Hi @DaveB I don't have anything coming just yet but I at some point there should be. It gets rather expensive and complicated adding this as it requires lots of extra ports. When it does happen it'll be compatible with all versions of the controller.Rob
Do you plan to develop the energy monitoring power bar further? Is there a third party EM bar that works with the current version of the upcoming new version of the basic controller?
That would likely work but I'm not really a fan of wireless, it's great until it loses the signal. Do you have a link of one I check out?rob - There are a few nice power bar options out there that are TCP. That may be an easier path for you to go.
Thanks, I won't be doing anything for the American DJ as I feel my power bar is more reliable however it is possible to build out the circuit like you would for reef-pi and connect it to the DB9 on the controller. The DB9 serial ports are untouched GPIO's so you can do anything with them. The Kasa I have mixed feelings about. Let's see what happens over the next few months.@Rob F
These are the two that I have used in the past either from Reef-Pi or directly from Home Assistant (or both). There are several models from each supplier. I like Kasa due to the energy monitoring and my ability to trigger events if the amp/watts are too high or low or stay consistently in one condition (in the case of my heater). I know if my tank heater is working properly by just monitoring the outlet (Heater uses its own t-stat). If WiFi goes down, the strip state just freezes as is. I get a warning message on my phone from Home Assistant that its no longer talking to the strip.
- Kasa WiFi controllable power strip
- American DJ
After I posted this, I did see a post from way back on 2019, which was probably when you were in concept design phase for your power bar solution. It looks like you may have been close to having the monitoring capability at that stage, but it probably did not work out.Thanks, I won't be doing anything for the American DJ as I feel my power bar is more reliable however it is possible to build out the circuit like you would for reef-pi and connect it to the DB9 on the controller. The DB9 serial ports are untouched GPIO's so you can do anything with them. The Kasa I have mixed feelings about. Let's see what happens over the next few months.
That was my first attempt, it did work ok except at low current levels. I used current transformers which don't work well at low levels. I scrapped it due to high cost and complexity to make, that's when I had to solder everything myself and there was a lot of extra components. It was also very heavy and quite large having 8 transformers in it. I've since learned about energy monitoring IC's, I did recently make one but I messed up some traces so never got to test it. I'm definitely going to do something about this, unfortunately time is my enemy. I have someone who's really good with this stuff who I might be able to convince to help me. Hopefully in the next month or two we can start on something.After I posted this, I did see a post from way back on 2019, which was probably when you were in concept design phase for your power bar solution. It looks like you may have been close to having the monitoring capability at that stage, but it probably did not work out.