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Welcome!

In 2009 I managed to launch the most important functions of an 'intelligent' home, which I installed in my new house.  It is based on a WAGO PLC controller and allows me to switch 100 circuits and handle events initiated by 90 digital inputs.

The system is still developed and improved.  I would like it to control, besides the lights: the blindes, heat exchangers, garden watering as well as the entrance gate and the central heating unit.

All interested visitors are invited to look through the planning steps and the installation as well as all the systems' components.  Please bare in mind that the author is not an electrition nor a computer programmer but a simple financial specialists.  My andventrue with 230V circuits started on the day I bought the PLC controller...

Wizualizacja Image 01 NEW Rolety

Voice control (Amazon Echo & Alexa)

Why would you try to control you home automation with your voice? Because its possible:) With Alexa's price tag falling below USD 100, the time has come to get it connected with the PLC.

Why Raspberry Pi?

The criteria for choosing a solution for the PLC-to-1Wire communication were as follows: It should be quite cheap. My system works and any extension is more a caprice and an expression of interest than a response to a specific need. Solutions based on WIRE-CHIP (http://www.solidchip.eu/index.php?menu=24)sold by Solid Chip are well tested and functioning by other users.

Sensors and a large network

1wire sensor3The time has come to test what the DS2482 modules are capable of. I have purchased a large pack of sensors and got to work. I had already had mounting of sensors in the switcher frames behind me so all went quite smoothly. Here are some photos of details…

Measuring liquid levels

The title sounds great but it is just to turn your attention away from the fact that we are talking about a sewage tank level sensor. It happened to me lately that I had forgotten about emptying it when the time came. I learnt about the error quite suddenly, when the bathroom at ground floor started to spread anunpleasant stench. It was Friday evening, no chance to get the tank emptied whatsoever... I claim to know so much about intelligent homes and here I am, sewage in the bathroom.

Details
Category: Functions, Sub-system, Programming

Some users do not want to deal with Rasbperry Pi and home-made sub-modules.  Despite my intensive arguing, my brother refused to work with RPi and Linux.  He just wanted to use something that works out-of-the-box.

In order to connect his already existing 1-wire net with the WAGO 750, we have ordered a "1-Wire Buskoppler SPS" module from esera automation.  It converts RW232 to 1-Wire and can be plugged in directly to the service port of the WAGO PLC with the use of a connector offered by esera.  In such a way the user can avoid buying a separate RS232 module (or RS484 if such a solution is chosen).  With a price tag of 70 EUR the esera's 1-wire Buskoppler is a cheap solution.  Here is, how it looks in with the controller itself:

Esera

Details
Category: Steering/controlling

Why would you try to control you home automation with your voice?  Because its possible:)  With Alexa's price tag falling below USD 100, the time has come to get it connected with the PLC.

 Alexa

Details
Category: 1-Wire and RPi

Before fixing the roadway to my house I have laid 1 UTP cable to the fence.  2 wires was used by the door lock, 4 by videophone, 2 are used to send impulses to gate motor.  That's all.  There is no wires left to connects sensors checking if the gate is left open.  I has happened a few times that in the evening, after letting the guests out, the gate was left opened.  Nothing happened, that's true, but it is leaves a space for improvement.

The camera is a potential source of information.  It is looking at the gate and is always on.  It must be possible to use it to recognized if the gate is open...  ...but after checking all the libraries and software doing image recognition, I got stuck.  Recognizing edges, registering changes... all too complicated.  It was just not worth it. Finally I managed to build a much simplified solution based on GD PHP library and some simple calculations.  Here is how it's done:

1. Every minute a script on RPi downloads a 640x480 image from the camera.

2. 4 samples 15x15px each are cut out from the fence and the gate as shown on the image below: 

gate samples

Details
Category: Steering/controlling

The time has come to integrate all the elements of control into one program.  The new method of communication (more here), bootstrap facilitating fast building of responsive pages and a fancy opensource template were sufficient to provoke me to start another project.  Here is the final effects and the details follow below.

Details
Category: Steering/controlling

One of the visitors has sent me a screenshot of his visualization.  It was fully based on bitmaps imported to CoDeSys as visualization background.  It was by far superior to all that I had done so far.

At the end of 2010 after playing a little with a bitmap editor I rebuild all main visualizations.  The effects are to be found below (WARNING – large sizes of screenshots):

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The visualizations are adjusted to my computer screen’s resolution.  Obviously the space could be used better, probably you can see an amateur hand, but well – it is what it is.  The most important success is that seeing the visualizations as they are my wife decided to try to use them ;)

Technically – the idea is not complicated.  First in a graphic editor you need to create a background composed of elements that will not change as the program runs.  To set a background in CoDeSys right-click on your visualization.

In the 2nd step you need to draw dynamic elements – standard rectangles and circles.  All as in the usual visualization but with a much greater effect.  If a more detailed explanation is needed, please let me know.

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