DIY WiFi Programmable Thermostat

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basicchip
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Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:39 am
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Re: DIY WiFi Programmable Thermostat

Post by basicchip »

Before I start modifying things, time to do some measurements. For now I think taking temperature of the ambient air and floor in 2 spots (normally heated zone, and normally unheated zone). And also outside.

From that I can get some data on how the in floor hydronics is working now. Too bad I didn't start earlier, as tonight is going to be pretty cold.

I have a bag of LM19CIZ parts, temperature sensors (analog) and 3 ARMstamps. Just going to take readings every 6 minutes or so for a few days, write the data to Flash, and then dump it CSV style for an Excel spreadsheet.



basicchip
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Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:39 am
Location: Weeki Watchee, FL
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Re: DIY WiFi Programmable Thermostat

Post by basicchip »

Got the temp sensors built with LM19's. Though I would recommend using digital output sensors, I had a number of these analog ones sitting around. Used some cut up ARMweb blank PCBs and prototype ARMstamps. It's good being a pack rat.
temp1.jpg
temp1.jpg (127.11 KiB) Viewed 17650 times
Small PCB with 0.1uF bypass cap, 3 pin header and LM19 connected.

basicchip
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Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:39 am
Location: Weeki Watchee, FL
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Re: DIY WiFi Programmable Thermostat

Post by basicchip »

Now have them gathering data overnight. Will check tomorrow to see how it went. The program takes temperature samples every 5 minutes, and every hour writes to Flash. When the program starts up it will dump that data to the USB serial port where I will move it into Excel for analysis.

Here is the code

Code: Select all

'	this program captures 2 AD conversions and save the data into unused Flash
'	unused flash is &Hffffffff
'	on startup it dumps the data -- and restarts sampling

function dosample
	dim ad6,ad7,i
	
	ad6=0		' take 8 readdings and average
	ad7=0
	for i=1 to 8
		ad6 += ad(6)
		ad7 += ad(7)
	next
	
	ad6 = ad6 >>(6+3)	' avg 8 samples and right justify
	ad7 = ad7 >>(6+3)	' ditto
	
	return (ad6 << 16) + ad7
end function
	
dim tempSamples(1023)		' a block of Flash is 4K

#define SAMPLE_DELAY	300000	' 5 minute delay

	
main:
	x=ad(6)		' switch to AD mode and ignore this data
	x=ad(7)		' ditto
	
	flashStart = &H5000
	sampleStart = 0

#if 0					' run this to init during testing	
	for i=0 to 1023
		tempSamples(i) = &HFFFFFFFF
	next		
	write (flashStart, tempSamples, 4096)
	
	print "Flash erased"
	end
#endif

	print "Dump data"
	fread (flashStart, tempSamples, 4096)
	
' dump the existing data 	
	
	while (tempSamples(sampleStart) <> &HFFFFFFFF)
		print tempSamples(sampleStart) >> 16,",", tempSamples(sampleStart) and &HFFFF
		sampleStart += 1
		if sampleStart = 1024 then
			flashStart += &H1000
			sampleStart = 0
			fread (flashStart, tempSamples, 4096)
		endif
	loop
	
	print "quick test of ADs"

	for i=1 to 10					' use this for testing
		print dosample>>16, dosample and &Hffff
	next
	
	print "sampling will begin in ";SAMPLE_DELAY/1000;" seconds"
	wait(SAMPLE_DELAY)
	
'  and restart sampling -- starting where the data left off
	
	while (1)
		for i=1 to 12
			x = dosample
			print hex (x)
			wait(SAMPLE_DELAY)
			tempSamples(sampleStart) = x
			sampleStart += 1
			if sampleStart = 1024 then
				write (flashStart, tempSamples, 4096)
				flashStart += &H1000
				sampleStart = 0
				fread (flashStart, tempSamples, 4096)
			endif
		next
		write (flashStart, tempSamples, 4096)		' every hour record the data
	loop

basicchip
Posts: 1090
Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:39 am
Location: Weeki Watchee, FL
Contact:

Re: DIY WiFi Programmable Thermostat

Post by basicchip »

Well I was trying to infer from the temperature measurements the efficiency of heat and heat loss in the house. Also one of my experiments is to combine 3 zones in the tile area of the house which is an open area, and see if switching them all on with heat demand keeps the house more comfortable and saves energy.

