Wiren Board 4 - controller for automation

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    A year ago, we released the Wiren Board Smart Home controller. Due to its low price and wide capabilities, it was a success among enthusiasts.

    Therefore, we decided not to stop and released a new version - a controller for automation of Wiren Board 4, to which we wrote a new software.

    Despite the name, buyers often used Wiren Board Smart Home for completely non-home tasks: collecting climate parameters, polling meters and sensors, remotely monitoring equipment - that is, as a universal logical controller.

    Wiren Board 4 (both in hardware and in software) is better suited for such tasks. This also affected home users - the controller has become more reliable.

    Iron


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    The controller electronics has undergone deep processing. At the same time, where possible, compatibility with the previous version remained.
    Changes are mainly related to the elimination of identified deficiencies:

    • Input protection and overall noise immunity. All inputs are protected against accidental voltage up to 24V.
    • The input voltage range has been expanded to 9-24 V, i.e., two common standards in automation 12 and 24V are supported.
    • Added hardware watchdog timer. This is important if the controller is far away from you.
    • One of the RS-485 ports is galvanically isolated.
    • Battery protection at low temperatures.
    • Inputs for “dry contacts” are added. Connection of meters with pulse outputs, external switches, etc.
    • CAN removed from the main board.
    • Well and, of course, multi-colored push terminals! Installation is now faster and more reliable.


    Production of the controller, even with minimal modifications, is very costly, both in time and money.

    Therefore, to make it more flexible, we left space for the expansion board, and allocated 3 terminals for it. The expansion connector has power, UART, I2C, SPI. Now there are scarves with RS-232, they are also planned with CAN and DAC (0-10V).

    expansion


    Web interface



    web interface

    For the release of Wiren Board 4, we have released a new web interface.
    Initially, we assumed that the controller would be used with third-party interfaces. It turned out that existing systems do not work well - their capabilities are either not enough, or they are slow, or they cannot be expanded.

    Our homeUI local web interface supports standard automation concepts: “rooms”, dashboards, the view is detached from the physical connection. The interface is written in Angular using web sockets and Bootstrap, it works quickly, does not load the controller and looks decent on mobile devices.

    Of course, existing options for connecting to third-party Majordomo and OpenHAB systems continue to work.

    Rules engine


    We also made a powerful wb-rules rule system. The rules engine deserves a separate story, and we will soon write an article about it. The engine allows you to write rules and scripts, create virtual devices, plan actions for a given time, and process events.

    Rules are written in JavaScript, and a person without programming skills can easily figure it out.
    Rules example
    defineRule("motion_detector", {
      whenChanged: "wb-gpio/D1_IN",
      then: function (newValue, devName, cellName) {
    	dev["wb-gpio"]["Relay_2"] = newValue;
    	dev["wb-mrm2_6"]["Relay 1"] = newValue;
      }
    });
    


    defineRule("crontest_hourly", {
      when: cron("@hourly"),
      then: function () {
        log("@hourly rule fired");
      }
    });
    



    Peripherals


    A lot of work has been done in the system software - in the drivers of embedded devices and external peripherals:
    • driver for Modbus-RTU. Modbus is the standard for wired peripheral actuators and sensors. For many devices with which we tested, all parameters are already wired to the driver. To connect devices ( for example, ours ), the user needs to add two lines to the config file: the model of the device and its address.
    • In the driver of digital inputs and outputs, we have added support for pulse counters. Now you can connect low-cost metering devices directly to the digital inputs of the Wiren Board. The user needs to specify the type of meter (water, gas, electricity), a constant (written on the meter) and this is enough to watch liters or watts in the web interface.
    • conventional digital signals are also supported: connecting reed switches, motion sensors, etc. Reaction to events is now instant thanks to the use of interrupts.
    • Improved driver for analog inputs. Now it supports direct resistance measurement, which allows you to connect resistive sensors.
    • With the help of the user community, support for Oregon weather sensors has been improved in the 433 MHz radio module driver, new devices and new commands for nooLite are supported.

    In beta testing (testers are invited):

    • Z-wave support. Z-wave is supported using USB sticks from z-wave.me, their certified core is used. Devices integrate into our standard infrastructure.
    • SmartBus G4 and HDL driver. These are quite expensive wired home automation systems; Wiren Board 4 allows you to use devices of these standards in conjunction with cheaper ones in projects where it is possible.

    Cloud Wiren Board Cloud


    A local web interface is good, but Internet access is often required. To do this, we made a cloud-based web interface that runs on our servers.

    Wiren Board controllers only exchange data with the server, so everything works quickly and even via GPRS.

    Additionally, you can connect several controllers to one interface, which, for example, allows you to make a “mini-SCADA" system for scheduling.

    See in action here: demo.contactless.ru .

    Developer Discount


    We made a 20% discount on samples of all devices of our production for developers. The discount applies to 1 copy of each device for individuals.

    All details are on the website and in the documentation center .

    We welcome comments!

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