Firmware 1.3.0

[Teken]

I wanted to advise those who are still in the pursuit of a remote temperature monitoring solution that Autelis has been making great strides in the development of the Autelis Bridge. The system has been rock solid in being able to send state variables to the ISY.

 

This has allowed me to craft programs with in the ISY to monitor almost every facet of the homes infrastructure. Whether this be Rooms, HVAC, Water Pipes, Hot Water Tank, Equipment, Soil Temperature, etc.

 

NOTE: Much credit in having the ability to monitor the temperature values via ISY Programs comes from our very own Xathros. With out his continued support & guidance in crafting such elegant and powerful programs this endeavor would have been still at a crawl. 

 

Having the ability to see and monitor 32 1 wire sensors has been a complete boon! I wanted to document a few feature requests by me that have either been implemented or soon to arrive in firmware 1.3.0

 

 

FIRMWARE 1.2.8:

 

 

Networking: The system is now able to select DHCP vs Static IP. The default port 80 can now be changed. All DNS, Gateway, and Subnet parameters can now be modified.

 

1 Wire: The system allows the end user to change the sensor order with options for: ID, Name, Offset. A option to refresh the sensor values are now present from: Off, 5, 10, 30, 60 seconds.

 

This release also allows the user to select a single 1 wire sensor, and delete it. 

 

Stability: This version release has brought in lots of stability enhancements. Prior to this release the system would show random characters when the page was refreshed. 

 

The system also had an issue where if the temperature transitioned from 0'C to a negative value would indicate for a brief period a 32768 temperature error.

 

Humidity: This firmware now (Alpha Support) the Hobby Boards (HB) 1 Wire humidity sensor. This will long last provide those on a budget to use and deploy this sensor to monitor humidity.

 

 

FIRMWARE 1.3.0:

 

The soon to be, released firmware will provide the following enhancements and features I sought to have to make this product better.

 

This release will allow the default user name of (admin) to be customized. There will be a custom 1 wire poll interval. There will be a 5 minute UI refresh or longer via custom URL. It will also have a *Guest Login* which will allow only viewing of the Autelis Bridge web page.

 

It was also stated with the upcoming ISY 5.XX release there may be a possible ability to push the 1 wire temperature / humidity readings to the great site of Smart Energy Groups (SEG).

 

This in essence would allow those using both devices to actually track, monitor, and aggregate the data into meaningful charts, graphs, stats. 

 

Its safe to say we all look forward to the release of ISY Firmware 5.XX and what potential it has for the Autelis Bridge!

 

I would like to personally thank the vendor (Autelis Support) for considering my suggestions and recommendations for the product. It is with on going development and feed back that a product can continue to evolve and be more powerful.

 

This adds value to the product, grows the consumer base, and ultimately sells more hardware for the vendor(s).

 

With the never ending support, guidance, and development of UDI the bulk of this could not have been done.

 

Thank you, one and all . . . 

 

NOTE: The Autelis Bridge can be purchased by going to the following URL: http://www.autelis.com/

 

Smart Energy Groups: SEG can be found by this URL: http://smartenergygroups.com/

[Teken]

I have documented all of the latest 1.3.0 features in my on going install thread located here: http://www.brultech.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=929&start=80

 

Once again much thanks to the Autelis vendor for providing such a quick turn around time to support these new attributes. This product has slowly, and steadily, grown into a very flexibly product for temperature / humidity monitoring.

[bipto]

Wow, that's a lot to chew on!  Seriously - great stuff - thank you for sharing and documenting your experiences!

 

Now, with the installation of our new HVAC system over the summer, I find that the weakest link in my HVAC - HA integration is my reliance on HAM for temp data - this could be the solution I'm looking for!

[Teken]

Wow, that's a lot to chew on! Seriously - great stuff - thank you for sharing and documenting your experiences!

 

Now, with the installation of our new HVAC system over the summer, I find that the weakest link in my HVAC - HA integration is my reliance on HAM for temp data - this could be the solution I'm looking for!

I hope you didn't read the entire thread in one sitting! Because that would have been most impressive and lots of coffee to drink on a lazy Sunday morning!

