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Complete Pinshack and workshop build

Im nearly at the 1st fix stage of wiring my pinball shed. I might go down this route as it looks quite geeky and cool.

Does it need any different planning at the wiring stage or is it wires go into the electronics box instead of the consumer unit? then the feed comes into the electronics box from the CU?
 
No Major planning I took all the switch 3 core wires back to the control box and each of the light feeds back to the box. The switches are only switches 5v DC to either +5v or to gnd. Watch for the write up when I do it but if you need any hlpe meanwhile just shout.

it is really handy being able to control heating and lights from you phone (or even better with voice via Alexa) I can switch the oustide soffit lights of the shed on if I need to check in the garden from my armchair!!

Cheers

kev
 
3 cores to the switches because they are all two way controlled. Actual switches and this box. Yeah, that sounds like a plan.

I'll wait for the write up before I start buying kit though... Cheers.
 
Hi,

yes there is a arduino mega with a piggy backed network board. the 2 relays in the middle are 30amp jobs for the the 2 x 1.5kw oil filled radiators in each room - one in pinshack and one in the workshop. temp is monitored by a DHT22 in each room and controlled via sliders in the blynk app

I will do a full right up of electronic and blynk app and the integration with alexa as well which works good.

Cheers

kev
That looks great kev, rather than hi-jack this thread, I'll post my questions about arduino stuff in the specific thread I've created.
 
More progress guys.

All lights installed - 3 banks of down lighters all controlled by app and box of tricks. PIR for alarm and heating proximity sensor installed, smoke alarm and emergency bulkhead light. Smoke alarm and alarm PIR is linked back to house alarm as well.

Another oil filled rad installed also controlled by app etc and reclaimed laminate flooring down(from our lounge) and finished.

Need skirting on back moldings around door and window and job done!!! Just need to think about shelving next to accomodate speakers in workshop and speaker switch (for 4 sets again arduino controlled) amplifier and POE switch for camera an internet access etc.

Oh! and need to put plasterboard around dis board and arduino control unit.

Will start write up on arduino control unit next.

Cheers

Kev


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I guess that door on the right in the middle picture was unlocked with the key of imagination :)
 
So does the arduino build need Sign-off from a qualified electrician (bearing in mind it's lights and Electrickery???). just wondered!!

Great work Kev :)

Word of advise form my side based upon practical realities though.... You're gonna need some storage in that workshop!! :)
 
So does the arduino build need Sign-off from a qualified electrician (bearing in mind it's lights and Electrickery???). just wondered!!

Great work Kev :)

Word of advise form my side based upon practical realities though.... You're gonna need some storage in that workshop!! :)
Strictly it should Paul. There is storage it just make it look quite small - lots of shelving to go up as well.

Cheers

kev
 
So workshop now finished. Back mouldings and skirting on so job done. Also boxed in the box of tricks in the corner(may put a door over it eventually)

IMG_2996[1].JPG

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So only thing left to do now is a full write up of the electronic control and we can put this one to bed.

Watch this space

Cheers

Kev
 
lateset addition solar panels going on the roof to power the pinshack and feed back into the grid

inverter mounted(4Kw) and all wired up with AC and DC isolators
IMG_4262[1].JPG

Consoles going on roof. WIll be 8 initially givieng 8x270W = 2.16Kw and a further 4 going upto 12 x270w = 3.24Kw

IMG_4282[1].JPG

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More pics to follow

Cheers

kev
 
Great stuff mate! I'd had similar thoughts about putting solar panels on a pinshack, but wondered if it caused a problem going over the 2.5m height limit?

Guess you wont find out the potential of this kit until the spring though?
 
Great stuff mate! I'd had similar thoughts about putting solar panels on a pinshack, but wondered if it caused a problem going over the 2.5m height limit?

Guess you wont find out the potential of this kit until the spring though?
Correct mate not generating a vast amount at the moment, and I only have 4 of the panels up at the mo because of the weather!!!

this install only adss 30cm to the height and I dont think it actually matters anyway(although I'm sure someone will say it does!!)
 
OK Guys promised a brief write up of the Blynk app and arduino control box I designed for my shed, so here it is.

NOTE - this is pretty much a direct lift of a write up I did for the Blynk community website, so rather than reinventing the wheel .......



OK Guys, been a while since I started this and now the project is finished so I am going to share a write up with you all.
The project set out to control two way lighting for my shed build. One switch for the two circuit is virtual via the Blynk app screens, and the other switch is a physical wall switch. The key to the early design was getting the physical switch to feedback to the Blynk app so the widget updated it’s status. This was achieved. Also all of the light circuits are controlled via Alexa using IFFFT as well - very handy!!
The app has further been developed and also controls the heating in the shed and a sauna in the corner of the it, so I wll split the write up into two halves.
Firstly about the shed. It is my pinball playroom(which has sauna in corner) and a pinball workshop, so essentially split into two rooms.
Here is a pic of it complete - I designed and built the whole thing from scratch myself.

