Home Automation

[longshanks]

Stoneman, have a number of pics to share, and years of data.
I'm a bit disapointed at the banal response to a really useful session.
You can reach me at:
[email protected]
Be sure to put "home automation" as the subject as I don't open unknown emails.

 

[davefinic]

Im using a mitsi to control my heating system which is 1/2 underfloor heating and 1/2 conventional rads.
The controls sent with the underfloor heating wanted to run my boiler 24/7 only turning the boiler off on the boiler stat and constantly pumping heated water through a bypass if not required, so i fitted a solenoid valve into the bypass line and a motorised zone valve into the rad circuit then junked the controls sent with the underfloor heating and wired everything back to the PLC.
Im now saving lots of gas as the boiler only runs on demand and the underfloor heating works better as the return line is shut when the zone valves open.
I left plenty of room in the panel so I can add something else at a later date if i get bored.

 

[jstolaruk]

Im using a mitsi to control my heating system which is 1/2 underfloor heating and 1/2 conventional rads.
The controls sent with the underfloor heating wanted to run my boiler 24/7 only turning the boiler off on the boiler stat and constantly pumping heated water through a bypass if not required, so i fitted a solenoid valve into the bypass line and a motorised zone valve into the rad circuit then junked the controls sent with the underfloor heating and wired everything back to the PLC.
Im now saving lots of gas as the boiler only runs on demand and the underfloor heating works better as the return line is shut when the zone valves open.
I left plenty of room in the panel so I can add something else at a later date if i get bored.

+1 on the $ savings!

 

[Manglemender]

20 Years ago I made a dual setpoint controller for my heating system using a spare West2068 heating controller (with PID) and a 7 day programable timer. The heating was never off it just switched between setpoints at different times of the day. It saved me a quite a lot of money on my fuel bills. Today I use a commercially available version of the same thing for my heating system where I can switch the temperature setpoint up to 4 times a day. One of my colleages in the office has a system that measures the outside temperature and adjusts the heating boiler appropriately.

One colleage who recently retired has a bio-diesel plant setup in his garden shed controlled by a little Mitsubishi PLC; Used vegitable oil in one end and bio-diesel out of the other.

A former colleage in another company had his house automated using X11 technology, he was able to switch things on and off remotely and also had a web cam pointed at his pet hamster to keep a check on it.

I had this idea that I'd like to have an RFID reader in my fridge so that it could tell me when I was running out of beer etc. A program might also suggest recipes based on the contents of the fridge. I could set minimum stock levels and have it SMS me the shopping list on demand too.

Nick

 

[mconner]

Hey Nick, We kicked around a similar idea for beer inventory management using the UPC. We dropped the idea once we found the price of the UPC software......now that I think about who needs the software? We could just use a comparisson. Hmmm.. my weekend now has new plans. Thanks

 

[Manglemender]

Hey Nick, We kicked around a similar idea for beer inventory management using the UPC. We dropped the idea once we found the price of the UPC software......now that I think about who needs the software? We could just use a comparisson. Hmmm.. my weekend now has new plans. Thanks

If you have a dedicated beer fridge (I do!) it could be mounted on load cells. Tare = empty fridge, anything else is beer. In a house with multiple drinkers, you could set up accounts for each drinker with a key code access and track who drinks all the beer and bill them accordingly. Now that sounds like the perfect student training application. RFID would be better though so that you don't end up with a fridge full of bottled water instead of beer.

Nick

 

[AndyT]

I am using PLC’s in my house for several task but none of them have a routine cost savings to them. I had a neighbor that went on vacation and while he was gone the water supply line to his house broke. By the time he got back his pump was burned up because it had pumped his well dry. I am now monitoring my water well pump for pressure and run time. If the pressure drops too low and/or the pump run exceeds a predetermined time the PLC turns off power to the pump and sound an alarm. The fault is also reported back to a Cmore panel.

On a more “neat to have” level another PLC monitors and controls functions in my garage. Motion detectors connected to the PLC can control all the overhead lights in the garage, the lights and doors can be controlled from the same Cmore panel. Light and door status (open/closed/in transit) is reported back the panel. In transit for over 20 seconds also sounds a alarm through the panel. The same PLC monitors a electric gate I have across the driveway in the same fashion as the garage doors. The gate is inset from the road by 12 feet or so. I have a motion detector for this small area mounted. If a car or person is detected in this inset area a “easy on the ears” alert is played on the panel to let us know someone is there.

The PLC’s and the panel are on a Ethernet network. All of the control functions are in parallel to the original switches so if the PLC’s was shut down everything would work as normal. The Cmore panel is located in a location that is out of way but easily accessible and can be heard.

Fun stuff if you have the time.

 

[Goody]

I supercharged - or maybe that is undercharged the clothes drying machine.
This thing has a 3KW heater (or near enough) and a 2 hour rotary timer.

How does my dear wife use this thing - she puts it on at full heat and full 2 hour time - the clothes come out so hot and dry, they burn your hands.

Enter Goody withn a spare plc and hmi (and A/D add on and thermocouple)

after lots of testing and research and development - we now have a dryer that turns on from the hmi. It knows if the 'lint' trap is blocked and won't go until its cleaned. It runs on full heat until everything is nice and hot then half heat until my thermocouple senses that it is dry - then cools the load and turns itself off.

The energy saving for this is I guess at, at least half the electricty used + time saving ++ lots of £££'s too

NB the more astute of you might be saying how does the thermo couple sense the clothes are dry - after testing with lots of different loads - I saw that once the clothes are dry - the heat in the exhause pipe starts to rise - I use this to then run the cool cycle.