply?

Posted 13/09/2010 21:30:08

erik

Im using sharp S202T02 ssr's to switch 220v. They are able to handle 220v/2A. Im using a 330 Ohm current limiting resistor btw JEE pin and SSR input. Very small 4 pin SIP and cheap, about 4 euro / 10 pcs.
(update: 40 euro, not 4...)

Posted 13/09/2010 22:21:31

jcw

Sounds like a great option - how do you connect and mount that triac?

Posted 13/09/2010 22:50:57

adilson

I think a more generic solution based on opto-isolation, zero-crossing detection and triacs would be more handy as it can switch and dimm. SSRs don't cope well with inductive loads unless you do some voodoo for clamping the reverse peaks. I fried a lot of them until I could get it right.

Posted 14/09/2010 01:35:53

tankslappa

If the SSR can switch fast enough it could do the dimming too. You just need to obtain an AC synchronisation pulse from the AC cycle and feed that to the Jeenode. Then it's just a matter of adding a delay between the timing pulse and switching on the SSR, opto-isolator or whatever.

Posted 14/09/2010 02:22:31

bmj

@tankslappa - Yes I use a analogue joystick because its kind of a "jog-shuttle". It is used for setting numerical values to a CNC system. The more the user tilts joystick the faster the numbers increase/decrease. I tried the digital watch solution first (increase the counter speed if button is pressed more the X seconds) but the users hated it! They felt a phenomena we swedish people call technological stress. But I think this proposed plug has more use then numerical input. Humans are basically analogue and like smooth controls of light, curtains, objects in games.

Posted 14/09/2010 07:54:39

erik

@jc - they are mounted externally in a small box with 20 cm wires soldered directly to the SSR. I use a small piece of a 10x22 mm plastic cable channel. The little box with the SSR is filled with hot glue which acts like strain relief. Btw i made a typo in my previous post it should have said 40 euro / 10 pcs, still i think its cheap compared to magnetic relays.

Posted 14/09/2010 08:45:01

erik

The SSR ( solid state relay ) mentioned in my previous post a "zero crossing type" and is a integration of a opto coupler and a output triac. the datasheet states : 1. Isolated interface between high voltage AC devices and lower voltage DC control circuitry. 2. Switching motors, fans, heaters, solenoids, and valves. 3. Phase or power control in applications such as lighting and temperature control equipment.
It's mentioned in the datasheet that a snubber circuit(?) or a varistor should be used to control loads that generate spikes. I use them to switch 220v led drivers, just a light load 2-36W. From a Jeenode-DIO ---330 Ohm ----> SSR +input, the SSR -input goes to gnd. One of the 220v leads is connected to one of the SSR triac pin . The other SSR triac pin goes to the load. Just like connecting a mecanical switch in series with the load. To switch the mains, write "1" to then port to turn 220v on and "0" to switch off.

Posted 14/09/2010 10:04:55

adilson

@Erik, but this SSR does not allows you to actually control the power, just turn on and off, correct? My idea is something that can switch and also control the power linearly.

Posted 14/09/2010 13:25:19

erik

@adilson, yes correct, the ssr's i use can only be used for switching on/off.

Posted 14/09/2010 14:05:32

tankslappa

@adilson and @Erik
The trick to dimming AC power is to turn the device on midway through the AC cycle. This is where the AC sense circuit we have mentioned comes in.
A triac (and I imagine SSR) will continue to conduct on its own once turned on until the AC voltage drops below a certain threshold. In practise it means once turned on it will conduct until the next part of the AC cycle which crosses 0v. At which point it turns off and you have to turn it on again.
By using the AC sense circuit to detect each time the AC cycle crosses 0v you can apply a little delay, then give the triac a little burst of "on". It stays on until 0v is crossed again. By varying the delay you can dim the light bulb. It's almost pulse width modulation, but at 100/120hz (it's double the AC frequency as the cycle crosses 0v twice. Once at 0 degrees and again at 180 degrees).
However a zero crossing opto-triac or SSR is a special case, you can't dim them. They are designed to switch on only at the 0v point. This is intended to reduce RF interference of large loads suddenly demanding a high current at 90 degrees through the cycle. If you try to dim one of those it would flickr really badly the moment you apply any delay as the zero crossing circuit will wait for the next 0v before turning on.
@bmj ah, so it was deliberate. I thought I'd just check, it seemed a bit excessive initially, but if there is a customer involved I can understand! So when can we expect the first Jeenode game? :-)

