[HN Gopher] ESP32 Wemos D1 Mini - Sprinkler Controller Open Source
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ESP32 Wemos D1 Mini - Sprinkler Controller Open Source
Author : pcbmaker20
Score : 57 points
Date : 2023-10-28 16:55 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| cxcorp wrote:
| I don't think there's a D1-ESP32 board? The D1 Mini is Wemos'
| ESP8266 board. They do have ESP32 boards with the same footprint,
| but those are not D1 Mini but S2 Mini, S3 Mini and C3 Mini,
| depending on whether it's ESP32-S2/-S3/-C3.
| oldgradstudent wrote:
| That's what I thought as well, it is not available at:
|
| https://www.wemos.cc/en/latest/index.html
|
| But the specific board from the post can be bought on Amazon:
|
| https://www.amazon.com/CANADUINO-WEMOS-Minikit-240MHz-Blueto...
| heffer wrote:
| You'll find many varieties of boards with different SoCs being
| sold mentioning the D1 Mini in their model number or product
| description, as it initially defined the form-factor being
| referred to. Similar to the ESP-12F, which you can also get
| with ESP32 SoCs, if you want, even though the ESP-12F
| originally is an ESP8266 board.
| t0mas88 wrote:
| Indeed, there is no D1-ESP32 from Wemos. It's a name used by
| several non-Wemos clones that have an ESP32 chip in a module
| form factor that is compatible with the original Wemos D1 mini.
|
| The challenge is that these modules are not all the same. The
| differences are for example in the voltage regulator and how
| much current you can draw from it. Which can make something
| work fine with one "D1-ESP32" while not working with another.
| f_devd wrote:
| 24V AC to me seems like a strange choice when using DC-DC power
| supplies allows for using any external adapter, including USB PD,
| without the need for a loose transformer.
| KANahas wrote:
| 24 VAC is a common voltage for irrigation control, which is
| likely why they chose to use it.
| conk wrote:
| Agreed and it's far easier to turn ac into dc than the other
| way around
| eternityforest wrote:
| A relic of the ancient days before everything ran on tiny
| switching converters! There's tons of 24Vac stuff that
| unfortunately doesn't seem to be interested in switching
| anytime soon.
|
| Also, AC is easier to switch with physical switches, and
| there's a ton of stuff still using physical relays at low
| voltage. It would be nice to go DC but there seems to be
| inertia.
| intpx wrote:
| I think there is more to it than that-- AC lets you move
| current over longer wires without voltage drop or having to
| use really thick wire. This is why Tesla triumphed over
| Edison. Honestly, there are a ton of applications that could
| benefit from low voltage AC that don't leverage it because DC
| is king in on the test bench and that inertia creates the
| need for klunky workarounds to overcome its deficiencies in
| large, long series circuits.
| londons_explore wrote:
| Worth noting that nearly everything that claims to run from
| 24 Vac also runs from 5Vdc. Nearly everything modern has a
| little circuit board which just detects 'voltage' or 'no
| voltage'.
|
| The exception is 'dumb' solenoids, valves, pumps etc, which
| are actually powered by the 24Vac.
| amluto wrote:
| For a classy sprinkler controller, you want 24VAC relay outputs
| with current monitoring, and you also want a pulse counting input
| for a flow sensor. Bonus points for rain gauge inputs and some
| way to collect evapotranspiration data.
| bobsmooth wrote:
| You can get ESP-controlled relay boards on aliexpress.
| intpx wrote:
| Apart from the fact that sprinkler systems are almost always
| 24VAC and every commercial sprinkler controller I have ever used
| or investigated use optocouplers/fets/triacs I don't really have
| a good reason to get irritated by homebrew designs that use
| relays, but I do get irritated. I think the irritation comes from
| wanting to really learn-by-copying how to design these circuits
| and many hours searching for exemplars and reading datasheets
| left me pretty confounded (though most of this was during the
| great supply chain squeeze so I couldn't find the right combos of
| triacs and optocouplers ins stock and the datasheets led me to
| believe that subbing out a non zero cross would probably be a
| problem, or not being able to find logic level triacs)
| londons_explore wrote:
| Anyone else have reliability issues with the ESP32?
|
| I have a few of them connected to various wifi networks, and
| after a couple of years they always seem to disconnect and need a
| power cycle before they'll reconnect.
|
| I understand they might lose the wifi connection, or their DHCP
| lease, or there might be interference, or something blasts too
| many packets at them, or a TCP connection hangs or gets RST...
| But after any of those, I expect them to recover, reconnect, and
| continue working. However, even a hello world web server on ESP32
| seems unable to do that.
|
| However, it's really hard to track down bugs that only happen
| once a year when I only have ~10 of these devices.
| ahepp wrote:
| You could set up a watchdog of some sort that reboots the
| system if it can't connect to the internet.
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(page generated 2023-10-28 23:00 UTC)