 

If you decide to purchase this unit please do reference this thread and the other.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[larryllix]

I hope you didn't read the entire thread in one sitting! Because that would have been most impressive and lots of coffee to drink on a lazy Sunday morning!

 

If you decide to purchase this unit please do reference this thread and the other.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Where have they gone?

Every reference to Autelis I can find online is dead ! I hope theses guys haven't folded with such  nice peripheral potential for the ISY??

[Teken]

Where have they gone?

Every reference to Autelis I can find online is dead ! I hope theses guys haven't folded with such a nice peripheral potential or the ISY??

 

I don't follow what you mean? They are live and kicking their primary URL: http://www.autelis.com/

[larryllix]

I don't follow what you mean? They are live and kicking their primary URL: http://www.autelis.com/

Too weird. Their site and forum and other finds must have been shut down a few minutes ago. It's working now. Perhaps site maintenance or Web hiccup?

 

Thanks

[larryllix]

...They are live and kicking their primary URL: http://www.autelis.com/

Have they added any other support for 1Wire devices?  I only see the simple temperature probes listed, so far.

 

The DS2438 with analogue input for humidity and many other analogue  quantity applications s where the WC8 fell apart.

[Teken]

Have they added any other support for 1Wire devices?  I only see the simple temperature probes listed, so far.

 

The DS2438 with analogue input for humidity and many other analogue  quantity applications s where the WC8 fell apart.

 

Relevant information is all documented here: http://www.brultech.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=929&start=80

[larryllix]

Relevant information is all documented here: http://www.brultech.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=929&start=80

I don't see anything related to devices supported via their 1wire interface. Their website only lists various versions of one device supported. I would think this would be out of date somewhat.

[Teken]

I don't see anything related to devices supported via their 1wire interface. Their website only lists various versions of one device supported. I would think this would be out of date somewhat.

 

My apologies, for the benefit of others so they don't have to wade through the entire thread or read every forum posts at Autelis. Using Alpha 1.3.0 firmware will support the Hobby Boards humidity sensor. It is also assumed if the device is based on the DS2438 chip set it will also operate fine such as the Sheepwalk SWE3 which I recall you have also.

 

A forum member has tested both the Hobby Board / Sheepwalk and indicate humidity does operate.

[randyth]

Great stuff, Teken.

 

I've been using a CAI WebControl PLC for this use and have been pretty happy with it.  It looks like the Autelis device is more user friendly but also noticeably more expensive.

 

Can you give a brief pros/cons comparison between the Autelis and the CAI WebControl PLC for 1-wire sensor->ISY use?

 

-Randy

[Teken]

Great stuff, Teken.

 

I've been using a CAI WebControl PLC for this use and have been pretty happy with it.  It looks like the Autelis device is more user friendly but also noticeably more expensive.

 

Can you give a brief pros/cons comparison between the Autelis and the CAI WebControl PLC for 1-wire sensor->ISY use?

 

-Randy

 

Hello Randy,

 

I couldn't really give you a fair comparisons since I don't own one. But I can summarize a few things and hopefully you can identity a few pros / cons with each solution.

 

AUTELIS BRIDGE:

 

1. Selling price is $129.XX but can be had a little cheaper if you engage the vendor in how you plan to use the device in a different method not outlined by others.

 

2. The device consumes less than 1 watt of power.

 

3. Has 32 1 Wire channels which can support temperature / humidity.

 

4. Indicates temperature in C/F

 

5. Renders the temperature down to 0.1 vs standard 0.5 degree's.

 

6. Features:

 

- View by ID, Name, Off Set.

- Variable & custom web refresh rate.

- Variable ISY send interval.

- Supports both Static IP / DHCP.

- Supports other third party RS-232 devices to be connected to the Autelis Bridge to ISY.

- Guest view only mode this is great if you wish to publish your site for others to see but not let them make changes.

- Multi login: Admin / Guest

- Secure

[larryllix]

My apologies, for the benefit of others so they don't have to wade through the entire thread or read every forum posts at Autelis. Using Alpha 1.3.0 firmware will support the Hobby Boards humidity sensor. It is also assumed if the device is based on the DS2438 chip set it will also operate fine such as the Sheepwalk SWE3 which I recall you have also.

