Author Topic: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use  (Read 37939 times)

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DamonHD

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #33 on: August 25, 2014, 09:46:32 AM »
Hi,

Just in case anyone is interested in the backstory...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/08/25/doing_my_own_ting_making_money_from_a_startup/

Rgds

Damon
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DamonHD

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #34 on: August 29, 2014, 04:15:41 PM »
Another day, another video!

http://youtu.be/x1xR1CiCzvg

Rgds

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SparWeb

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #35 on: August 31, 2014, 11:39:01 PM »
If it's still fun, you're still on the right track.

Ever considered a Kickstarter campaign?  In Canada this often gets projects extra press coverage, which doesn't hurt the funding, if you know what I mean.  The media love Kickstarter because you basically write the article for the journalist's column of the day.
No one believes the theory except the one who developed it. Everyone believes the experiment except the one who ran it.
System spec: 135w BP multicrystalline panels, Xantrex C40, DIY 10ft (3m) diameter wind turbine, Tri-Star TS60, 800AH x 24V AGM Battery, Xantrex SW4024
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DamonHD

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #36 on: September 01, 2014, 10:25:24 AM »
Probably not appropriate at the moment though we have considered it repeatedly.

Basically the team needs to be available flat out for media access for an extended period, I believe, and we don't have that sort of time now!  I haven't yet given up the day job (it's happening but not this month).

Rgds

Damon
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DamonHD

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #37 on: December 19, 2014, 09:41:16 AM »
I'm pleased to be able to say that we've got some funding to work on the cheap/easy sensor/actuator part of our technology:

http://techcityuk.wordpress.com/2014/12/18/iot-launchpad-winners/

So, lots more sensor fun coming up over the next year!

Rgds

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #38 on: December 19, 2014, 03:20:40 PM »
Sweet! Keep us posted, I have been following this fro the start

DamonHD

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #39 on: March 22, 2015, 05:38:02 PM »
Small thing this weekend, but kinda working up to the big project starting next month...

Tweaked the code for relatively fast and low-energy start-up, with energy harvesting applications in mind eventually (a little like this JeeLabs stuff http://jeelabs.org/2015/03/18/micro-power-snitch-last-part/ but I failed to get my current-clamp-driven stuff working yet).

So I have a single unit powered from my rather quiet urban turbine.  When it spins up at all it sends JSON plain-text stats on the ISM band at 868.35MHz, initially just an ID to minimise energy requirements, then, if it stays running, some other data periodically (supply voltage and temperature at the moment).

Here's a sample of the log entries.

Code: [Select]
[ "2015-03-22T16:10:53Z", "", {"@":"b39a"} ]
[ "2015-03-22T16:10:55Z", "", {"@":"b39a","B|mV":3247,"T|C16":376} ]
[ "2015-03-22T16:11:13Z", "", {"@":"b39a"} ]
[ "2015-03-22T16:11:23Z", "", {"@":"b39a"} ]
[ "2015-03-22T16:11:25Z", "", {"@":"b39a"} ]
[ "2015-03-22T16:16:29Z", "", {"@":"b39a"} ]
[ "2015-03-22T16:16:33Z", "", {"@":"b39a","B|mV":3247,"T|C16":375} ]
[ "2015-03-22T16:16:41Z", "", {"@":"b39a"} ]
[ "2015-03-22T16:16:43Z", "", {"@":"b39a"} ]
[ "2015-03-22T17:03:39Z", "", {"@":"b39a"} ]

Not a peep out of it for over 4 hours, since of course doing anything with a wind turbine other than trying to take it down causes the wind to drop.

Rgds

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SparWeb

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #40 on: March 23, 2015, 10:13:28 PM »
I find myself wayyyy down the other end of the gadget scale, yet still doing roughly the same thing.
Analog temp sensors and plain old voltage divider sending data to an antique Sutron data logger (collected from an Environment Canada clearance auction). 
The logger is 1980's equipment (although the boards inside have 1995 printed on them it's obvious in other ways that they were leveraging older designs at the time).





I'm still waiting for the on-board memory (378 kB!!) to fill up and start overwriting.  So far the log goes back to January when I plugged it in.  I can download the data via a 9-pin serial cable to a DOS-based terminal interface program.  Don't know what I'm going to do if I have to abandon my XP laptop!
No one believes the theory except the one who developed it. Everyone believes the experiment except the one who ran it.
System spec: 135w BP multicrystalline panels, Xantrex C40, DIY 10ft (3m) diameter wind turbine, Tri-Star TS60, 800AH x 24V AGM Battery, Xantrex SW4024
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Bruce S

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #41 on: March 24, 2015, 08:53:05 AM »
SparWeb;
IF for some reason you "have to" give up the XP and must stick with Windows based computers, have a look at DosBox , I have found it very easy to get Dos based (FoxPro stuff) to work on even W7 64-bit . Takes a little attention the first time around for mapped drives but once done it just works!

I've used it so much to keep DOS based (actually MainFrame stuff) working I'm just about to make a donation :).
I hate throwing away something that still works too  :o.