Instead I need to monitor when heat is actually being requested/delivered and then monitor how fast temps change.

The heating controller runs almost completely on 24VAC with LED indicators each on its own diode rectifier. No GND in the whole thing. So I need some opto-isolators so I can measure what is going on there. Off to Digikey...

basicchip
Posts: 1090
Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:39 am
Location: Weeki Watchee, FL
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Re: DIY WiFi Programmable Thermostat

Post by basicchip »

Well have my opto-isolated heat zone management system running. And temp monitors running in dining room, living room and outside. I'll check back in a couple days to make sure it is collecting data correctly.

Here is a pic of the heat zone monitor
heat1.jpg
heat1.jpg (216.39 KiB) Viewed 17572 times
The picture of the heat zone monitor was taken before I plugged in a small USB power supply.

basicchip
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Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:39 am
Location: Weeki Watchee, FL
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Re: DIY WiFi Programmable Thermostat

Post by basicchip »

So lots of data to look at. Over the last 2 1/2 weeks I measured 3 different heating configurations. So below is a set of graphs of the data, with highlights explained after. The top diagram show when heat is being demanded by the thermostats, and the bottom is the relative temperature of the living room. Seems like the temperature measure is off by 5 degrees, not sure, why, and may have to chase that down, but in the final DIY thermostat digital temp sensors will be used.
temp3zones.jpg
temp3zones.jpg (80.11 KiB) Viewed 17498 times
First was 3 separate heat zones downstairs. As I suspected the 3 thermostat interacted with each other in bad ways. In example "A" the living room was demanding heat and it came on, but the temp of the room only increased 1 degree, but that was probably enough to hold off the other thermostats. On average it looks like the house cools down at about 1 to 1.5 degrees per hour. During the A zone, temperature increased only a degree in almost 15 hours. The heater is not keeping up.
temp2zones.jpg
temp2zones.jpg (47.32 KiB) Viewed 17498 times
Next I shorted the kitchen and living room thermostat together. Even before I saw the data the house seemed more comfortable in the morning. So next look at the real data. There would be little contribution from the North bedrooms, as at the opposite end of the house, in fact it probably robs heat from the downstairs. With the 2 zones tied together the living room heated at about 1 degree per hour or more. House cooling rates seem about the same.
temp1zone.jpg
temp1zone.jpg (68.16 KiB) Viewed 17498 times
Final configuration, which I will keep combines all 3 zones downstairs. In area C temperature increases of 1.5 degrees per hour. So as hydronic heat is so slow, heat demand should be quicker (the thermostats delay 10-15 minutes it seems). And since it is so slow overshoot or bang bang situations won't be an issue.

basicchip
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Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:39 am
Location: Weeki Watchee, FL
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Re: DIY WiFi Programmable Thermostat

Post by basicchip »

I was also measuring outside temperatures, but between snow and rain, and a bug in the original program, I only captured a couple days of data. The sensor finally died in the last storm. I replaced it and will protect it from the weather better, it is under a covered patio on the lee side of the house.

Now that I can measure the master bedroom, I was curious to see if it ever even demanded heat, and one cold night it did. We do keep that room cool for better sleeping.

While we can't do a 5 degree night time setback, maybe a couple degrees might be OK, and raise the temperature request about 4 AM so we're not freezing around 6. The cats might hate it.

basicchip
Posts: 1090
Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:39 am
Location: Weeki Watchee, FL
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Re: DIY WiFi Programmable Thermostat

Post by basicchip »

And here is the temperature recording program. Rather than 0 it now loads the data array with &HFFFFFFFF and erases the next Flash sector when it is required.

