Wi-Fi relays for more flexibility and PUMPs

[pedrosantos009]

Hi,

SIP is a very interesting software because it can create an professional irrigation system from a raspery pi.
My idea is to become SIP even more versatile. If the number of output could be variable.

Each output it would be interesting to be configurable:
 - use http command for example for SHELLY or an SONOFF device in the local network
 - MQQT command to activate the valve.
 - more industrial irrigation need to activate pumps, for example in my case i have an shelly 1 device to activate pups.
 - same other valves must be activate to have weather in the valve´s NODE.
 - possible same implementation could be done in an Linux machine, no GPIO no be needed. Add possibility to disable GPIO at all.

I am a programmer, my question is how interesting for the community of this feature?
To do this I need to change the core on the program or an plugin solve the problem?

Thanks,

Pedro Santos

[astrogerard]

Could indeed be usefull. Most of what you want is already possible with the current version and plugins.
I would suggest to expand (or rebuild) the MQTT part of SIP. With mqtt you could also interact with the Shellies. I do so too but have node-red in between (most of) everything.

The one option missing now is a versatile activate multiple but not all valves or other devices. That is a bit tricky to implement (at least I think so) because it is a core functionality and many plugins depend on it. @Dan can say much more about it.

--Gerard

[dan]

Hi Pedro,

The number of stations is variable. Under Optoins > Station handling you can increase the number of stations by increasing the number of Station extensions. Each extension of 1 will add 8 stations. On the Stations page you can control how many stations are displayed in the UI with the "Enabled" check boxes. See the pcf857x_plugin for a way to add a large number of stations while using just a few GPIO pins.

- The existing cli_control plugin can be used to send http commands.
- There are also several MQTT Plugins.
- You can set a Master station on the Options page under Configure Master to control a pump
- Not sure what you mean by "to have weather in the valve´s NODE". There is a weather plugin though.
- You can disable the GPIO pins with the variable "gv.use_gpio_pins = True Controls SIP's use of the GPIO pons, Set = False to disable. See the gv_reference.txt file in the SIP directory for information about SIP's variables.

It is best to create a plugin to add new features but if you find a need to change the core program you can always fork the SIP project and submit a pull request on GitHub.

Dan

[dan]

Could indeed be usefull. Most of what you want is already possible with the current version and plugins.
I would suggest to expand (or rebuild) the MQTT part of SIP.  With mqtt you could also interact with the Shellies. I do so too but have node-red in between (most of) everything.

The one option missing now is a versatile activate multiple but not all valves or other devices. That is a bit tricky to implement (at least I think so) because it is a core functionality and many plugins depend on it. @Dan can say much more about it.

--Gerard

Gerard,
Could you provide more details about "a versatile activate multiple but not all valves or other devices"?
Is this something different from what the combine_stations plugin does?

[astrogerard]

Could indeed be usefull. Most of what you want is already possible with the current version and plugins.
I would suggest to expand (or rebuild) the MQTT part of SIP.  With mqtt you could also interact with the Shellies. I do so too but have node-red in between (most of) everything.

The one option missing now is a versatile activate multiple but not all valves or other devices. That is a bit tricky to implement (at least I think so) because it is a core functionality and many plugins depend on it. @Dan can say much more about it.

--Gerard

Gerard,
Could you provide more details about "a versatile activate multiple but not all valves or other devices"?
Is this something different from what the combine_stations plugin does?

You are right, I had forgotten this one and even discovered a bug in my pcf i2c plugin. The virtual stations are also treated like a normal station. I will update the plugin in the coming month(s) when I'm back in the country.  
Still, I have some ideas which includes multiple masters, sensors, actuators etc. But I won't hijack Pedro's thread for this :-)

--Gerard

[pedrosantos009]

Hi Pedro,

The number of stations is variable. Under Optoins > Station handling you can increase the number of stations by increasing the number of Station extensions. Each extension of 1 will add 8 stations. On the Stations page you can control how many stations are displayed in the UI with the "Enabled" check boxes. See the pcf857x_plugin for a way to add a large number of stations while using just a few GPIO pins.

- The existing cli_control plugin can be used to send http commands.
- There are also several MQTT Plugins.
- You can set a Master station on the Options page under Configure Master to control a pump
- Not sure what you mean by "to have weather in the valve´s NODE". There is a weather plugin though.
- You can disable the GPIO pins with the variable "gv.use_gpio_pins = True Controls SIP's use of the GPIO pons, Set = False to disable. See the gv_reference.txt file in the SIP directory for information about SIP's variables.

It is best to create a plugin to add new features but if you find a need to change the core program you can always fork the SIP project and submit a pull request on GitHub.

Dan

Hi,

Thanks for the tips Dan, with them I have more ideas to do plugs-in. I think i don´t need to change the core. I analyse same code from cli_control and now figure out how to solve the problem. Now I start to implement the code, I hope soon have more news.
Where is the best place (repository) to put new plug-ins to share to the community?