Hope that helps!
Bruce S
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SparWeb

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #42 on: March 26, 2015, 05:21:40 PM »
LOL  Antique computers:  I actually downloaded DosBox a little while ago but didn't install, once I found a different work-around for a different problem.  One of these days I'm going to do it and play Frogger and Pong again.

You're right - DB would do the trick for the Sutron data downloads if the XP laptop ever quit on me.  I actually have two XP laptops.  One has an iffy hard drive but still boots up so I will not throw it away yet.  Back up!

Bruce - I just remembered - the last time this came up, you made the pitch for Linux.  Have you lost the Ubuntu love?
No one believes the theory except the one who developed it. Everyone believes the experiment except the one who ran it.
System spec: 135w BP multicrystalline panels, Xantrex C40, DIY 10ft (3m) diameter wind turbine, Tri-Star TS60, 800AH x 24V AGM Battery, Xantrex SW4024
www.sparweb.ca

Bruce S

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #43 on: March 27, 2015, 10:13:54 AM »

Bruce - I just remembered - the last time this came up, you made the pitch for Linux.  Have you lost the Ubuntu love?
Not even close to losing the love for 'nix!!
Have a read fun read over in the pub about the hijack-ed thread!
I know work for StL's FD which is city guberment controlled  :P . So making stuff play nice nice with M$Soft is a daily occurrence.
MY house is something totally different,, I'm nowhere near the level of Damon, tho  8)
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DamonHD

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #44 on: March 27, 2015, 12:31:48 PM »
Hi,

I thinks rumours of my skillz have been greatly exaggerated, though yes, all my servers are Linux one way or another bar one ageing Sun CoolThreads.  But my laptop is a Mac; uncool I know!

On the topic of the thread though, excitingly enough we're in DesignSpark (RS Components):

http://www.rs-online.com/designspark/electronics/eng/blog/opentrv-saving-energy-via-the-internet-of-things

I've been a customer of theirs for 30 years, so rather exciting to get a post up with them!

Rgds

Damon
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Bruce S

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #45 on: March 27, 2015, 02:23:49 PM »
I like it!
The fact that the box is 3D printed gives it the WAY COOL geek factor  8).

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DamonHD

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #46 on: March 27, 2015, 03:40:27 PM »
In fact even that all-in-one visual prototype is 3D printed (with 'wrong' plastics) because the proper injection moulds are ~£60k!

Ouch
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DamonHD

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #47 on: March 30, 2015, 07:46:54 AM »
Forecast winds peaking at about 50mph here (well LHR/EGLL airport) overnight with gusts to 60mph and running though tomorrow, just as I notice that my little turbine is falling apart.  May have to take it down in advance or attempt to fix it up or tie it up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/kt1

Any suggestions?

Rgds

Damon
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SparWeb

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #48 on: April 01, 2015, 11:13:03 PM »
About the same weather here. 

Did it survive?  Are you looking for a replacement WT now, Damon? 
No one believes the theory except the one who developed it. Everyone believes the experiment except the one who ran it.
System spec: 135w BP multicrystalline panels, Xantrex C40, DIY 10ft (3m) diameter wind turbine, Tri-Star TS60, 800AH x 24V AGM Battery, Xantrex SW4024
www.sparweb.ca

DamonHD

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #49 on: April 02, 2015, 05:16:57 AM »
I took it down.

I established that MotorWind is still alive, selling spares and new turbines.

In the mean time we need to do some work on the wall the WT was secured to.

Rgds

Damon
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DamonHD

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #50 on: May 11, 2015, 03:19:34 PM »
The Iot Launchpad project is officially alive; see the "IoT Launchpad" links near the top here:

http://www.earth.org.uk/open-source-programmable-thermostatic-radiator-valve.html

In particular we're started thinking about our sensors:

http://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-IoT-sensor-set.html

and our backhaul (I even blagged a satellite transceiver, and space on the top of a London building!):

http://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-IoT-comms-backhaul.html

Rgds

Damon

PS. The original video we had to supply (cropped) to enter the Launchpad competition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAYFqX09S2Y
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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #51 on: June 06, 2015, 04:38:33 PM »
Hi,

I finally got a landing page for the research stuff together:

http://www.earth.org.uk/IoT-Launchpad-research.html

I have to close the comms backhaul one soon (D17) since I'm already over time on that, so if you're desperate to contribute so do very soon please!

http://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-IoT-comms-backhaul.html

Also, I'm starting to get the security one off the ground and all input welcome:

http://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-IoT-security.html

Rgds

Damon

PS. Other excitement is that we've won an exhibit stand at interop.co.uk and are partners in London in the Climathon that runs worldwide 18th/19th.
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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #52 on: August 17, 2016, 04:09:12 PM »
For any Europeans here that may be interested...

We're putting together a crowdfunding campaign in Sept/Oct for the first CE stamped version of OpenTRV (full of AVR goodness).

If any of you would be interested then PM me your email and I can add you to our mailing list.

If Bruce doesn't think it too horribly salesy I can put up a link to the (still in progress!) site for people to sign up directly.

