iot-cathouse-controller

• features
• requirements
  • thirdy part libraries
• initial setup
  • set wifi ssid and pwd
  • parameter configurations
  • set temperature sensor ids
• config
  • cooldown and system off
  • manual mode
  • webapi
• export csv data
• debug
• security considerations

features

• complete cathouse project ( building walls, heating system, weight detect, wifi control )
• wifi control automatic or manual through webapi ( example )

requirements

• hardware
  • billing of materials
  • instructables to build and assembly cathouse parts
  • nodemcu esp8266
  • global schematics
    • mosfet driver
    • loadcell opamp and sim
• software
  • vscode arduino
  • esp8266 board plugin

thirdy part libraries

• ArduinoJsonWriter
• JsonStreamingParser
• StringStream

initial setup

set wifi ssid and pwd

connect to serial interface of esp8266 through usb cable with minicom at 115200 8N1 and issue ctrl+c to stop unsuccesful initial wifi connection then press ? for SerialOS commands

• set wifi ssid <ssid> to set your own wifi ssid
• set wifi pwd <pwd> to set your own wifi pwd
• data save automatically into eeprom
• reconnect to test new wifi parameters
• check in the serial log which ip assigned to your device ( a better approach is to reserve a fixed wellknown ip address in your network by mapping it from the interface mac address also printed in serial log )

parameter configurations

• connect to http://cathouseip and go to Config page

set temperature sensor ids

in order to allow the system recognition of temperature sensor for bottom, wood, ambient and extern first there is the need to write down their ids ; use one of existing inet articles to find out. write correspondent temperature IDs in fields ( 16 hex char foreach device )

config

heat modes

auto mode

• when cat enters all ports enabled until reaches Target T from limit value from either one of bottom toward Bottom temperature limit or wood toward Wood temperature limit
• if some limit condition occurs system goes off for given cooldown time
  • bottom temp great or equals bottom temp limit
  • wood temp great or equals wood temp limit
  • ambient temp great or equals ambient temp limit
• if external temp great or equals 'Extern >= T sys OFF' then system goes off independently cat is in there or not
• ports are selected in order of preference as from Config.h PORT_PREF
• trend delta can be configured in Config.h TBOTTOM_TREND_DELTA_C

manual mode

• in manual mode ports and fan can be controlled manually from web interface or webapi
• limit conditions still apply automatically entering the system in cooldown or disabled cycle mode
• led port can be toggled manually either in auto mode

webapi

address	content-type	result example
/tempdevices	json	{"tempdevices":["28b03724070000c8","28f00a3b05000038","28e2cc23070000d8","28d12b5b0500001c"]}
/temp/devid	text	retrieve temperature C of given devid device
/info	json	{"wifiSignalStrength":-59, "statIntervalSec":2, "freeram":11464, "freeram_min":4168, "history_size":1455, "history_interval_sec":118, "temperatureHistoryFillCnt":1455, "temperatureHistoryOff":806, "temp_read_failure":915, "manualMode":false, "adcWeightArraySize":2048, "adcWeightArrayOff":273, "adcWeightArrayFillCnt":2048, "adcWeightArray":[848,847,849,848,...,850], "catIsInThere":true, "p1": false, "p2": true, "p3": false, "p4": true, "led": false, "fan": false, "temp_history_interval_min": 1.966667, "prev_cycle": "none", "current_cycle": "active", "runtime_hr": 82.190266, "Wh": 1087.330255}
/temphistory	json	[{"28b03724070000c8":[8.00,9.00]},{"28f00a3b05000038":[4.44,4]}]
/bithistories	json	{"catInThereHistory":[0,1,1],"p1History":[0,1,1],"p2History":[0,0,0],"p3History":[0,0,0],"p4History":[0,1,1],"fanHistory":[0,0,0],"disabledHistory":[0,0,0],"cooldownHistory":[0,0,0]}
/port/get/X	text	0
/port/set/X/{0,1}	text	OK or DENIED if manualMode false
/port/toggle/X	text	OK or DENIED if manualMode false
/setcatinthere/{0,1}	text	OK
/getconfig	json	{"tbottomLimit":45.00,"twoodLimit":60.00,"tambientLimit":17.00,"cooldownTimeMs":120000,"texternGTESysOff":14.00,"adcWeightMeanCatInMinimum":600,"catExitThresholdMin":3,"manualMode":false,"tbottomGTEFanOn":42.00,"twoodGTEFanOn":57.00,"targetTempFromLimit":4.00,"firmwareVersion":"cathouse-0.87","wifiSSID":"labwlan","tbottomId":"28b03724070000c8","twoodId":"28e2cc23070000d8","tambientId":"28f00a3b05000038","texternId":"28d12b5b0500001c"}
/saveconfig	json POST

notes

• temphistory, adcWeightArray, bithistories are a set of measure where latest sample if the current one and previous are distant between each one from specified history_interval_sec
• valid ports in /port/get and /port/set are
  • heating ports ( 1, 2, 3, 4 )
  • led port ( 5 )
  • fan port ( 6 )

export csv data

• data will be exported using decimal separator dot or comma accordingly to browser locale

debug

cd cathouse-controller
code .

• to build or check compilation CTRL+SHIFT+R

• to upload through USB-serial CTRL+SHIFT+U

• when ENABLE_CORS enabled client side can be debugged without need to upload firmware again simply dragging index.htm to the browser so that app.js will loaded from local disk

security considerations

• in release mode set ENABLE_CORS to 0 to avoid browser requests from non owner html page
• on a internet facing page there is the need of a nginx proxy using a letsencrypt https certificate to ensure traffic flows in an encrypted channel ; plus there is the need to enable a page basic authentication ; see here for details