Published April 15, 2019 © GPL3+

Workshop Remote Power Control

Remote switch for workshop power, with indicator, workshop temp monitoring, and automatic shutdown. Graphing through Google Docs.

IntermediateFull instructions provided2 hours740

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Particle Photon

DHT22 Temperature Sensor

Photo resistor

3 mm LED: Yellow

RGB Diffused Common Cathode

3 mm LED: Green

OpenBuilds IOT Switching Relay Power Strip

Pushbutton Switch, Pushbutton

Jumper wires (generic)

Resistor 10k ohm

Resistor 330 ohm

Resistor 220 ohm

Software apps and online services

IFTTT Maker service

Used to push notifications when workshop powers on and off.

Fritzing

Used to create

Google Sheets

Used to chart data.

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Wire Stripper & Cutter, 32-20 AWG / 0.05-0.5mm² Solid & Stranded Wires

Used to trim resistor and LED legs for neater breadboard, as well as jumpers.

Story

Introduction

This project was born from my tendency to leave my compressor running overnight, wasting power and placing unnecessary wear and tear on the compressor itself. Therefore, I also added an automated shutdown feature to disable the compressor when the lights were turned off, as well as letting me remotely turn off power to the workshop. Linked here are the charts generated from the light monitoring and temperature monitoring.

Light monitoring can be used as a proxy for occupancy - if the light is low, then the room can be assumed to be unoccupied. If the light level is high, someone can be assumed to have been in the room.

The project can be re-purposed for remote control and/or monitoring of any device, should the end user desire.

Hardware

Remote Control

Assembled remote control

First, I set up the remote monitoring and switching board, as it is by far the simpler of the two to build and program, only needing a button and trio of LEDs wired to it. This board uses the following components:

1x Particle Photon
1x 3mm green LED
1x 3mm yellow LED
1x Common Cathode RGB LED
1x Push Button
3x 330 Ohm resistor
1x 220 Ohm Resistor
Jumper Wires

These components are assembled according to the diagram below.

Wiring diagram = Bedroom Photon

The RGB LED's red and blue modes are utilized, and all three LEDs are protected by 330 Ohm resistors.

Workshop Controller

Assembled, installed workshop controller

The Workshop controller uses the following components:

1x Particle Photon
1x Sparkfun Photoresistor
1x 10 kiloOhm Resistor
1x 330 Ohm resistor
1x 220 Ohm resistor
1x Push Button switch
1x IoT Switching Relay Power Strip (NOTE: Generic Solid State Relay used as stand-in on circuitry diagram. + pin on actual Relay Power Strip should be connected to D6, - pin on Relay Power Strip connects to Ground.)
1x DHT22 (NOTE: This can be replaced with any standalone temperature sensor, but sensors other than DHT11 and DHT21 will require addition of appropriate libraries or independent calibration and alterations to code to maintain functionality)

Workshop Controller wiring diagram

The Photon draws power from a USB adapter plugged into the "Always On" port of the IOT Power Strip.

Software

Workshop Controller

The workshop controller is the brains of the operation, controlling the power state of the relay and publishing the current workshop temperature, measured from the DHT22. It also has a push button for local relay control.

NOTE: Should the sensor be changed to a DHT11 or DHT 21, all that need be changed is DHT_TYPE to the appropriate sensor type.

It publishes two variables to the cloud, which are monitored and graphed by Google Sheets

Light Level (Photoresistor readout)
Temperature (Celsius from DHT22)

It publishes two events:

Workshop Power

If This Then That and the remote monitor Workshop Power, switching a LED on the remote and sending email and app notifications when the relay powers on and shuts down.

This software requires the Adafruit_DHT_Particle library.

Workshop Temperature

Cold (Temperature too cold for comfortable work, even with space heater)
Heat (Temperature low, space heater allows comfortable work conditions)
Comfortable
AC (Must run fan to bring felt temperature down to comfortable levels)
Hot (Too hot for comfort)

Remote Control

The remote control displays the output from the workshop controller, and allows remote activation and deactivation of the workshop controller. This also shows the current state of the workshop relay, based on published events from the controller (Workshop Power and Workshop Temperature).

This software only requires the default libraries be installed.

Sheets Integration

Google Sheets tabulates the illumination and temperature data from the workshop controller at ten-minute intervals. Occupancy time can be inferred from light levels, while the temperature measures temperature trends.

To utilize this feature, set up a Google Sheet with appropriate headers, then copy-paste the code from the Scripts box into the Script Editor (Tools > Script Editor).

Replace DEVICE_ID and AUTH_TOKEN with your device ID and authorization token.

To view the data from this controller, the links are above, and given again here for convenience.

Temperature

Light

This project uses a "Polling" model, so Google Sheets attempt to collect the data regardless of whether the Photon is online or not to provide the data.

Sample images of chart output:

Sample graph of Light Level history

Sample output for Temperature

Note the blank zone in temperature - if the poll fails to collect a temperature reading, the chart will simply be blank at that point.

