Wireless connection to Velleman K8055/VM110

[sloz1664]

1 hour ago, Gina said:

It's many years since I used one of those Velleman boards.  Nowadays I use the Raspberry Pi to which I add my own interfaces.

Any of the recently introduced micro computers is the way to go. Unfortunately programing is now beyond me, I dabbled with Fortran in the early 80's and that's it. CNC programming, and hand written in the early days, was my fortay.

Steve

[Gina]

I've programmed in Fortran too and several other languages.  Mostly I use C++ these days with a touch of Python (though it's been a while since I used Python).

[hughgilhespie]

Hmm,

Programming is definitely NOT my thing. I started on punched cards using Algol 60 then Basic over a teletype. Entered the micro age with a Nascom1, Z80 processor, programmed in machine code. There wasn't enough memory for an assembler. Then BBC Basic, a dash of 80286 and 80386 assembler and Visual Basic until it went modern after VB3.

I still can't do 'joined up' programming, all that object oriented stuff. I like a nice procedure or two and I do enjoy working with these simple processors like the Amtel chips in the Nano boards. It's more satisfying for me to have a direct connection to the hardware rather than layer upon layer of abstraction.

So, crunch day tomorrow for Magic Wire. Boards built and the basic two-way radio is working. Magic Wire firmware Mk. 1 written for both boards and a proper try out tomorrow. I will have to find a way of spoofing the various inputs and outputs - mainly just a matter of being able to connect / disconnect  the inputs to the various voltage rails. I have also put in some additional code to allow me to follow what's happening over a serial link to a terminal program.

Regards, Hugh

[sloz1664]

Good luck Hugh 👍👍👍

Steve

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

Update time again.

I have made one more fairly minor amendment to the hardware. I have added a red LED to each strip board as shown on the revised drawings in the Rev 0.1 instructions attached. This LED is a diagnostic LED that will give a basic indication of any faults detected by blinking in a pre-set pattern.  

I thought this would be helpful as it is very difficult to work out what has gone wrong without some form of feedback.

I actually used a couple of LEDs with built in resistors, suitable for connecting directly to an Arduino pin and I have added details of these to the updated Parts list. However, a plain LED with a suitable series resistor, say between 500 and 1000 ohms would work just as well. The resistor would be used in place of the wire link between the LED cathode and ground.

The Mark 1 code for the two modules is now written.  Copies of the files for each module are attached. This is still early days stuff and will evolve quite a bit in the next few weeks.

I had a lot of fun initially as I just couldn't get it to work at all - I tried everything I could think of but - nada! As soon as I loaded the code into either module, it just went dumb and flashed it's little red LED at me. Finally I did some serious debugging, adding one line of code at a a time until I found the problem. It turns out that the breakout boards from Embedded Coolness have a fault! The Nano reset pin is connected to pin A0 and it shouldn't be! Naturally, the Gods of software had insisted that my 'helpful' diagnostic LED was connected to pin A0, so that when I initialised the pin, setting it low so the LED didn't light, that pulled the reset pin low as well. The Nano resets, starts loading the software again, gets to the bit where it sets pin A0 low, resets the Nano ...................................................

Anyway, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger . I changed the Nano pin used for the LED and the breakout boards work just fine.

As I mentioned before, I don't have a spare Velleman board so I am a bit limited in final testing. However, I have bought some cheap 12 volt DPDT relays from RS and a little 12 volt motor, so I am going to build a test rig to simulate the shutter operation, complete with limit switches. That will help a lot with testing.

I am also plugging away at writing the How To document. It is far from finished but I will eventually get there.

 Regards, Hugh

 

LESVEDOME DOME CONTROL HARDWARE.docx MagicWireSTATIC_0902a.ino MagicWireMOVING_0902a.ino

[sloz1664]

Hi Hugh, 

Thanks for all the work you have put in so far. BTW software wasn't invented, it came out of Pandora's box and manifested itself into many guises. Luckily I have a spare Velleman board and I have been testing my circuit via Levesdome & SGPro. Which has proved successful.

