Phidgets Plugin Discussion

Posted on
Fri Jul 24, 2020 10:48 am
mpleeds offline
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Joined: Jul 02, 2012

Re: Phidgets Plugin Discussion

Thanks for the response Berkinet.

I had the Trigger Threshold set to 3 during my initial sauna test (running side by side with existing 433 RFX BBQ probe) and noticed that it only reported changes of EXACTLY 1.2° F (not granular enough for sauna temp control). When lowering the Trigger Threshold to 2, readings became very erratic ("thrashing"). Could this be the limitations of the 1124 or a possible bug in the plugin? Based on your comment that the 1124 is not "super stable", I am thinking of upgrading to a thermocouple and Phidgets 1048 sensor with the hope that readings will be more reliable, down to around .5° F.

Thoughts?

Posted on
Fri Jul 24, 2020 11:05 am
berkinet offline
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Re: Phidgets Plugin Discussion

mpleeds wrote:
...I had the Trigger Threshold set to 3 during my initial sauna test (running side by side with existing 433 RFX BBQ probe) and noticed that it only reported changes of EXACTLY 1.2° F (not granular enough for sauna temp control). When lowering the Trigger Threshold to 2, readings became very erratic ("thrashing"). Could this be the limitations of the 1124 or a possible bug in the plugin? Based on your comment that the 1124 is not "super stable", I am thinking of upgrading to a thermocouple and Phidgets 1048 sensor with the hope that readings will be more reliable, down to around .5° F.

Thoughts?

A trigger of 3 should be fine. And, at this point (several years) I am certain there is not a bug in this part of the code. BTW, by stability, I mean there is some jitter in the 0-5v output from the 1124, thus the thrashing you saw. One test is to look at the phidget in the Phidget control panel and see what it reports in raw value and then convert that to ºC using the formula Temperature (°C) = (SensorValue x 0.2222) - 61.111 There could be other factors, such as is the 1124 in open air or attached to something. If it is attached, the heat will change at the rate of whatever it is attached to.

Finally, the 1048 is excellent, but for your application, you shouldn't need it. If you can confirm the 1.2º difference using the control panel, I would suggest calling phidgets support, you may have a faulty 1124. I mention re-creating the problem with their own code to remove the plugin from the issue.

Posted on
Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:01 pm
mpleeds offline
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Joined: Jul 02, 2012

Re: Phidgets Plugin Discussion

Good idea. I tested in Phidgets Control Panel and came up with a variance of around .1° C when set to lowest change trigger and interval ≈ 66 ms(see screenshot). Would this indicate that the 1124 is ok and that something is getting lost in the plugin translation?
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Posted on
Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:23 pm
berkinet offline
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Re: Phidgets Plugin Discussion

mpleeds wrote:
Good idea. I tested in Phidgets Control Panel and came up with a variance of around .1° C when set to lowest change trigger and interval ≈ 66 ms(see screenshot). Would this indicate that the 1124 is ok and that something is getting lost in the plugin translation?

If you were connecting through the web service then for the interval will mean nothing . If you are connecting directly via USB then you probably should set it at 16 ms to match what is happening in the plug-in. But, beyond that the 1/10 of a degree difference is exactly what would be expected and what you would see with the threshold set to zero. Set a threshold higher for example two or three, and then see when it changes. That will give you your comparison.

Posted on
Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:59 pm
mpleeds offline
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Joined: Jul 02, 2012

Re: Phidgets Plugin Discussion

I will continue to experiment. Thanks for the assistance and for creating this great plugin!

Posted on
Fri Sep 11, 2020 1:02 pm
landry offline
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Joined: Jul 30, 2017

Re: PhidgetsSBC4 anad VINT Plugin

Hi Berkinet

Any progression on the development of the Plugin supporting the PhidgetsSBC4 and VINT
I hope all is well during this difficult time.

Highest regards
Dave

Posted on
Wed Sep 30, 2020 10:26 am
berkinet offline
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Re: PhidgetsSBC4 anad VINT Plugin

landry wrote:
...Any progression on the development of the Plugin supporting the PhidgetsSBC4 and VINT
I hope all is well during this difficult time.
All is well, thanks for asking. Not much progress. Mostly it has been my sone who is working on the new code, and he has been busy. With luck, he will commit the basic structure and then I can start adding devices,

Posted on
Mon Nov 23, 2020 1:59 pm
UrbanFarmer offline
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Joined: Nov 16, 2012

Indigo not reading 1048 temps

Switched from old Mac Mini running ver 6 to new Mac Mini running ver 7. Can't get Indigo to read 1048 temperatures. Using Phidget Control Panel for the first time. Any help is appreciated.

I had to switch back to the old Mac Mini to keep the Indigo controlled fans in my greenhouse functioning.

Posted on
Tue Nov 24, 2020 4:56 am
berkinet offline
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Re: Indigo not reading 1048 temps

UrbanFarmer wrote:
Switched from old Mac Mini running ver 6 to new Mac Mini running ver 7. Can't get Indigo to read 1048 temperatures. Using Phidget Control Panel for the first time. Any help is appreciated. ...
I would suggest checking the following...
  • Make sure the Phidget 2.1 libraries are installed on your Indigo server.
  • If your Phidgets are remote from your Indigo Mac, make sure you have the latest version of the Phidgets 2.1 libs installed (mismatched lib versions can cause communication failures.)
  • If your Phidgets are connected directly to your Indigo Mac, make sure the Phidget Web service is turned on and that you are connecting to the InterfaceKit via IP

Posted on
Tue Nov 24, 2020 3:17 pm
UrbanFarmer offline
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Joined: Nov 16, 2012

Re: Indigo not reading 1048 temps

Thank you.