 

A forum member has tested both the Hobby Board / Sheepwalk and indicate humidity does operate.

Thanks Teken!

 

I am surprised they don't list the 1wire devices more up-to-date as  each 1-wire device takes a custom technique to access the data in the IC used in the probes.  The DS2438 unit is apparently more difficult to interface to. This is where the WC8 board falls down as the memory needs to talk to this chip is stolen from the Ethernet memory space. Some of these 1-wire ICs take almost a full second to do a full A/D conversion and it would seem the WC8 has to wait so...no Ethernet comms during that wait and some data lost. The WC8 stopped supporting it and the driver was removed from newer versions.

 

The most common probe and probably the cheapest at $1.25-$1.99 (eBay with 1m cable) is handled well by WC8 and  others report well on the Autelis also.

 

These 1Wire interfaces have to have each specific chip installed in their driverbases. Users cannot just add anything they want to them unlessthe manufacturerhas installed support for that specific chip. Even the DS1820 and the DS18B20 are completely different registers inside to read for data.

 

The DS18B20 (most commonly available) is capable of 0.1 C degree resolution with 0.5 degree accuracy.There is a catch though.

 

The manufacturer reports all DS18B20s are preset to report 0.1 degree resolution (13 bits) but we have found this to not be true. Assuming this manufacturer's statement, CAI removed the initialisation of the resolution from their WC8 and all the probes I purchased only put out 0.5C resolution (9 bits).. CAI has since re-installed the initialisation to happen only if the lower resolution set-up is detected as apparently it would slow down  boot-up immensely.

 

If one is only using short wire temperature probes I would most likely adhere to the WC8 board due to price, digital and analogue   inputs/outputs (raw to chips), but if longer cables are used and/or other probes are desired I would pick the Autelis for sure. I  would consult with the manufacturer first to insure it supports your 1Wire chips. Since it is growing and expanding I would be fairly sure they could accommodate your 1Wire vision. 

 

The Autelis t also comes more complete and can perform some other serial port stuff. WC8 can control X10 modules with some interface I have not seen. I would let ISY do that instead as more reliable.

 

I have a WC8 operating as a weather station but have no experience with the Autelis due to lack of information, at the time of purchase, and price difference.

 

The WC8 sells for aprox $50

 

manual   http://cainetworks.com/manuals/webcontrol/WebControlPLCUserGuide3-02-18.pdf

 

sellers list (defunct) http://cainetworks.com/products/webcontrol/index.html

 

Sales page http://www.smarthome.com/cai-networks-webcontrol-universal-industrial-controller.html

[io_guy]

Raspberry Pi $35, Sheepwalk RPI2 $20.

That combo supports every one-wire sensor with a hardware chip and can do far more than either solution listed above.

http://www.sheepwalkelectronics.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=30

[Teken]

Raspberry Pi $35, Sheepwalk RPI2 $20.

That combo supports every one-wire sensor with a hardware chip and can do far more than either solution listed above.

http://www.sheepwalkelectronics.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=30

That is definitely another good value solution for those looking for a multi purpose device. Any way you slice it there are lots of different companies with lots to offer.

 

I went and purchased the Autelis Bridge device because I didn't want yet another hobby toy that I had to manage.

 

I have enough Beta devices being baby sat, don't need another in the house. I can let someone else develop and manage the software while I sit back and enjoy a rock solid product.

 

People will need to decide for themselves at what point they wish to interact with their gear. For me it was plug and play and haven't looked back since.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Teken]

Thanks Teken!

 

I am surprised they don't list the 1wire devices more up-to-date as each 1-wire device takes a custom technique to access the data in the IC used in the probes. The DS2438 unit is apparently more difficult to interface to. This is where the WC8 board falls down as the memory needs to talk to this chip is stolen from the Ethernet memory space. Some of these 1-wire ICs take almost a full second to do a full A/D conversion and it would seem the WC8 has to wait so...no Ethernet comms during that wait and some data lost. The WC8 stopped supporting it and the driver was removed from newer versions.