I have lots of LED's with 47k resistors installed, so that's not a problem, just waiting for the breakout boards from Embedded Coolness to arrive.

I have found the full shutter circuit diagram I will use on my Dome. Obviously your wireless design will separate the circuit between the Velleman board and the relays/motor and 12v battery.

Shutter control circuit.pdf

Steve

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for sending the schematic. I will use this circuit for my mock-up. Looks like you should be able to test everything when you have the modules built. The delay in getting the boards from the US might be my fault - I notified them of the problem I had found, maybe they are getting corrected boards made. More likely, it's just good old ParcelFarce.

One thing to note is that if you want to use limit switches with the MagicWire system, you need to use SPDT switches. The common pole of each switch is connected to the 12 volt rail, the motor drive relay coil is connected to the NC terminal and the MW Moving board is connected to the NO contact. Then, when the switches are activated by the shutter, the previously floating contact gets connected to the 12 volt rail and this is the signal the MW board uses. I will sort out the actual wiring when I build my mock-up shutter drive. The switches I used were from RS, part number 682-2184. They are only rated for 3 amps, so they need to switch the motor via a relay, not directly.

Regards, Hugh

[sloz1664]

Thanks for update, Hugh. I'll order the additional parts. Also, I received part of my Embedded Coolness order. It has been stated as 1 of 2 packages and funnily, it's been sent from Australia.

Steve

[skybadger]

I'm doing something similar. For years I've had a wireless dome link to an i2c controller which talked to the dome compass, but the controller itself seems unreliable. (It might be my code but not that I can see...). In the middle of a session it will just stop talking. Not what I need. 

So I have moved to using the Arduino toolkit driving Wi-Fi-enabled esp8266 devices. I talk to these over a REST api , which just means they host a simple web server and respond with JSON. 

I have a filter wheel done and the base unit for a revamped dome controller. The shutter unit that revolves with the dome is also complete but I am having trouble finding it in DNS from the base unit. At the moment. Once that is done, my shutter control will be in place. 

I too have a hygreon sensor lurking in the corners for rain detection, but the plan would be to create an ascom safety driver which monitors the environment as reported to the local Mqtt server which all the sensors pump their data to. In esp land it's very cheap to Wi-Fi enable these sensors to report centrally.

That will include weather, temp, dew, Aurora etc...

HTh.

 

[hughgilhespie]

Hi SkyBadger,

You are doing proper, joined-up programming! Way above my pay grade I'm afraid but it does sound very interesting. I would love to get more details on your proposed ASCOM safety driver as that's one of the missing links in my observatory set-up.

My approach to protecting the equipment in the observatory has been to have all the safety inputs and control built in to my homebrew Arduino based controller. It works well and it covers various ways that things might come to harm. The stuff includes

Inhibitor switches fitted to the dome clamps (to block attempting rotation when the dome is clamped).

Detection of rotation motor jamming and automatic shut down .

2 off Hydreon sensors, one set for rain and one for heavy dew.

Aurora cloud sensor.

I also found it very helpful to have  the ability to  override the various safety detectors to allow basic fiddling, setting up in daylight, etc. This is all done through a programme called MegunoLinkPro that is a sort of poor man's visual basic. I have a GUI for my controller that allows me to configure it without needing to reflash the firmware. 

As I said, all this works and it is very pleasing to see the shutter close on the first drop of rain. The big lack for me is any way to interface my system with SGP so that there is a chance of pausing, then resuming a sequence. Hence my interest in an ASCOM safety driver.

Regards, Hugh

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

Another Magic Wire Update.

I have finished designing the schematic for the relays as below. I have also attached it as a PDF file.

This is very much a Mk. One design and as yet untested. It took a lot longer than I expected to get a design that works - on paper anyway. This was due to the need to deal with keeping the states of the Fully Closed and Fully Open limit switches as reported back to the MW board valid under all possible conditions.

