Control
See LED_Lighting
Deprecated
Control is Fixme's hub for reading sensors and controlling physical things over the internet - our very own IoT implementation. Currently it is possible to control RGB LEDs, single-color LEDs, as well as relays. It is also possible to read data from any I2C devices, such as temperature sensors, humidity sensors, and more. In the future it is planned to build a modular system that would allow even more sensors and controllers to be connected to the internet, with data logging, and intelligent logic.
This replaces the depreciated LED Retrofit .
Contents
Control devices
Raspberry Pi (hub)
The goal is to have a single RPi acting as a hub, that is connected to some devices physically, and others remotely (see Protocols). It is currently connected to the 240 LED/M LED strip above the windows, using a BUZ11 mosfet (one of the few that work with RPi's 3v3 logic level), and a 24v power supply. It was previously connected to RGB LEDs (which need to be re-connected). The temperature sensor and relays also need to be re-connected.
The current implementation is written in PHP and bash (yes, I know.), it is planned to rewrite this properly sometime in the future. The app lives on a RPi running Raspbian, Apache, php5, wiringPi (GPIO control), PiBlaster (PWM control) and a few other small things.
Arduino Nano (remote units)
Have Arduino Nanos as remote units, paired with a wireless module or connected to a serial line.
LEDs and lights
There are roughly:
- 25m of 3528 60 LED/m RGB strips
- ~5m of 3528 240 LED/m warm white strips
- 15m of 3528 30 LED/m warm white strips
- 5m of 3528 30 LED/m red strips
- Some addressable RGB LED modules on load from PTL
It would be nice to have:
- Dimable LED panels or tubes instead of the old fluorescent lights
- More RGB LED strips around univercité
- Addressable LED strips
Communication technologies
NRF24l01 (rf)
Tried extensively, could not get to work - thousands of sent packets, only 5 were received. Tested with RPi -> RPi, RPi -> Arduino, and then Arduino -> Arduino.
ESP8266 (wifi)
Ordered but not yet tried, sounds very promising and cheap.
I2C
Used for temperature and humidity sensors already, need to explore with what else it will work.
Serial
Need to explore more thoroughly, for lab access control and for building access control.
Custom ethernet cables
Worked quite well in Fixme 1, currently implementing a custom board for the RPi that would allow several of these cables to be connected easily.
