Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

Posted on
Thu Jan 18, 2018 10:57 pm
TwitchCaptain offline
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Re: Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

Please provide feedback on this full-featured Indigo Plugin for the 8 channel relay board:
https://github.com/davidnewhall/indigo-8channel-relay
Last edited by TwitchCaptain on Fri Jan 19, 2018 3:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Posted on
Fri Jan 19, 2018 3:32 pm
TwitchCaptain offline
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Re: Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

jay (support) wrote:
I don't know - the code you posted doesn't appear to communicate with Indigo. To reinforce what we've already posted, any AppleScript that has a "tell 'IndigoServer'" in it won't work.


so long iMessage Integration w/ Indigo. https://github.com/davidnewhall/iMessag ... ndigo.scpt - that's a bummer.

Posted on
Sat Jan 20, 2018 10:08 am
jens offline
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Re: Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

Hello,

Looks like it's not an installation file, just gets up different files when I'm downloading your app

//Jens

Posted on
Mon Jan 22, 2018 12:09 pm
jay (support) offline
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Re: Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

frankyhall wrote:
jay (support) wrote:
I don't know - the code you posted doesn't appear to communicate with Indigo. To reinforce what we've already posted, any AppleScript that has a "tell 'IndigoServer'" in it won't work.


so long iMessage Integration w/ Indigo. https://github.com/davidnewhall/iMessag ... ndigo.scpt - that's a bummer.


I suspect you could modify that script to use curl and the RESTful API...

Jay (Indigo Support)
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Posted on
Mon Jan 22, 2018 1:07 pm
TwitchCaptain offline
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Re: Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

The API requires authentication. My plugin's authentication is performed by checking a box in Security SysPrefs. Using the API requires storing a password, and I'm not ready to do something like that. If the API could be modified to allow unauthenticated requests from localhost, then we'd be in business. A checkbox. hehe

Posted on
Wed Jan 24, 2018 5:06 am
DomoPat offline
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Re: Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

Received a board today and could not resist to immediately try it !

The plugin works and controls the relays just fine, congratulations, it will be really useful.

But I have an error message in the log which repeats every 10 seconds:

8 Channel Network Relay Error plugin runConcurrentThread function returned or failed (will attempt again in 10 seconds)
8 Channel Network Relay Error Error in plugin execution runConcurrentThread:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "plugin.py", line 109, in runConcurrentThread
File "/Library/Application Support/Perceptive Automation/Indigo 7/IndigoPluginHost.app/Contents/PlugIns/plugin_base.py", line 429, in sleep
TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for +: 'float' and 'unicode'


Same message with plugin version 0.1.8 or 0.1.11. The relays names are very standard, no foreign or accented characters (unicode ?).
I tried to look at line 429 in the plugin but the plugin.py file stops at 278 lines, so I could not dig deeper into the issue...

Posted on
Thu Jan 25, 2018 12:10 am
TwitchCaptain offline
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Re: Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

Hi DomoPat! Thanks!

Can you try this branch? https://github.com/davidnewhall/indigo- ... lay/pull/2

I'm not real sure what the problem is. If this fixes it, then I'm convinced Indigo converts all form values to unicode (integers too) and won't store them any other way.

Posted on
Sat Jan 27, 2018 6:59 am
DomoPat offline
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Re: Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

Hi Frankyhall,

indeed the conversion is needed and now the plugin works very well !

I was also able to test the inputs and they are detected as expected so that is good too. The cabling is a bit strange though, I will write another post to clarify how to use them.

Now for future improvements:
- in the Custom states window the pulseCount stays at zero for the relays and the pulseCountTimestamp is empty
- these custom states would also be nice to have for inputs
- it would be useful to have the changes of states of relays and inputs appear in the log, just one line saying "name of the device or input is off" for example
- even better if the logging is user selectable per relay/input

I will be happy to help on the programming side but I am not an expert and I don't know how to use GitHub, so let me know how to best support the effort on this great plugin.

This board has a good price and good performance and looks like a good solution to replace relays or other devices so it deserves a good integration in Indigo !

Posted on
Sat Jan 27, 2018 12:46 pm
TwitchCaptain offline
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Re: Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

I can add those features for you and fix the pulseCount bug(s). I'll try to get them in early this coming week. Thanks for the feedback and I'm glad it's working out! I opened an issue for you to help track the work: https://github.com/davidnewhall/indigo- ... y/issues/3

Posted on
Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:52 pm
DomoPat offline
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Re: Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

Sorry, the pulse counting works ! I thought the counter was counting the "on/off" cycles, when I tried the pulses in an Action Group I can now see the counting happening and the time stamp is updated. Too bad we cannot do a pulse shorter than 1 second, but that is a limitation of the board.

Posted on
Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:51 am
jay (support) offline
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Re: Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

@frankyhall, are you going to put this plugin into the Plugin Store where it's easy for anyone to find? See the Plugin Contributions section of your Indigo Account for details.

Jay (Indigo Support)
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Posted on
Mon Feb 26, 2018 8:32 am
DomoPat offline
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Re: Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

Additional info about the board, concerning the input side:

There are 8 inputs, separated in two groups of 4: each group uses it’s own « COM » pin, the one at the right of each group of 4 input pins.

To use a dry contact type of switch with one input you need to:
- connect one side of the switch to the +5V pin on the connector of the board
- connect the other side to the input of your choice
- connect the "COM" pin corresponding to your input to the « GND » pin on the connector
- if you don't connect the corresponding "COM" pin to the "GND" the input will not react when the switch changes states

If you use momentary switches you should change the setting in the board under « System Settings » and enable « Touch Input ».

In the « System Settings » screen, make sure the check mark appears next to the option you want enabled: the buttons on the right part are only buttons they do not indicate the status of the option.
For example if you want the « Power-down state of save » to work, you need to push the button on the right and make sure the check mark appears right of the option text: then you will have the same state when the board powers up as what it was when the power was lost. But the button on the right of the screen will say « not save » which is confusing…
Same thing for « input and output correlation », or « scene mode ».

Posted on
Mon Feb 26, 2018 10:09 am
stuartcolman offline
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Re: Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

I know this is probably a really stupid question, however not knowing too much about relays, what is the basic wiring of these?

I would imagine that a 12VDC power supply is hooked up to the board. I have about 8 different 12VDC circuits that I want to switch, so would each of these be connected up to the switched side of the relay as if they were toggle switches?

Also, do these relay switch DC or is it only AC?

Posted on
Sun Apr 15, 2018 1:34 pm
TwitchCaptain offline
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Re: Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

That's a great idea Jay. I have a couple plugins I can contribute. I just didn't find them "cool enough" for wide spread consumption, but perhaps they're useful.

Here's a picture of my relay board "in action" - it's connected to a garage door opener (with a second garage door opener wire available) and four sprinkler zones.
https://imgur.com/fVpfDlV

Posted on
Tue Nov 20, 2018 2:11 am
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Re: Ethernet Relay Board -- Works Great!

@DomoPat -

It's a long time coming. I finally added logging. :lol:
What custom state would you like to have for the input sensors? I do not use them for anything personally, so I'm not sure what would be useful.

DomoPat wrote:
- these custom states would also be nice to have for inputs


@Jay - I added the plugin to the plugin store.
https://www.indigodomo.com/pluginstore/196/

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