I see that you have changed your post.

I downloaded 2.1libraries and installed. Now Indigo is showing 1048 as being offline. At least it is now showing it.

Where on my Mac are the libraries located?

I have tried connecting the 1048 to both USB and IP.

It has always worked using USB. I tried IP with default port 5001 but the server says 5661, so I change the 1048 to port 5661

I upgraded my fidgets plying in Indigo to 0.7.4 with no change in results

7.4 was working on my iMac before it died.

This all worked before switching to latest phidget driver, which I have to use with this OS.
Last edited by UrbanFarmer on Sun Nov 29, 2020 4:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Posted on
Fri Nov 27, 2020 6:18 am
berkinet offline
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Re: Indigo not reading 1048 temps

UrbanFarmer wrote:
...I downloaded 2.1libraries and installed. Now Indigo is showing 1048 as being offline. At least it is now showing it.
Where on my Mac are the libraries located?
I have tried connecting the 1048 to both USB and IP.
It has always worked using USB. I tried IP with default port 5001 but the server says 5661, so I change the 1048 to port 5661
When I start Indigo it gives me and error , something about communications I'll update when I start it again.
I upgraded my fidgets plying in Indigo to 0.7.4 with no change in results
7.4 was working on my iMac before it died.
This all worked before switching to latest phidget driver, which I have to use with this OS.
The default port for the Phidget 2.1 webservice is 5001. If you use the webservice, which is recommended, you must not connect directly to the Phidget over USB from any other application, including the Phidget control panel. In Indigo make sure the Phidget is a "Standalone Device" and then the "4 input temp sensor" with the appropriate Phidget id number.

Posted on
Sun Nov 29, 2020 4:48 pm
UrbanFarmer offline
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Joined: Nov 16, 2012

Re: Indigo not reading Phidget 1048

Not sure what you mean by Phidgets 2.1 web service.

Here is the control panel Docroot: "/Library/Application Support/Phidgets/Phidget22NetworkServer/html". This is the same as on my old Mac Mini currently running Indigo 6 where everything is working.

webserver port is 8989, phidget server was changed to 5001 from 5661 default.

Indigo device settings: PhidgetTemperatureSensor 4-input, SN 6 digit, IP Network, 127.0.0.1, Port 5001.

Both 2.1 and 2.2libs installed in app support/phidgets

By the way, on my Old Mac Mini running Indigo ver 6, both the 1048 and the 1017 (4 relay), are set to USB and working fine.

I am running Catalina here and downloaded and installed the appropriate Phidget for this OS..

Indigo 7.4 is showing 1048 state as "offline", yet the Phidget control panel shows it in the browser as reporting temperatures as expected.

Clearly, Indigo is not communicating with this 1048 sensor, other than to recognize its presence but not read the temps.

Reinstalled the phidget.kext and activated it. It is located in the libraries/extensions, not in the system/libraries/extension as my research indicates where it should be. I tried to copy it there in order to activate it using Terminal but, even as Root user, I could not get it to copy to that folder. The phidget.kext file is located in the system/library/extensions on my old Mac Mini where everything is working.

Just checked my 1401 and 1701 on this new computer and neither one of them is communicating between Indigo and Phidgets.

I was going to give up and use Insteon Remote Thermostats by now I can't even do that.

I have to get this working.

Posted on
Mon Nov 30, 2020 4:47 am
berkinet offline
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Re: Indigo not reading Phidget 1048

Screen Shot 2020-11-30 at 11.54.51.png
Screen Shot 2020-11-30 at 11.54.51.png (346.74 KiB) Viewed 5453 times
UrbanFarmer wrote:
...
Just checked my 1401 and 1701 on this new computer and neither one of them is communicating between Indigo and Phidgets.

I was going to give up and use Insteon Remote Thermostats by now I can't even do that.

I have to get this working.
Here is what your Phidgets control panel should look like.
Screen Shot 2020-11-30 at 11.54.51.png
Screen Shot 2020-11-30 at 11.54.51.png (346.74 KiB) Viewed 5453 times

Other than that, I do not know what other help I can provide. I suggest you call Phdgets tech support as it seems something is wrong with your installation.

Posted on
Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:10 pm
landry offline
Posts: 59
Joined: Jul 30, 2017

Re; Frequency counter

Hi Berkinet ...happy holidays

I am having a issue with my frequency counter ( wind speed) that is used in my Phidget Weather Station. I was reconfiguring my set up so al sensors are outside and the SBC3 is inside the house. Every thing works fine except the plug into the frequency counter. i really have been scratching my head over this one; See attached pdf. Phidget control panel shows a working counter and the plug in sees device on line. The data is not updated and I have tried remaking the device and using either channel......, can't seem to find the problem.



Any suggestions would greatly appreciated. ( all settings are shown in the attached PNG
Attachments
Freq4.png
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Freq3.png
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Posted on
Wed Dec 30, 2020 4:30 pm
landry offline
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Re: Phidgets Plugin Discussion

Hi Berkinet

Good news I got the frequency counter working. I changed the timeout (ms) counter setting to 32 to match the Phidget Control Panel data interval default value of 32.

On another note, i purchased an sbc4 after a discussion with Brian about your plug in. He says it should work since the new sbc comes preloaded with phidget21 libraries and as long as i use supported sensors connect to usb devices everything should work. I'll let you you know. I want to to use a thermocouple in this project and I'll have to use a reader that has analog or 0-5 V retransmission ouput for now . Phidgets has a new RTD and thermocouple phidget that uses VNT so I am enthusiastically supporting your effort to update to VNT.

You have the greatest plug in !!

I want two thank you for your hard work I want to wish you and your family a great new year and hopefully 2020 will be a blur in our past!

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