Hi from Sweden

Moderators: rtenklooster, Voyager, BertB, Stuntteam

Post Reply
Message
Author
michaelis
New user
Posts: 3
Joined: 07 Sep 2021, 10:51

Hi from Sweden

#1 Post by michaelis » 07 Sep 2021, 10:56

Hello.

I'm not sure what this site is about but as I understand it it's about home automation centered around some specific type of hardware, and that sounds interesting to me.
I'm a senior PLC programmer/SCADA engineer and I want to write a SCADA system that's free and open. But if someone knows of such a system then please tell me.
The best thing would be to have a SCADA system that also incorporates PLC programming and to use a free and open hardware such as a Raspberry Pi as a soft PLC. Just some ideas.

Great idea by the way with this forum.

TD-er
Core team member
Posts: 8607
Joined: 01 Sep 2017, 22:13
Location: the Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Hi from Sweden

#2 Post by TD-er » 07 Sep 2021, 11:16

Hello Michaelis,

Welcome.

Well this is about the ESPEasy firmware, which is a firmware for ESP8266/ESP8285/ESP32 controllers.
Those have WiFi on board and you can attach sensors, actuators and displays to them.
These can all be configured via a web interface and you can also implement on board automations via rules. (see: https://espeasy.readthedocs.io/en/lates ... Rules.html )

It is for sure not limited to home automation, as you can do a lot more with it than 'just' controlling typical home automations.
It is a slightly different approach from PLC, to make it a lot easier to start with, without the need for experience in programming, electronics, etc.

Have a look around :)

michaelis
New user
Posts: 3
Joined: 07 Sep 2021, 10:51

Re: Hi from Sweden

#3 Post by michaelis » 07 Sep 2021, 11:51

Hi TD-er.

Thank you for the welcome and for the clarification. It sure is fantastic with how much these small boards are packed with.
I have some questions though. What do you do if you want to expand the I/O count? Can these units communicate with each other? And what protocol(s) do they support for external communication with third party units? Do they have some built in logic so that it's not "only" reading and writing of values?

TD-er
Core team member
Posts: 8607
Joined: 01 Sep 2017, 22:13
Location: the Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Hi from Sweden

#4 Post by TD-er » 07 Sep 2021, 14:34

We support a number of GPIO extender chips, via I2C.
There is an ESPEasy p2p protocol via UDP, over which you can share the presence of a unit, but also send commands and events to each other.
One unit can also 'share' a task (an instance of a plugin, often collecting data) as if the sensor is connected to the remote device.
See here for more info on the p2p controller: https://espeasy.readthedocs.io/en/lates ... #c013-page

There is a number of "controllers" for several platforms, like several MQTT platforms (Domoticz/OpenHAB/HomeAssistant) and some HTTP based controllers.
There is also one to send data via LoRaWAN.
See here for controllers: https://espeasy.readthedocs.io/en/lates ... er-plugins

See here for the rules: https://espeasy.readthedocs.io/en/lates ... Rules.html
Typically a block in a rule (similar to a function in other programming languages) acts on an event, with 0 ... 4 event values.
An event can be generated by a successful task read (collecting samples from a sensor), or time based (if a timer expired, or periodically) and you can also send events between ESPEasy nodes.
Of course you can also define your own events and call them.

In the rules, you can do computations and store their values in variables which can be called from just about anywhere.
E.g. for showing on a display, or even use them in a topic for sending to MQTT.
Most tasks can also have small formulas on their task values, for example to make a simple offset or convert into another unit.

ESP32 units can also be equipped with an ethernet port, so you are not limited to WiFi.

See also the list of plugins, to get an idea of what you can connect to an ESPEasy node: https://espeasy.readthedocs.io/en/lates ... lugin.html

michaelis
New user
Posts: 3
Joined: 07 Sep 2021, 10:51

Re: Hi from Sweden

#5 Post by michaelis » 07 Sep 2021, 16:14

Thank you very much for your answer. I will look into all this since as have some ideas with these controllers. Thanks again.

TD-er
Core team member
Posts: 8607
Joined: 01 Sep 2017, 22:13
Location: the Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Hi from Sweden

#6 Post by TD-er » 07 Sep 2021, 16:27

You're welcome.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests