[OpenTRV-interest] Tinkering kit / battery powered board

[Damon Hart-Davis]

On 20 May 2014, at 22:38, Alasdair Macdonald <EMAIL ADDRESS HIDDEN> wrote:

…

Below this stuff:

> Remote call for heat on
> 
> 
> Boiler on, s left: 120


means that the transmissions from the other card have been picked up.

If you update to current code revision you will also see explicit reports on the serial starting with @ which are stats being reported from remote units, eg:

=F0%@25CB;ID6CA;X0;L1000;T8 57 W255 0 F255 0 W255 0 F255 0;S5 5 16 eff;C10;HC48 21
@A45;T23C2;L60;O1
538:50:76 FHT8V TX
@3015;T25CB;L62;O1
@D49;T24CE;L56;O1
!RXerr F2
@A45;T23C2;L60;O1
@A8ED;T24CF;L20;O1
540:48:14 FHT8V TX

Rgds

Damon


> > Now that I have a Conrad valve attached to a radiator, and having worked our way through the pairing issue that I mailed about yesterday, I can see data from the Conrad actuator in my console. Stuff like:
> >
> > 1146:30:73 FHT8V TX
> > 1148:26:73 FHT8V TX
> > However, I don't see anything from the battery powered board being received and spewed out to the console.
> 
> If you want a board to receive you’ll need to put it in hub controller mode with “C 2” (or a larger number) on the CLI; it can pick up and log transmissions from the other unit (if I’ve understood you correctly).
> 
> 
> Done. I typed "C 2" and this is now present in the output, but I don't see any messages from the battery-powered board. Typical console messages are:
> 
> 1308:54:84 FHT8V TX
> =W0%@23C2;T21 48 W255 0 F255 0 W255 0 F255 0;S21 10 21 cff;C2;HC93 74
> 
> and they are arriving quicker now, at ~1 minute intervals.
> 
>  
> 
> >
> > Hence:
> >
> > Q2. Should I see anything from the battery powered board being received and spewed out to the console?
> 
> Not unless the PC board is in hub/controller mode.  And I suggest you power it via USB or the FTDI cable rather than batteries.
> 
> Board #1 is connected to the PC / FTDI cable; that's the only console that I have, and that's the console that I thought I might see new messages on. But I don't.
> 
>  
> 
> And make sure both aerials point in the same direction, preferably vertically/upwards.
> 
> Done.
> 
>  
> >
> > I think I can figure out from the user guide how to send messages to the Conrad valve to get it to open (I just need to set the controller mode and temperature knob to appropriate settings, right?); however the user guide says that the temperature knob goes up to around 23 degrees and currently my Oregon sensor reports 24.5 degrees.
> 
> Boost / quick heat mode gets you another 5C at least for testing purposes!
> 
> 
> I put board #1 into Boost and got 99% open on the Conrad Valve (subsequently I saw it go down to 80% and now the test is over I put it back to Warm and the Valve is now at 0%):
> 
> 
> 1314:42:88 FHT8V TX
> 
> 
> Remote call for heat on
> 
> 
> Boiler on, s left: 120
> =B100%@23C3;T21 54 W255 0 F255 0 W255 0 F255 0;S26 10 21 cffO;C2;HC93 74
> 
> 
> Boiler on, s left: 120
> =B100%@23C3;T21 55 W255 0 F255 0 W255 0 F255 0;S26 10 21 cffO;C2;HC93 74
> 
> 
> 1316:38:88 FHT8V TX
> Boiler on, s left: 120
> =B100%@23C0;T21 56 W255 0 F255 0 W255 0 F255 0;S26 10 21 cffO;C2;HC93 74
> 
> 
>  
> >
> > Uh, maybe here's another question.
> >
> > Q3. How many devices are "paired"? Previously I paired the Contrad actuator with board #1 (connected to PC); and I set the House Code on that board (manually). Should I follow a procedure to pair controller #2, and / or set its House Code?
> 
> If you want the control a second valve then put its house code into a second OpenTRV unit.  One unit can also/instead control a boiler.
> 
> 
> The Conrad documentation states that when they supply a "set", that devices are pre-paired. Does this mean that Conrad don't anticipate zoning, that all devices and the controller share one House Code?

You can get from Conrad a pre-paired controller unit (similar to the OpenTRV controller/unit) and valve.

The Conrad system centrally listens out for the transmissions to the valves much the way OpenTRV’s hub does, ie seems (I discovered long after I ‘invented’ the same trick) and so you can get the same zoning.  Each valve is independently controlled by its local thermostat and the boiler comes on if any one calls for heat.

I very very nearly got a Conrad system rather than starting OpenTRV, but the lack of occupancy sensing and interoperability pushed me to start OpenTRV in fact!



> 
> I'm confused by how signals are recognised by each device.
> 
> The boiler controller may receive messages from many sensors that ask it switch on the boiler, if necessary. For this to happen, does the the boiler controller require a matching House Code?

The boiler controller can simply hear *any* valve being asked to open.


> 
> So let's say that we have 2 rooms, 2 sensors, and 2 valves. Let's say that right now that we ONLY want one of these 2 rooms to be heated. The sensor in room #2 sends an instruction for the boiler to fire up, if necessary, and it sends an instruction to valve #2 to open to more than 0%.
> 
> So how does the message from sensor #2 to valve #2 not also cause valve #1 in room #1 to open? If the answer is, "because room #1 and room #2 use different House Codes", then how does the boiler board know which House Codes to permit, given the possibility of receiving signals from a neighbour?
> 
> 
> I still don't have ANY House Code on board #2 (the battery powered one). Should I put the jumpers back on, connect to PC, set the same house code / a different house code, then put it back to being battery powered? I think if I understand the House Code stuff better I'll know how I should configure this board.

Again, if you put the lastest code on in, on the CLI do “X 0” to permit it to broadcast stats to all and sundry then the other unit if in controller mode will be able to receive those stats and display them as from my snippet above.  The unit ‘A8ED’ does not have a local valve and is just acting as a remote stats gathering sensor.  No packets of interest to a valve are being exchanged, but when I get my act together that support will (a) allow 2-way working (all units controlled centrally and/or monitored via PC/Intenet) and interop with Open Energy Monitor.

> 
> In an earlier e-mail you wrote that "led and series resistor between the B and GND screw terminals" would allow the supposed boiler controller to indicate if it was supposedly on or off. Can you elaborate for someone that isn't an electronics hobbyist what parts I can obtain from Maplin (10 minutes walk from home)?

Red LED (to be low enough voltage to guarantee to operate at battery voltages) and 330 ohm to 470 ohm resistor.  Can you read a circuit diagram and/or are you clear which way an LED has to be connected to work in this sort of situation?  I can don’t wish to be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs!  %-|>

Rgds

Damon