 

The most common probe and probably the cheapest at $1.25-$1.99 (eBay with 1m cable) is handled well by WC8 and others report well on the Autelis also.

 

These 1Wire interfaces have to have each specific chip installed in their driverbases. Users cannot just add anything they want to them unlessthe manufacturerhas installed support for that specific chip. Even the DS1820 and the DS18B20 are completely different registers inside to read for data.

 

The DS18B20 (most commonly available) is capable of 0.1 C degree resolution with 0.5 degree accuracy.There is a catch though.

 

The manufacturer reports all DS18B20s are preset to report 0.1 degree resolution (13 bits) but we have found this to not be true. Assuming this manufacturer's statement, CAI removed the initialisation of the resolution from their WC8 and all the probes I purchased only put out 0.5C resolution (9 bits).. CAI has since re-installed the initialisation to happen only if the lower resolution set-up is detected as apparently it would slow down boot-up immensely.

 

If one is only using short wire temperature probes I would most likely adhere to the WC8 board due to price, digital and analogue inputs/outputs (raw to chips), but if longer cables are used and/or other probes are desired I would pick the Autelis for sure. I would consult with the manufacturer first to insure it supports your 1Wire chips. Since it is growing and expanding I would be fairly sure they could accommodate your 1Wire vision.

 

The Autelis t also comes more complete and can perform some other serial port stuff. WC8 can control X10 modules with some interface I have not seen. I would let ISY do that instead as more reliable.

 

I have a WC8 operating as a weather station but have no experience with the Autelis due to lack of information, at the time of purchase, and price difference.

 

The WC8 sells for aprox $50

 

manual http://cainetworks.com/manuals/webcontrol/WebControlPLCUserGuide3-02-18.pdf

 

sellers list (defunct) http://cainetworks.com/products/webcontrol/index.html

 

Sales page http://www.smarthome.com/cai-networks-webcontrol-universal-industrial-controller.html

I am running more than 1 mile of CAT6 Ethernet cable without any issue. I see 0.1 temperature resolution and love it! ️

 

Both the GEM & Autelis Bridge are bit bangers and haven't seen one hiccup in terms of accuracy or reliability. Not withstanding beta testing to get the product more refined and feature rich.

 

There is no silly rebooting, freezing, hanging, it just simply works.

 

Right now I am trying to make a business case in getting the vendor to include low / high temp threshold and e-mailing.

 

I already do this via the ISY but want something native and cleaner in deployment. The ISY in this aspect is too complicated and dumb at the same time for such a simple request.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[larryllix]

I am running more than 1 mile of CAT6 Ethernet cable without any issue. I see 0.1 temperature resolution and love it! ️

 

Both the GEM & Autelis Bridge are bit bangers and haven't seen one hiccup in terms of accuracy or reliability. Not withstanding beta testing to get the product more refined and feature rich.

 

There is no silly rebooting, freezing, hanging, it just simply works.

 

Right now I am trying to make a business case in getting the vendor to include low / high temp threshold and e-mailing.

 

I already do this via the ISY but want something native and cleaner in deployment. The ISY in this aspect is too complicated and dumb at the same time for such a simple request.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think it should be added also that by the time you purchase a power supply, case, keyboard, mouse, monitor and other peripherals, to get up and running, the prices aren't so different from each other. Don't be fooled by the $35 bare boards.

 

My WebControl board was selected solely for it's counter input for my anemometer but was a long haul and never will run my humidity sensor on 1Wire, or a 15 foot long cable to get my temp probe to the top of my stack over the roof.

[io_guy]

I own three Pis and have never hooked a keyboard, mouse or monitor up to any of them.

$5 case.

Pretty sure every human has a USB power supply kicking around.

 

A Pi also opens up the ability to run an infinite number of other automation programs or scripts.

[larryllix]

A noobie will definitely some form of  RPi kit, with shipping, for just under $100, a keyboard, spare (less than a few years old) monitor with HDMI input, mouse,  and probably a month to a year of spare time to get anything decent going on a Pi.