Rgds

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Bruce S

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #53 on: August 17, 2016, 04:29:52 PM »
For any Europeans here that may be interested...

We're putting together a crowdfunding campaign in Sept/Oct for the first CE stamped version of OpenTRV (full of AVR goodness).

If any of you would be interested then PM me your email and I can add you to our mailing list.

If Bruce doesn't think it too horribly salesy I can put up a link to the (still in progress!) site for people to sign up directly.

Rgds

Damon

---BEGIN GM MODE---

Bruce took a look and since this is merely a request to have a look at a go fund me page.
NOT to mention the amount of knowledge you have imparted here !!
This is more than acceptable

---END GM MODE---

 
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Bruce S

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #54 on: August 17, 2016, 04:40:19 PM »
DamonHD;
Do you know that way way back in 2008 there was a show on the US based channel Discovery that had a future looking genius that was already talking about IoT?

Cheers
Bruce S
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DamonHD

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #55 on: August 17, 2016, 10:46:27 PM »
Thanks Bruce...

OK, here is the link to the (so far skeletal) site for the new product, with the sign-up link.  Lots of stuff still in progress, etc, etc.

https://myradbot.com/

Rgds

Damon

PS. Didn't know about the Discovery show...
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Bruce S

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #56 on: August 18, 2016, 08:24:16 AM »
OKAY;
Where and when did you get the picture of my wife ;-) ?

Could you explain what fit-and-forget is?

Cheers
Bruce S

PS>>> I'll look up the show and which of the episodes it was. There were only 6 in total so should be easy enough to find.
« Last Edit: August 18, 2016, 08:31:06 AM by Bruce S »
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DamonHD

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #57 on: August 18, 2016, 01:27:53 PM »
Bruce: I cannot disclose the source of my images, but if she's available for more brand images it's all good!  B^>

"Fit-and-forget" in that the device learns when you use each room and so you should rarely have to touch it, but it can still cut the heat when you won't notice to save $$$ and carbon.  What you don't need to do, indeed can't with this version, is 'program' it in any way.  One dial, one button.  No smartphone or other complicated UI!

Rgds

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #58 on: August 22, 2016, 02:23:23 PM »
Kind of a cool project.  While not controlling energy usage, I use a AT Mega 2560 chip on an Arduino board to control and fly my homebuilt fully autonomous quadcopter.  It runs the ArduPilot flight stack.  I'm building a more advanced version using a 2560 board for I/O with a PCduino dual-core running Debian with the ArduPilot stack to handle higher level computing functions such as computing splines for GPS waypoint flights.

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #59 on: August 23, 2016, 05:01:50 PM »
Thanks Chris.

I hope to be on an ARM device for our next product round; cheaper and faster and more effective code space.  But the AVRs are well engineered and full of features that I would have been all over 30 years ago when trying to build a toy robot for Hasbro/Tomy with a Z80A and various horrible Intel peripherals!

Rgds

Damon
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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #60 on: August 23, 2016, 05:14:14 PM »
Damon, I LIKE the 8-bit AVR processors.  They are rock solid and make better use of flash than 32-bit does.  And they are lower power consumption.  I think you are on the right platform for that application.  If your codebase eventually runs out of cycles or flash, you can easily add SRAM with a shield, or even dual core by stacking them and run SMT   :)

I really like that platform.

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #61 on: August 24, 2016, 03:35:49 AM »
Hi,

We are hitting Flash/code limits on the 328P, and the unit cost of even that device (even in bulk) far higher than we can afford if we are going to get the valve cost down to our target range to give financial payback in a single year.

A particularly nice feature of the AVR/328P is the 100k single-byte-writeable EEPROM, and few ARM variants seem to have something equivalent, though we have found a 50 cent device that is close and are doing some preliminary design around it.

Rgds

Damon
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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #62 on: October 01, 2016, 12:26:22 PM »
BTW, we started a Web comic on The Register about Radbot, enjoy!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/24/radbot_episode_one/

Next episode coming soon...

Rgds

Damon
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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #63 on: October 02, 2016, 12:35:17 AM »
I only get a 1x1 pixel GIF...
No one believes the theory except the one who developed it. Everyone believes the experiment except the one who ran it.
System spec: 135w BP multicrystalline panels, Xantrex C40, DIY 10ft (3m) diameter wind turbine, Tri-Star TS60, 800AH x 24V AGM Battery, Xantrex SW4024
www.sparweb.ca

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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #64 on: October 02, 2016, 03:51:46 AM »
Make sure you have JavaScript enabled for the cartoon.

If need be I'll probably put the images up somewhere else too in a few days.

Rgds

Damon
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Re: ATmega328P for OpenTRV use
« Reply #65 on: November 15, 2016, 07:08:26 AM »
Update: www.myradbot.com is looking kinda ship-shape now, which is just as well because we are aiming for our campaign to go live by the end of this week.  Excitement!

There have been more RADBOT comics too!

Rgds

Damon
« Last Edit: November 16, 2016, 03:14:46 AM by DamonHD »
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