Pedro Santos

[dan]

Hi Pedro,

The number of stations is variable. Under Optoins > Station handling you can increase the number of stations by increasing the number of Station extensions. Each extension of 1 will add 8 stations. On the Stations page you can control how many stations are displayed in the UI with the "Enabled" check boxes. See the pcf857x_plugin for a way to add a large number of stations while using just a few GPIO pins.

- The existing cli_control plugin can be used to send http commands.
- There are also several MQTT Plugins.
- You can set a Master station on the Options page under Configure Master to control a pump
- Not sure what you mean by "to have weather in the valve´s NODE". There is a weather plugin though.
- You can disable the GPIO pins with the variable "gv.use_gpio_pins = True Controls SIP's use of the GPIO pons, Set = False to disable. See the gv_reference.txt file in the SIP directory for information about SIP's variables.

It is best to create a plugin to add new features but if you find a need to change the core program you can always fork the SIP project and submit a pull request on GitHub.

Dan

Hi,

Thanks for the tips Dan, with them I have more ideas to do plugs-in. I think i don´t need to change the core. I analyse same code from cli_control and now figure out how to solve the problem. Now I start to implement the code, I hope soon have more news.
Where is the best place (repository) to put new plug-ins to share to the community?

Pedro Santos

The plugins are in a separate GitHub repository at:
https://github.com/Dan-in-CA/sip_plugins

You can fork the repository and when you have a plugin to share make a pull request to the main repository.

I am working on a Python3 only version of SIP that should be ready very soon so you can make your plugins for Python3 only.

Be sure to look at the proto plugin. It is designed to be a starting point for new plugins.

Dan

[pedrosantos009]

Hi Pedro,

The number of stations is variable. Under Optoins > Station handling you can increase the number of stations by increasing the number of Station extensions. Each extension of 1 will add 8 stations. On the Stations page you can control how many stations are displayed in the UI with the "Enabled" check boxes. See the pcf857x_plugin for a way to add a large number of stations while using just a few GPIO pins.

- The existing cli_control plugin can be used to send http commands.
- There are also several MQTT Plugins.
- You can set a Master station on the Options page under Configure Master to control a pump
- Not sure what you mean by "to have weather in the valve´s NODE". There is a weather plugin though.
- You can disable the GPIO pins with the variable "gv.use_gpio_pins = True Controls SIP's use of the GPIO pons, Set = False to disable. See the gv_reference.txt file in the SIP directory for information about SIP's variables.

It is best to create a plugin to add new features but if you find a need to change the core program you can always fork the SIP project and submit a pull request on GitHub.

Dan

Hi,

Thanks for the tips Dan, with them I have more ideas to do plugs-in. I think i don´t need to change the core. I analyse same code from cli_control and now figure out how to solve the problem. Now I start to implement the code, I hope soon have more news.
Where is the best place (repository) to put new plug-ins to share to the community?

Pedro Santos

The plugins are in a separate GitHub repository at:
https://github.com/Dan-in-CA/sip_plugins

You can fork the repository and when you have a plugin to share make a pull request to the main repository.

I am working on a Python3 only version of SIP that should be ready very soon so you can make your plugins for Python3 only.

Be sure to look at the proto plugin. It is designed to be a starting point for new plugins.

Dan

Hi Dan,

I think my first version to advance control is done! This plug in is an extension of functionalities for cli_control.
I use separate repo to be easy to my to keep track of changes: https://github.com/PedroFRCSantos/SIP_ex...ce_control
In order to put in extension repository, it is easy to copy files or add as a sub modules:

Code:

[submodule "SubmoduleTestRepo"]
     path = SubmoduleTestRepo
     url = https://github.com/jzaccone/SubmoduleTestRepo.git

Pedro Santos

[dan]

Thank you Pedro.

I will do some testing as soon as I have some time.

The SIP plugin manager is designed to install plugins automatically. We want to make things a easy as possible for users who may not be familiar with Linux  or  even Raspberry Pi.

The manifest file is use to list files to be downloaded from the SIP plugin repo and tells the plugin manager where to save the files on the Pi.

I will test the submodule option and see if it can be used with the plugin manager.

Dan

[pedrosantos009]

Thank you Pedro.

I will do some testing as soon as I have some time.

The SIP plugin manager is designed to install plugins automatically. We want to make things a easy as possible for users who may not be familiar with Linux  or  even Raspberry Pi.

The manifest file is use to list files to be downloaded from the SIP plugin repo and tells the plugin manager where to save the files on the Pi.

I will test the submodule option and see if it can be used with the plugin manager.

Dan

Hi Dan,

I create a pull request for the fist version of advance control. If not work as sub-module I can put the code itself.

Pedro