 

I have only spent 30 years programming and 40 hardware troubleshooting and I have a hard time sorting through the cryptic garbage the users love to spew, with several dozen versions of everything forums and documents that aren't even compatible with each other. Hell, I probably read six or seven  thousand forum posts and only a few posts with solutions presented even applied to my Rpi unit. It's a complete mess they have created and not for the faint of heart noobie, for sure. Even the "Noobs" installation system supplied offers 6 or 7 operating systems for the "noobie" that are mostly incompatible with each other and are hard to sort out. Nice idea but the open concept mess is really hard to crack into with it's huge learning curve, mostly figuring out what to ignore.

 

The Autelis unit looks like much more "plug and play" than any others for those that don't want the  glassy, square eyeballed  stress to get a few temperatures into the ISY. If I was doing it again I would select it over the WC8 board and the RPi, with all their growing pains .  It definitely would have been a lot cheaper.

[Teken]

A noobie will definitely some form of  RPi kit, with shipping, for just under $100, a keyboard, spare (less than a few years old) monitor with HDMI input, mouse,  and probably a month to a year of spare time to get anything decent going on a Pi.

 

I have only spent 30 years programming and 40 hardware troubleshooting and I have a hard time sorting through the cryptic garbage the users love to spew, with several dozen versions of everything forums and documents that aren't even compatible with each other. Hell, I probably read six or seven  thousand forum posts and only a few posts with solutions presented even applied to my Rpi unit. It's a complete mess they have created and not for the faint of heart noobie, for sure. Even the "Noobs" installation system supplied offers 6 or 7 operating systems for the "noobie" that are mostly incompatible with each other and are hard to sort out. Nice idea but the open concept mess is really hard to crack into with it's huge learning curve, mostly figuring out what to ignore.

 

The Autelis unit looks like much more "plug and play" than any others for those that don't want the  glassy, square eyeballed  stress to get a few temperatures into the ISY. If I was doing it again I would select it over the WC8 board and the RPi, with all their growing pains .  It definitely would have been a lot cheaper.

 

I believe it truly comes down to user skill, expectation, and intent. If someone is eager, willing, and capable of deploying a RPi I say go ahead.

 

But, note there is a huge learning curve and vast amounts of surfing to find it all in one place. For me I had already decided I wanted a Plug & Play device with very little set up time. The Autelis Bridge accomplished that goal very well and allows me to focus on other things.

 

I currently have twelve Alpha / Beta projects on the table and all of them require months of learning, playing, and programming. I don't have the time or patience to kludge together another puzzle box. People will need to decide how much time, effort, and expense is worth their time.

 

I value my time more as I get older and the small amount I invested thus far has paid off in spades. If someone told me I could only run 15 feet of cable for a 1 wire system I would laugh in their face! Never mind having to cobble together weeks of code to just push data to the ISY.

 

No thanks . . .

[randyth]

Yeah, the WC8 is definitely not plug and play.  The coding part was very simple, but it did require coding along with some trial and error to get the device talking to the ISY.  If I hadn't already done all the hard (fun?) work to get the WC8 working as a 1-wire sensor bridge to the ISY, I'd very seriously consider the Autelis device.  It all depends on your $-to-time budget ratio.

 

I'm very encouraged to see companies like Autelis support the ISY.  I'm tempted to buy one just to support that effort!

 

-Randy

[Teken]

Yeah, the WC8 is definitely not plug and play. The coding part was very simple, but it did require coding along with some trial and error to get the device talking to the ISY. If I hadn't already done all the hard (fun?) work to get the WC8 working as a 1-wire sensor bridge to the ISY, I'd very seriously consider the Autelis device. It all depends on your $-to-time budget ratio.

 

I'm very encouraged to see companies like Autelis support the ISY. I'm tempted to buy one just to support that effort!

 

-Randy

Hello Randy,

 

Most definitely, it comes down to intent and over all goal. I know down the road I will purchase a RPi for other projects on the list.

 

For me I had more than a mile of cable to run, split, and connect. Does anyone truly believe I was going to **** around for months getting the sensors to spit out data?

 

We all look forward to seeing you use the Autelis Bridge when the time comes and ready to help should it be required.

 

 

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