Code: Select all

'	this program captures 2 AD conversions and save the data into unused Flash
'	unused flash is &Hffffffff
'	on startup it dumps the data -- and restarts sampling

function dosample
	dim ad6,ad7,i
	
	ad6=0		' take 8 readdings and average
	ad7=0
	for i=1 to 8
		ad6 += ad(6)
		ad7 += ad(7)
	next
	
	ad6 = ad6 >>(6+3)	' avg 8 samples and right justify
	ad7 = ad7 >>(6+3)	' ditto
	
	return (ad6 << 16) + ad7
end function

dim tempSamples(1023)		' a block of Flash is 4K

sub fillFFFF
	dim i
	for i=0 to 1023
		tempSamples(i) = &HFFFFFFFF
	next		
end sub
	

#define SAMPLE_DELAY	300000	' 5 minute delay

	
main:
	x=ad(6)		' switch to AD mode and ignore this data
	x=ad(7)		' ditto
	
	flashStart = &H5000
	sampleStart = 0

#if 0					' run this to init during testing	
	fillFFFF
	
	write (flashStart, tempSamples, 4096)
	write (flashStart+0x1000, tempSamples, 4096)
	write (flashStart+0x2000, tempSamples, 4096)
	write (flashStart+0x3000, tempSamples, 4096)
	
	print "Flash erased"
	end
#endif

	print "Dump data"
	fread (flashStart, tempSamples, 4096)
	
' dump the existing data 	
	
	while (tempSamples(sampleStart) <> &HFFFFFFFF)
		print tempSamples(sampleStart) >> 16,tempSamples(sampleStart) and &HFFFF
		sampleStart += 1
		if sampleStart = 1024 then
			flashStart += &H1000
			sampleStart = 0
			fread (flashStart, tempSamples, 4096)
		endif
	loop
	
	print "quick test of ADs"

	for i=1 to 10					' use this for testing
		print dosample>>16, dosample and &Hffff
	next
	
	print "sampling will begin in ";SAMPLE_DELAY/1000;" seconds"
	wait(SAMPLE_DELAY)
	
'  and restart sampling -- starting where the data left off
	
	while (1)
		for i=1 to 12
			x = dosample
			print hex (x)
			wait(SAMPLE_DELAY)
			tempSamples(sampleStart) = x
			sampleStart += 1
			if sampleStart = 1024 then
				write (flashStart, tempSamples, 4096)
				flashStart += &H1000
				sampleStart = 0
				fillFFFF
				write (flashStart, tempSamples, 4096)	' erase the next sector
			endif
		next
		write (flashStart, tempSamples, 4096)		' every hour record the data
	loop

basicchip
Posts: 1090
Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:39 am
Location: Weeki Watchee, FL
Contact:

Re: DIY WiFi Programmable Thermostat

Post by basicchip »

Well I should try to finish this up before I turn the system off for the winter. Still taking measurements of the heating controls, and will do that via WiFi with the final setup. Made one more modification to the current control. I shorted the 3 downstairs zones together and disabled the 2 thermostats. Now I have them all shorted but re-enabled all the thermostats, so if any zone drops below 67 for some time, the heat for all three zones comes on. Seems much more comfortable and so far the heating bill is within 10% of last year.

So now working with the LCD character display. This is just a trial to learn about the interface. Already learned I may need to be able to power cycle the display as it can get out of sync, though I haven't tried all the tricks yet. Will also need to be able to turn off the backlight and will add a transistor to do that. The intention is to turn it off unless the up/down temp control is pushed.

This is a New Haven display from Digikey that has a similar form factor to the one in the original thermostat. Yes I could have reverse engineered the existing display, but for $10 I can just replace it and save a lot of time.

LCD1.jpg
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basicchip
Posts: 1090
Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:39 am
Location: Weeki Watchee, FL
Contact:

Re: DIY WiFi Programmable Thermostat

Post by basicchip »

I think the most challenging part of the design is the power supply. You've got 24V AC coming in, that you can draw maybe a max of 30 mA before you trigger the heater controller to demand heat. And it also has to run for many hours while heat is demanded at maybe near 0V. Though in my case I found I could maybe pull enough current to keep the voltage 3-4V and still signal for heat demand.

SO to do some testing NOT on the real heat controller. I took an old PC power supply box and a 28V transformer lying around (yes I am a pack rat), and create a crude 24V AC bench supply -- pictured below.

pwr24ac.jpg
pwr24ac.jpg (142.48 KiB) Viewed 17214 times

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