My next step is to do a hardware build of the schematic. I have some dinky little PCB mount relays so it will be a fairly simple strip board build. Then assuming testing goes OK, I will build a shutter mock-up in hardware using a small 12 volt motor and a couple of limit switches.

I have had a break from writing the MW firmware but there isn't much left to do. My TTD list is 

THINGS TO DO
============
Option handling - Finished in Static Module. Moving module in progress

Write Shutter Close procedure. Moving module.

Write Battery Voltage stuff. Moving module.

Write Comms Check stuff. Moving module.

How are you getting on with making the modules? Please do let me know if you hit any snags as that would be very good feedback.

Regards, Hugh

 

 

 

 

 

MW_ShutterSchematic_Rev01.pdf

[sloz1664]

Hi Hugh,

Thanks for the update. I've now received all the components to build the project. Hopefully should start building Friday.

Kind regards

Steve

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

You will probably overtake me! Good luck with the construction.

Regards, Hugh

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

Another update.

I have finished building and testing the relay board and the dummy shutter hardware.

This is the relay board.

It is built as per the schematic I sent previously. The relays are not rated enough to power a 'proper' motor to open a shutter but they are fine with the little demo motor I am using.

The hardware is pretty basic. Just the 12 volt geared motor - the slowest I could find, about 5 rpm - and a couple of the limit switches with both N/O and N/C contacts. All mounted on a piece of alumininium plate with an actuator bar fitted to the motor.

 

The good news is that it all works as planned. I don't have a VM110 / K8055 board to test with but it is easy enough to test the basic operation by grounding the lines that would normally connect to the Velleman DO5 (motor run) and DO6 (motor direction). If I can work out how, I will add a little video later.

From my point of view, all that is left for me to do is finish the software to include the various optional features and to finish the construction / software installation write-up. About one more week I hope.

Regards, Hugh

[sloz1664]

That's brilliant Hugh, I've not ventured any further from my side I'm afraid. I've been suffering with a chest infection, but on the mend now. I'm away for a few weeks and will start to build on my return, which shouldn't take too long. Just one note, I wouldn't mind seeing a stripboard layout for the relay board.

Steve

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

Sorry to hear you have been ill and I hope you recover quickly.

As requested, the relay board stripboard layout is attached.

I will now press on finishing the software and the documentation and will update when we are ready for live testing.

Regards, Hugh

RelayBoard3.pdf

[sloz1664]

Thanks Hugh I'll start on this as soon as I can and complete it on my return.

Steve

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

The Magic Wire Arduino software is now finished. At least as far as I can tell. It still needs final testing using an actual Velleman K8055 / VM110 board and the Lesvedome software to provide the drive signals to the Magic Wire static board.

The   Arduino .ino files for the static and moving boards are attached and I have also included the three folders for the non-standard library routines that are used by the software. These non-standard  library routines are:

RF24

Bounce2

Streaming

The folders for each of these should be downloaded as follows:

Open the Arduino IDE and select the File / Preferences menu item the first item on the Preferences window shows the path to the Sketchbook folder location.

Use Windows Explorer to find this folder. It will have a sub-folder called libraries.  Copy/paste the library routine folders into the libraries sub-folder.

Some other news about the Magic Wire project. The Embedded Coolness website has now disappeared. I have been in contact with the owner and apparently it was hacked and he has taken the site down. This is not good news as I am no longer sure if the nRF24L01+ breakout boards will still be available. So, to move things forward I am now revising the project to use a purpose designed printed circuit boards which will be available from Aisler.net, a German company that does prototype PCBs. This will be the Mk. 2 version. Everything will be  the same as the Mk 1 version except that the PCBs will replace the breakout boards and the stripboards for the static and moving modules. To make the parts as widely available as possible, the BOM will use components from DigiKey. As this will be my first venture into PCD design it will take some time to get going. I will update on this as and when I have made some progress.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to hearing about your progress and finding out how well the software works with your set-up.

