This is part 5 of my reflow controller series.

Today, I’d like to be able to remotely turn the grill on and off. To avoid having to deal directly with high voltages (220V is scary!), I’m going to use an RF controlled switch – i.e. this FS20 module:

It’s perfect here, because it operates @ 868 MHz and can be controlled directly from a JeeLink or JeeNode, and because it has an on/off button right on the unit itself (unlike these). Which is great as emergency stop – we’re going to play with serious levels of electricity, current, and heat after all.

As it so happens, the RF12demo sketch I’ve been using to receive packets from the thermocouple node also supports sending FS20 commands out of the box.

So all that’s needed is to extend the GUI a bit with a control element, and hooking that up to send the proper FS20 command out.

This requires a few extra lines in the initPlot proc:

variable heat
pack [checkbutton .h -text Heater -variable [namespace which -var heat]]
trace add variable heat write [namespace which HeatChange]

And a proc called HeatChange, for which I’ll use a bit of test code for now:

proc HeatChange {args} {
  variable heat
  puts "heat = $heat"
}

The result is a window with an extra checkbox at the bottom:

Clicking that button simply generates some test output:

heat = 1
heat = 0
heat = 1
heat = 0

Great. The GUI side is working. Here’s an updated version of HeatChange which actually sends out the proper FS20 commands:

proc HeatChange {} {
  variables heat conn
  if {$heat} {
    $conn send 54,32,1,17f
  } else {
    $conn send 54,32,1,0f
  }
}

The first 3 values are the house code and address bytes. They can be anything, because FS20 modules are configured by putting them in a special listening mode (press the button until the LED starts blinking). The next RF command sent to them will then be remembered, so that it will respond to that specific code from then on. Code 17 means ON, code 0 is OFF – that’s part of the standard FS20 protocol (see this German info page). The trailing “f” tells RF12demo to send everything out as an FS20 command.

IOW, to respond to these RF signals, put the FS20 unit in that special mode and then send one of the above commands by clicking on the checkbox in the GUI. You should now be able to manually control the remote switch.

Note: make sure you have the latest RF12demo. A nasty OOK bug was fixed a few days ago. If your JeeLink hangs: unplug, reconnect, then upload the latest code.

One more thing I’d like to do is include the heater status in the plot. That requires a few more changes. Here’s the latest “application.tcl” (I’ve collapsed the start and HeatChange code, since they are the same as before):

Let’s try this new setup, i.e. measuring and controlling 100% by wireless.

What I wanted to do is hook it up to my Ersa I-Con Nano temperature-controlled soldering station (with the soldering tip removed), because that would have been a great demo of how real temperature control works:

Unfortunately, that didn’t work – and drove home that there’s a real risk of fire involved in these experiments. Here’s what happened:

The temperature shot up to 450°C in seconds! – I think there’s a sensor in the very tip of the iron, and it wasn’t touching anything, so this heater went full blast – charring the thermocouple insulation on its way up. I switched the iron off manually, and then everything coooled off.

Second try, this time replicating yesterday’s setup:

Perfect. A step pulse and the response curve (grill was opened @ 175°C, like yesterday).

Warning: if you try these experiments, make sure you unplug your oven / grill / whatever when you’re done. Starting a fire while you’re tinkering with something else, or out of the house, or asleep is not a good idea…

Tomorrow, I’m going to create a feedback-control loop.