2022 Feb 07, 04:52 PM
(2022 Feb 07, 09:23 AM)astrogerard Wrote: This should definitely be possible but I doubt if the effort in reverse engineering is worth it. It would be nice to do though :-)
Since there are (max) 10 stations, the front panel power, sensor info and the ribbon cable has (only) 11 wires there must be some kind of logic/communication protocol active to be reverse engineered.
Once you know how the communication on the ribbon cable works you also need to create some kind of interface on the raspberry pi. Also this is doable but again is it worth the effort?
In your case I would not go for reuse of existing harware. You "only" want to reuse the driver logic and possible the powersupply for driving the valves. A 24v transformer and 2x 8-channel relay board are very cheap and you won't risk damaging you current setup.
--Gerard
Yes, I agree with you that it would be simpler to just build a 100% DIY controller, but where's the engineering fun in that?
I have a Digilent Discovery laptop scope and logic analyzer so it won't be too much work just to find out how Hunter controls their valve driver modules. When I have that info I can decide whether it's worth going forward or not. At minimum I want to make use of my Hunter PRO-C case and 24VAC wall wort PSU. Only question is whether I also reuse the valve driver modules and the power dist / control signal backplane mechanism already built into the PRO-C box. The possibility is too tempting to ignore.