Regards, Hugh

Bounce2.zip RF24.zip Streaming.zip MagicWireSTATIC_1022a.ino MagicWireMOVING_1022a.ino

[sloz1664]

Hi Hugh,

It seems the project is has been thrown a bit of a curve ball. I have recently arrived back from an extended holiday and have fallen foul of a nasty bacterial infection that has knocked me sideways somewhat. I will have a look at the updated info and continue the build once I'm fit and well to proceed the soldering tasks. 

Kind regards

Steve

[Gina]

Oh dear!  Get well soon Steve.

[sloz1664]

17 hours ago, Gina said:

Oh dear!  Get well soon Steve.

Thanks Gina. Had a good night's sleep last night, which seemed to help a tad.

Steve

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

Sorry to hear that you are poorly and I wish you a speedy recovery. There is no rush and no pressure, so take your time and get fully fit before starting the build.

I am still plugging away at trying to teach myself KiCad so that I can replace the American sourced nRF24L01 breakout board with a PCB. Assuming I am successful - which is quite an assumption - the boards will be available directly from Aisler.net in Germany. The main problem I am having is that there have been very big changes in the latest version of KiCad (5.1.4) and all of the hundreds of Youtube videos that are available use an earlier version so the commands are different. I am slowly getting there but it is a struggle!

Anyway, take care, take it easy and make a full recovery.

Regards, Hugh

 

 

[sloz1664]

5 hours ago, hughgilhespie said:

Hi Steve,

Sorry to hear that you are poorly and I wish you a speedy recovery. There is no rush and no pressure, so take your time and get fully fit before starting the build.

I am still plugging away at trying to teach myself KiCad so that I can replace the American sourced nRF24L01 breakout board with a PCB. Assuming I am successful - which is quite an assumption - the boards will be available directly from Aisler.net in Germany. The main problem I am having is that there have been very big changes in the latest version of KiCad (5.1.4) and all of the hundreds of Youtube videos that are available use an earlier version so the commands are different. I am slowly getting there but it is a struggle!

Anyway, take care, take it easy and make a full recovery.

Regards, Hugh

 

 

Hi Hugh,

For my sins, I was a professional CAD engineer for many years. SolidWorks, SolidEdge & Catia 3D. Still wish I'd been given a career direction into software development though.

Steve

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Steve,

I hope you are feeling better and have recovered from the dreaded lurgies!

I have been inching my way forward with KiCad, actually more millimetering than inching and I now have designs for the static module and the moving module. Naturally you have to start from a schematic so at least we now have decent schematics for these modules. Copies of the schematics and the PCB top sides are attached. There is one change on the moving module schematic. I have added connections for either a pair of push-button switches or a momentary on-off-on toggle switch. These will allow the shutter to be opened and closed manually. I noticed that most if not all the relay schematics that are circulating provide this manual switching so Magic Wire includes it as well.

For this revision of the project, I have gone with DigiKey as a single source supplier for all the parts except the Arduinos and the nRF24L01 modules. The reason for this is to make the design as 'international' as possible. DigiKey ships everything from the US to pretty much everywhere and it's free shipping if the parts total is over £33.00. By buying the parts for both modules plus a couple of plastic boxes the total does go over the magic £33.00. Then you have to add 15% VAT but the good news is that DigiKey handle all the customs stuff so there is no duty and you won't get ParcelForce adding an £8.00 handling fee.

I intend to do a completely revised write up of the project based on using the PCD route. I have ordered the PCD's from Aisler in Germany plus enough componetnts to make up the two modules. The design is is still in beta stage and will stay that way until I have built and tested the modules.

More on this in a couple of weeks when all the bits arrive.

Regards, Hugh

 

MagicWireMoving.pdf MagicWireStatic.pdf

Edited November 1, 2019 by hughgilhespie
Improved pics.

[sloz1664]

Hi Hugh,

I'm just getting over a chest infection the bacterial infection has finally left me with. Pretty scary when you are an asthmatic. The work you have put in this project is pretty amazing and the pcb boards look very profesional indeed. I'm hoping to pick up, where I left off, next week, when I get my strength back.

Steve