relaycard for amiga

[amiga4001]

I want to control a swimmingpool pump which pumps the water through some piping on the roof which heats the water in the pool.
Idea was to use an amiga500 or 1200 with a relaycard.
Can I use all parallelrelay cards for this?
Which software is best to control this..
Was thinking about C64 to do the control as it is easier to program in basic...If I remember all commando's.
But This has no RTC so makes it difficult to make a timescheme.
Is it also possible to have a input to the amiga?
Like a tempsensor saying Yes 30 degrees so pump on..

[ferix]

I want to control a swimmingpool pump which pumps the water through some piping on the roof which heats the water in the pool.
Idea was to use an amiga500 or 1200 with a relaycard.
Can I use all parallelrelay cards for this?
Which software is best to control this..
Was thinking about C64 to do the control as it is easier to program in basic...If I remember all commando's.
But This has no RTC so makes it difficult to make a timescheme.
Is it also possible to have a input to the amiga?
Like a tempsensor saying Yes 30 degrees so pump on..

Yes, It's all posible. But I'm afraid you'll need to write your own control program. Also, you must notice the amiga has a powered pin (14) that you must leave unconnected to prevent destroying your computer.
It's convenient to use a optoisolated relay board too.
You can use the parallel and joystic ports as digital inputs too.
Joystick ports has analogic inputs for pads, that can be used for reading values from resistive probes, as LDRs, NTC and PTC resistors, etc..

[Tension]

Was there ever a control program like this for the Amiga?  Something where you could make your own flow charts for example?

I`m off to investigate...

[Tension]

Sounds like you need a T.U.R.D





http://aminet.net/package/driver/other/turd_020

[amiga4001]

Ok this t.u.r.d can it do the job?I mean with timing on rtc handle inputs to deliver action.
Can't try it now no amiga here only pegasos.
Can anybody recommend a type of parallel relaycard?

[amyren]

There is a home automation program that enables the Amiga to communicate into the X10 protocol. Sadly it havent been developed for a long time, and the program is hard to find as well.
But it is a great idea, and far better in my opinion than a relay card. This way you can controll anything, everywhere in your house. This is because the control signals are sent via the powerlines that you already have in your house.

The program is named EZHome. This is written to connect to a CM11A controller. This controller will open access to a whole range of controllable equipment. Just have a look at x10.com. Also there is a program that can be found on aminet, named 3DHome. This is a graphical interface to works together with EZHome. There is also a timer program named EZCron.

Here is a link to an interesting article written on this subject. There is also some screenshots of the program:
http://www.hometoys.com/htinews/aug98/reviews/hines/AmigaHA.html

In the article there is also described a few other x10 related amiga programs that is on aminet, CyberX10 and X10Commander. These can communicate with the CP290 controller.
The difference between tha CP290 and the CM11A is that CP290 can transfer the X10 commands from the computer and send them to the x10 equipment. And the CM11A is able to have a two way communication, and also receive x10 commands. But for many cases I think the CP290 will be sufficant.

I also got some hits where this thing is mentioned on this forum:
http://www.amiga.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-45754.html
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=28165

Edit: I also found a utility on aminet to use with CM11A controllers, file named X10CM11A.lzh
This is a command line tool that also is able to send commands to dim lamps etc. But looks like its no GUI for it yet.

[Tahoe]

Thanx for the pointer, I've sent an Email to the author of EZHome, let's see if I get a reply!

[amyren]

I also sent email to author Jim Hines long time ago, but sadly that email adress found on that webpage does not exist anymore. Hope you have better luck in finding him.

But I also sent email today to one of his co-developers named in the article, Gene Haskel. Hope he is able to reply. I will give feedback here.

[Chewi]

You mean Gene Heskett. He's still active on Linux mailing lists, spoken to him once. Friendly guy. Loves his old school hardware.

[tokyoracer]

There is a home automation program that enables the Amiga to This is because the control signals are sent via the powerlines that you already have in.

I know that the C64 isn't an option but wasn't there an attachment you could wire up the 64 to the mains and it will switch off and on lights, as to imitate someone in your home?

[Homer]

X10 would certainly seem to fit the bill, as they have volt free input and output relay modules, as well as the more common appliance and dimmer modules. Let us know if you find the Amiga software; I'm particularly interested as it is another of my hobbies, and I am  the moderator of two UK home automation forums.

[amyren]

I know that the C64 isn't an option but wasn't there an attachment you could wire up the 64 to the mains and it will switch off and on lights, as to imitate someone in your home?

I wasnt aware of that, but you are right

A quick google search provided this picture of the device:
http://www.loafbread.com/ie/images/c64x10ttcontrol/Pages/3.html

Also this webpage does mention a C64 X10 system. The article is atari related, but it does mention C64 and the "X-10 PowerHouse home controller system".
http://www.atarimagazines.com/v7n4/powermanager.html

[amyren]

X10 would certainly seem to fit the bill, as they have volt free input and output relay modules, as well as the more common appliance and dimmer modules. Let us know if you find the Amiga software; I'm particularly interested as it is another of my hobbies, and I am  the moderator of two UK home automation forums.

For basic needs, I guess that all the software you need is already available, as I mentioned in an earlier post the CM11A can be controlled by a commandline utility found on aminet. The CM11 adaptor is available to buy in two versions, with USB or serial interface. For the amiga, the serial version will be the choice.

Then you can controll it from shell, or you can write small scripts. One script to turn off lamp 1, another script to turn on lamp 2 and so on.
Best thing would be to have a nice GUI to use, but if thats not available you could use one of the docking programs available. Customize it to run your scripts, and you suddenly have a small GUI with lots of buttons controlling your home X10 devices.

[Tahoe]

Well, guess what; I'm in touch with Jim and Gene right now. They are having a look, looks like Jim lost the software a while ago; but Gene probably still has it on tape somewhere. If they do find it I'll host it on my site!

[zurt]

Hello,

Basically I would recommend you to use The Ultimate Relay Driver II along with some small ARexx scripts capable of turning on and off the relays via TURD's ARexx port, a Cron-like program (CyberCron would do the job) if you want to automatically call these scripts at certain hours and a (homemade) program capable of linking the Amiga and the temperature probe and read its analog value.

Anyway I don't recommend to use two-wire thermistor (PT-100, NTC, PTC or whatever) specially when long lenghts of cable are needed. Three or four-wire sensors are mandatory to deliver an accurate reading of the resistor value, but (in the case of three-wire ones) you should use both potentiometers to do this. One would read the ohmic value due to length, cross section and material of the wires, while the other would read the total ohmic value (cables + sensor). Substracting the first value from the second would deliver you the corrected (real) value of the resistor. Anyway I don't know any software for Amiga capable of doing this off the shelf, that is why I said "a homemade program" above.

Keep in mind the resistors of the Amiga are of 470 KOhm (+-10%) value.

But honestly, apart from experimenting purposes, I won't use the Amiga for such monotonous task. I would go for a inexpensive 220V/110V-powered programmable relay with analog input and RTC such as Schneider Zelio, Siemens Logo!, Omron Zen or similar that would do the job perfectly.