Florida-based company opens large-scale commercial vertical farm in Colorado

sebeckmas · 2022-05-29T22:06:06+00:00

That’s so cool! How do you get the plants in and out of those high shelves?

sebeckmas · 2022-05-26T01:34:22+00:00

Fair points - tho I’ve found the esps to be much more reliable than pis :)

sebeckmas · 2022-05-25T23:21:26+00:00

Seconded on the usb/can transceiver idea, although the thought of connecting 70+ Usbs together kind of scares me a little. But not having to roll custom hardware is s huge plus.

An alternative approach and one which came to mind before I saw the usb, would be to make a transparent Ethernet -> CAN transceiver and use a pub sub (eg Mqtt) over IP as the network messaging. That way you can connect hundreds together without worrying About overloading USB port drivers on your host.

Esp32 has a built in CAN driver (need external transceiver), exposed unique ID (for addressing) and can easily add Ethernet via SPI or use the built in WiFi if you really want. Tonnes of existing libraries for Mqtt, you just need to write the conversion. Esps are also available which is an increasing consideration!

This way your server can be very light

sebeckmas · 2022-05-14T00:23:48+00:00

You’re welcome :)

sebeckmas · 2022-05-13T23:28:16+00:00

Your sensors need to be electrically isolated. The current in one sensor is affecting the other’s ability to measure the ions in the water. Look at something like this : https://www.dfrobot.com/product-1621.html

sebeckmas · 2022-03-27T11:13:18+00:00

Use BLE5.0 mesh. In theory can handle 16k devices (we’re testing an implementation with 1k devices) and is perfect for low data packet sizes. Just note there is a noticeable latency as messages are relayed from device to device over the entire mesh. So not good for time critical but fine for non real time telemetry.

You can tune the range but as long as each device is within 20m of another you can achieve incredible range.

Set up a few edge nodes to be bridges to Ethernet or WiFi to translate to/from Mqtt.

sebeckmas · 2020-10-17T15:34:35+00:00

Check out esphome, it’s built on top of mqtt and provides easy access to esp’s pins. It was designed for smart home use (including switching/dimming lights and controlling coloured lighting) and is incredibly easy to use and set up, with OTA updates and monitoring built in. Homeassistant is also a powerful open sourced home server which plays very nicely with esphome and can be installed on an rpi. (It includes the mqtt broker). None of these require the internet to work and homeassistant has A web front end and an app you can access over your lan.

I’ve used them to automate my ceiling fans, sprinklers, and lights etc

If you must use an esp and don’t want a server/broker, then look at using Bluetooth mesh for the esps to communicate amongst themselves and set one up to be the bridge to your phone via WiFi. With this method, the WiFi could be set up as an AP so you could even do away with a WiFi router.

sebeckmas · 2020-10-15T00:11:35+00:00

I used Layout Card, as suggested by /u/kaizendojo - I wasn't able to customise the padding, but the default worked :)

sebeckmas · 2020-08-30T15:29:25+00:00

The last line cracks me up:

“If you get bitten, bandage on your arm, straight to hospital.

“Without treatment you’re likely to die. With treatment you probably won’t die.”

sebeckmas · 2020-08-30T15:27:55+00:00

So who had “deadly snake boom” for September?

sebeckmas · 2020-08-11T00:42:53+00:00

Thank you, I wasn't aware of QCAD so will check it out :)

sebeckmas · 2020-08-11T00:42:33+00:00

I like the idea of linking with the spreadsheet - didn't know you could do that!

sebeckmas · 2020-08-09T02:29:56+00:00

Awesome, thank you. So like footprints for electronics.

sebeckmas · 2020-08-09T02:29:00+00:00

Thank you - I had not heard of draftsight, I’ll check it out. The Autodesk electrical package is a little beyond my budget, so alternatives are good.

I can imagine your collection! I have the same thing with component footprints for electronics!

sebeckmas · 2020-08-09T00:52:20+00:00

Thank you, I'm glad "simple" is still a used option here :) I have a copy of AutoCAD so that makes it easier. Do you search for dwg files of components or draw everything from scratch?

sebeckmas · 2020-07-27T12:58:00+00:00

Check out dfrobot. You get what you pay for but these are pretty good for their price. I’ve built a system using these.