Video Explanation

Explains components and functionality of Workshop Controller Circuit

Explains Remote Control Operation for Workshop Power Control

Code

#include "application.h"

int buttonState;

const int red=A1;//RGB LED Red pin
const int blue=A2;//RGB LED Blue Pin
const int green=D2;//Green LED
const int yellow=D3;//Yellow Workshop Power LED
const int buttonpin=D1;//Button

void wlight(const char *event, const char *data);
void wtemp(const char *event, const char *data);

void setup() {
    pinMode(red, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(blue, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(green, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(yellow, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(buttonpin, INPUT_PULLUP);
    
    Particle.subscribe("DanielWorkshopPower", wlight, ALL_DEVICES);
    Particle.subscribe("DanielWorkshopTemperature", wtemp, ALL_DEVICES);
}


void loop() {
    
    buttonState = digitalRead(buttonpin);
    
    if(buttonState == LOW){
        
        Particle.publish("bwswitch", "Press", 0, PUBLIC);
        delay(1000);
        
    }else{
        
    }
}

void wlight(const char *event, const char *data){
    
    if (strcmp(data,"On")==0) {
        digitalWrite(yellow, HIGH);
        delay(10);
    }
    else if (strcmp(data,"Off")==0) {
        digitalWrite(yellow, LOW);
        delay(10);
    }
    else {
        
    }
}

void wtemp(const char *event, const char *data){
    if(strcmp(data,"Hot")==0){
        digitalWrite(red, HIGH);
        digitalWrite(blue, LOW);
        digitalWrite(green, LOW);
    }else if(strcmp(data,"AC")==0){
        digitalWrite(red, HIGH);
        digitalWrite(blue, LOW);
        digitalWrite(green, HIGH);
    }else if(strcmp(data,"Comfortable")==0){
        digitalWrite(red, LOW);
        digitalWrite(blue, LOW);
        digitalWrite(green, HIGH);
    }else if(strcmp(data,"Heat")==0){
        digitalWrite(red, LOW);
        digitalWrite(blue, HIGH);
        digitalWrite(green, HIGH);
    }else if(strcmp(data,"Cold")==0){
        digitalWrite(red, LOW);
        digitalWrite(blue, HIGH);
        digitalWrite(green, LOW);
    }else{
        digitalWrite(red, HIGH);
        delay(100);
        digitalWrite(red, LOW);
        digitalWrite(blue, HIGH);
        delay(100);
        digitalWrite(blue, LOW);
        delay(100);
    }
}

var device_ID = 'DEVICE_ID';
var access_token = 'AUTH_TOKEN';
var variables = ['Temperature','lightlevel'];
var checkLatestData = true;
var refreshTime = 60;

//  Select the active spreadsheet
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();

//	Function to create a header
function showHeader()	{
	//	Clear the first row
	sheet.deleteRow(1);

	//	At first add the timestamp
	sheet.getRange(1,1).setValue('Timestamp');

	//	Loop through all the variables and add the names of them
	for (var i = 0; i < variables.length; i++) {
		sheet.getRange(1,2 + i).setValue(variables[i]);
	};

	if(checkLatestData) {
		sheet.getRange(1, 3 + variables.length).setValue('Timestamp');

		//	Loop through all the variables and add the names of them
		for (var i = 0; i < variables.length; i++) {
			sheet.getRange(1,4 + variables.length).setValue(variables[i]);
		};
	}

	collectData();
}

//	Function to show the latest data
function showLatestData(timestamp, results)	{
	//	At first add the timestamp
	sheet.getRange(2,3 + variables.length).setValue(timestamp);

	//	Loop through all the variables and add the names of them
	for (var i = 0; i < results.length; i++) {
		sheet.getRange(2,4 + variables.length).setValue(results[i]);
	};
}

//  Function to get and parse the JSON variable from the spark API
function getResponse(variable){
	var JSONResponse = UrlFetchApp.fetch("https://api.spark.io/v1/devices/" + device_ID + "/" + variable + "?access_token=" + access_token);
	
	var response = JSON.parse(JSONResponse.getContentText());
	return response.result;		
}

function collectData()  {
	//	Declare a result array
	var timestamp = new Date();
	var results = [timestamp];
	var resultsWithKey = [];

	//	Loop through the array with variables and get their content
	for (var i = 0; i < variables.length; i++) {

		//	Push the results in an array
		results.push(getResponse(variables[i]));
		resultsWithKey[variables[i]] = getResponse(variables[i]);
	};

	if(checkLatestData) showLatestData(timestamp, results)
	
	//  Add the responses to the spreadsheet
	sheet.appendRow(results);

	Utilities.sleep(refreshTime * 1000)
	collectData();
}

Credits

Daniel Spencer

1 project • 0 followers

Thanks to John R McAlpine.

Workshop Remote Power Control

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Introduction

Hardware

Software

Schematics

Remote Controller

Workshop Controller

Code

Remote Controller Code

Workshop Controller Code

Google Scripts script

Credits

Daniel Spencer

Comments

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Workshop Remote Power Control

Workshop Remote Power Control

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Introduction

Hardware

Software

Schematics

Remote Controller

Workshop Controller

Code

Remote Controller Code

Workshop Controller Code

Google Scripts script

Credits

Daniel Spencer

Comments

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