Posted 14/09/2010 14:36:29

bmj

@tankslappa - I maid one for Arduino about 2 years ago. It is a electronic version of this game: http://www.hikmet.se/Product.aspx?pkprodid=122
It is very easy to build/implement:
1) Make a square out of a couple (minimum 4) of this: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/productinfo.php?productsid=681
2) Then have a CNC machine drill holes (half the size of the led:s) in a sheet of plywood along the labyrinth. Command the same CNC to mill out shallow lines to form the walls (about 1/3 of the thickens of the plywood). Colour the lines black.
3) Place the plywood over the ledmatrix.
4) Connect the Arduino/JeeNode to the matrix and a TILT SENSOR
5) Program the yC to illuminate the traps (drop of holes) red and to illuminate ONE yellow led at the position of the ball.
6) Program the yC to read the tilt sensor and to increase the movement of the ball in the direction of the tilt (more if the tilt is steep).
7) Have a map of the labyrinth in the yC and tell it to not move the ball trough walls.
If you don't want to make all the wood part just use a LCD/TFT, but small children likes wood! Yes I know this game doesn't use a joystick or the RF module ;-) Lets make a two player version of pacman :-D

Posted 15/09/2010 07:20:15

max

1 wire plug for chaining a lot of sensors in my house :)

Posted 15/09/2010 20:19:44

jcw

The Room Board and the [Thermo Plug](http://cafe.jeelabs.net/hw/thermoplug/) both have connections for a 1-wire DS18B20 - although, frankly I'd just hook them up directly. Look at the [OneWire](http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Learning/OneWire) library (or the [rooms](http://code.jeelabs.org/jeemon/sketches/rooms/rooms.pde) sketch) to see how to hook this up.
Done :)

Posted 15/09/2010 21:15:48
max

thanks

Posted 16/09/2010 21:58:19
bmj

ID-12 plug?
I have used the ID-12 and JeeNodes to send information from a RFID card into the building to turn of the alarm and activate the door lock. This makes it impossible for a burgle to sabotage the yC controlling the lock and saves a lot of cables. A strong encryption on the RF link is recommended but not implemented (-:

Posted 17/09/2010 07:01:43
jklu

HDMI CeC plug to control the media stuff ?
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1261237176/0
Yes, a jeenode with IR led can replace a remote, but you can't query status of devices or set volumes at a fixed level etc.

Posted 17/09/2010 07:42:01
ian-tindale

Laser tripwire Mic and preamp Seismograph

Posted 20/09/2010 21:03:00
tankslappa

@Ian Tindale
1) You can already do that, just use an IR Laser diode and an IR photo diode. Hard to put that onto a single plug as, by definition, the transmitter and receiver are remote from each other!
2) What do you plan on doing with the audio input? You can buy little microphones that have built in preamps which can be connected directly to the analogue pins. A standard PC microphone is like this. They are only mono, the 3rd connection on the stereo jack is used to feed + to the preamp in the microphone module.
3) http://jeelabs.com/products/gravity-plug

Posted 20/09/2010 21:27:03
makki

My wish would be a plug to dim 4-channel (RGBW) Power-LEDs with 350/700/1000 mA. With high effiencent drivers, maybe using one of the plenty chips around (LT, ZXLD)
Michael
P.S.: Just starting learning AVR&Co but I already love Arduino and Jeenodes etc. Great work!

Posted 25/09/2010 22:43:47