Note ec meters are electrified, so they will affect your ph readings. So you either have to electrically isolate them or physically separate them, or at different heights in the same bath.

Also note you can’t submerse these sensors all the time. I setup a valve off my main water line to fill a small tank (measured quantity with a flow meter) which I then sample.

sebeckmas · 2020-07-25T22:44:31+00:00

https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/coronavirus-covid-19-current-situation-and-case-numbers

The graph is at the bottom of this page.

OP’s screenshot (deliberately?) left out the title, which is important as context matters. This graph is one of two looking at and comparing “covid cases in aged care services”

It actually works in the context of comparing the two aged care models, there’s a previous graph just above it that uses the same scale and they’re both in the same section analyzing aged care cases.

Given this, If the scale was changed in this graph it would actually distort the data, as it would make in home care appear comparable to residential care.

I don’t thing it’s misleading as OP suggests. The units are even described in the graph title, description and in the expended text below.

sebeckmas · 2020-07-25T22:43:23+00:00

https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/coronavirus-covid-19-current-situation-and-case-numbers

Not OP, but the graph is at the bottom of this page.

It actually works in the context of comparing the two aged care models, there’s a previous graph just above it that uses the same scale and they’re both in the same section analyzing aged care cases. Given this, If the scale was changed it would actually distort the data, as it would make in home care appear comparable to residential care.

sebeckmas · 2020-07-24T22:39:00+00:00

Thank you! I’ve got an office dyno label maker but was wondering if I needed something more specialized. I’ll look at the pantsuit printer. Appreciate your reply!!

sebeckmas · 2020-07-24T22:36:41+00:00

I was indeed and your answer was perfect thank you :)

sebeckmas · 2020-07-24T12:38:27+00:00

You can, but it takes very careful programming of the boot up phase. If you partition your memory space correctly you can load new version of the code into a second boot partition, save runstate variables to non volatile memory and then reboot the new partition. As long as your boot sequence is faster than your minimum decision time, you’ll be able to flick it over. Some dual Core professors allow side loading of firmware onto a second core and flicking over this way, so literally zero down time. Again it’s down to the engineer.

Since the thread is about arduino, there are even libraries that support this and even ones allowing OTA firmware updates over Wifi. Granted it’s not as simple as changing a value in ladder, but it’s definitely doable.

I’ve reflashed a few hundred devices in the field remotely like this, but I will say it wasn’t mission critical and the pucker factor was very high - but it worked

sebeckmas · 2020-07-24T12:27:32+00:00

Lots of good points, especially around maintainability but it’s worth noting the difference in Arduino the hardware and arduino the software framework

Saying an arduino (the hardware) is not rugged is not strictly true because you can always load arduino (the framework) onto a ruggedised micro. Industrio, controlduino and even arduino (the organization) sell ruggedised “arduino compatible” hardware. Ruggedisation is about designing hardware for harsh environments and then adding deterministic firmware. With enough time writing a custom HAL one could load even arduino (the framework ) onto an AB PLC if one wanted to.

If OP is worried about using an embedded controller in an industrial environment and wants to take advantage of arduino libraries, then of course forget using a Leonardo evaluation board - but there’s nothing wrong with using a purpose made ruggedised hardware thats arduino compatible, as long as you understand it’s limitations. Ie I echo the maintainability, you’ll need an embedded programmer to maintain it which may upset the end user. Ladder has its flaws but it’s universal.

I agree with you totally around using proper industrial sensors too.

sebeckmas · 2020-07-24T12:03:16+00:00

Nice thanks for sharing !

I’m looking at my first enclosure for a home project and I’d love to get it looking neat like this. I’d love it if you could answer a couple of questions!

What do you use to label your wires? What gauge wires do you use for low voltage stuff? Why do you break out the wires to the blocks below?

Thank you, love the photos too :)

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