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So to the lighting control then. The pinroom has 5 circuits in it arranged in 3 rows of individually controlled downlighters in each row, an outside set of 6 downlighters(on one circuit) in the soffit, and a centre starscape display which is yet to be completed.
The workshop has 4 circuits, again 3 rows of individually controlled downlighters and an external LED floodlight behind the shed for security.
Here is the Blynk control panel for these - red widgets for pinroom - blue for workshop…


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![IMG_4305|281x500]
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You will note in the 2nd screen shot there is another button that appears when you slide the screen up - Emergency button - this switches all 9 lighting circuits on (or off) at once. Useful if I hear noises in the garden.
The blynk app controls an Arduino Mega linked to 2 banks of 8ch relays shown below


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You can see these laid out in the pic pre wiring done. The black SSR relays in the middle were for the heating but proved useles so were replaced with 30A mechanical relays(in shot below) - more on this later.
here are a few pics of it now fully loaded. The left set of relays is for the pinroom 5 lighting circuits and 1 for sauna on/off. Right set of relays for workshop 4 lighting circuits. You will note 4 relays are free in the workshop side for future devlopments and 2 in the pinroom side.


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The lighting circuits to the physical switches are low voltage connected directly to an Arduino input pin. The physical switches either pulls the relevant pin up to +5v or down to Gnd. These input cables come in the top of the box in the pics via the connector strips.
The power goes out through the left side of the box for pinroom and through right for the workshop(via each relay output). you can also see on each side of the box a row of neutral and Earth connectors for each circuit, and at the bottom a +5v and Gnd busbars(connectors) for the switch inputs.
Reason there are two sets of neutral and earths, is because each set of relays has its own MCB in the distribution board, and it is easy and neater for the wiring.
So the arduino software for this. Its quite simple but there is a lot of it as mutilplied up by the number of circuits. Each arduino input pin(physical switch) is monitored for a change of state and simply switches on the appropriate relay and updates the widget on the app. Similarily a press of the blynk app widget button does the same, ie changes the state of the switch to the opposite it was.
The software is reasonable clever protecting the states of the widgets in case of power loss. The software uses a lot of virtual pins to store the states of them and in the vent the power is lost it reinstates the state of each output/switch widget whenh the power is restored.
You will need to look through the software listing to understand all of this(ask if you want it - its big!!).
Ok I think for the first half that is it. I will do another for the heating control separately.
Please feel free to ask any questions.
Here are few pics of the rooms within the shed for clarity. Pinroom(note wall switches in some shots) Sauna and workshop and finshed control box above dis board


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OK So now for part two the heating control for the two room sin the shed via the Blynk app.
Each room has a 1.5kw oil filled radiator in it(see pic in part 1), a DHT22 temp and hunmidty sensor and a PIR occupancy detector. THere is also an externaL DHT22 mounted externally to monitor outside temp and humidity as well. Each of the radiators is controlled by a 30A mechanical relay which can be seen in the centre of the control box - the board with two of them on.
The blynk app displays temp and humidty in each room and outside. It also shows todays runtime for the heating, and yesterdays runtime, and the current status of the heating ie on or off.
This is all shown in the first screen below.

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The clever bit of this is the occupancy control. On the next screen are the thermostat settings for each room. There are two sliders per heater- one to set the desired temp and one for the away temp. The software works by sensing if there is anyone present in the room via the PIR occupancy sensor(shown below red circle)


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Here is the blynk screen for this…


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Blynk will set the temp back to the away temp when no movement is detected in each of the rooms for one hour, and inversley it remembers the required temp for each room, so as someone enters the room it will automatically turn the heating back up to the required temp, set originally by the temp slider.
ie room set to 20c away temp set to 15c, after 1 hour of inactivity pinshack temp slider will drop back to what the away temp slider says, ie 15c, and if someone re-enters the room the pinshack temp slider will jump back up to 20c heating the room.
The principal behind this is to save energy when you leave the room, and to turn heating off or down if you forget to do it yourself. It also gives a constant background temp(away temp) to keep the rooms stable. Of course if you don’t want to wait until you enter the room to heat it up you can just move the temp slider up to what you want to preheat the room, but if you dont enter within the hour it will go back to the away temp!
This works a treat and has proved economical
Also on the temp screen I record and display the Max and Min temps for each DHT22 sensor (ignore the slider for my lounge light!! thats another project)
Finally I have another screen that displays stats and has a hidden slide up again to be abel to reset various values.
Here is the screen…


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So on this screen I have a grpah that displays on it, Pinshack temp and Hunmidity, Outside temp and Workshop temp.
The widgets underneath show electricity consumption per room and a total. So we have KwH of elec used per room, Todays elec cost per room, Yesterdays cost per room, Each rooms total cost since last reset and finally the total cost to heat the whole shed.
All of these stats can be indivdually reset by sliding up this screen to reveal the buttons shown below…


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On here I also have the ability to remotely switch the sauna on and display it’s on time(runtime).
I have widgets to reset pinshack runtime stats, workshop runtime stats, maxmin temps reset and finally a button to reset all the elec stats back to zero. I also have hidden the email and timer widgets here as well.
Thats it !!!
For those interested here is a pinout spreadsheet for all the inputs and outputs to Arduino Mega.

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Any questions feel free to ask

So that's it , you will be pleased to hear, no more from me on this project as now complete(unless you ask of course )

Cheers

kev
 
That. Is. Awesome.

Great work Kev... Loving the automation of Temps/lights etc and the app... :thumbs:
 
Brilliant and love the write up - will have to take a look at your code for the arduino as I plan something similar for my extension....
 
Brilliant and love the write up - will have to take a look at your code for the arduino as I plan something similar for my extension....
Any time Alan just let me know and I will send you the sketch it is a bit big though !!!

Cheers

kev
 
Great job, loved this thread from start to finish.... Well done my friend, looks great...
And those electronics are..................... FANTASTIC!! :thumbs:
 
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