Howto: Use a Linksys Router as Wireless Reef Controller - WRRC

[aka_BigRed]

Re: err

Re: err

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9275383#post9275383 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by badpacket
How about going low power with mini-itx or better, nano-itx?

www.nano-itx.com

Anything should work so long as you can put linux on it.

I pulled out my Kill-a-Watt meter last night and found that the WRT54G takes 6 Watts and my E-PC takes about 44 Watts @ idle (which is nearly all the time except for startup and heavy CDROM access).

Granted the E-PC has much greater power consumption vs the WRT54G, but in the grand scheme of a reef tank, 44W is peanuts. I'd think that 44W will be about average for most small form factor platforms. It's basically just the HD power and CPU power consumption which will be static for most form-factors.

Granted it's *MUCH* lower power consumption than my regular desktop setup that has a 600W power supply running 3 optical drives and 5 Hard drives consuming about 300W @ idle

 

[perpetual98]

You want small? How about...

http://www.gumstix.com/

Not sure what you can all do with them, but they look interesting!

 

[pista01]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9288368#post9288368 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by perpetual98
You want small? How about...

http://www.gumstix.com/

Not sure what you can all do with them, but they look interesting!

Quite a bit actually. If I were to attempt a commercial linux based controller, this would be a good platform to start with. For a DIY project, it's easier and cheaper to use a standard PC platform. I found a mini-itx system with 128MB RAM and 1.3Ghz CPU on eBay for $80. Add a 2.5" HD I had laying around and Debian and I'm good to go.

 

[aka_BigRed]

Alright people, I've been playing with Eagle PCB and made a simple little temperature sensor board. It looks simple enough, but whenever I plug it into the net, all my 1-wire devices disappear, which leads me to believe that I've got something wrong with the design. I've actually made 2 of them (thinking I cross-soldered a bus or something) and both do the same. I *know* the second one is constructed much better and has no cross-soldering between any bus.

I'm looking for someone with some EE knowledge to look it over, and maybe bounce some other ideas off of since I'm pretty much winging it with very little (well none from the classroom) EE training.

Can anyone take a look at it and let me know if there's something completely wrong with what I've done? Tear it apart, ridicule me for my silly amature designs, whatever - I can take it, I just want suggestions to improve it and make things work

My only thought is if I'm supposed to connect all the grounds together like I have. I think that should be right, but again that's just speculation really.

Here's the schematic, board, and pinout:

 

[lakee911]

Is it possible that your jacks are crossed?

 

[pista01]

Turn the DS18B20 180 degrees. Pin 1 is gnd. From the board, it looks like pin1 is 5v.


http://datasheets.maxim-ic.com/en/ds/DS18B20.pdf

 

[aka_BigRed]

no, I have it correct on the board. (my pic was wrong before but is fixed now)

I'm making them with the DIY photo paper & laser printer method and in the pic I posted I hadn't flipped the layout to take into account the fact that It gets flipped when I transfer it onto the copper with the iron. I have the traces on the bottom and the components with leads on the top so I could solder the leads, so that takes some puzzel work to figure out all the flipping that you have to do to make it work.

I have corrected the original pic (flipped it to match my final board) and numbered the pins to show what I have them soldered as.

Here's a pic of the actual board to compare to the schematic and see what I'm talking about. It looks uglier than it really is! I tested the board after soldering with a multimeter to ensure there were no shorts. I got infinite ohms resistance between all every bus so should be no shorts due to soldering. I marked pin1 on the components with a silver sharpie dot for you to see easier:

 

[pista01]

I wasn't thinking I was looking at it wrong

Did you try just connecting the sensor across the RJ45 connector to see if it works? It doesn't need external power, unless you plan on doing other 1-wire bus work while the temperature conversion is going on. You can short GND and VDD together, then hold the GND and DQ across the connector. If you use the OneWireViewer, you will see it get added to the list.

 

[lakee911]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9209299#post9209299 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
I am sure it will get hacked.... Just not something I care to worry about I also do not like the program and the government scam going on behind it. However, at the moment it is not a viable unit to use as a controller, as it has not (that I can tell) been hacked. I would much rather use a more powerfull unit anyway I don't bother hacking stuff anymore for the most part. I have done xboxes, tivos, DVD chipsets, and half a dozen other things. Then again I hate C and dislike linux even more... so of course my bias is thrown in there too

Don't get me wrong, I think it is great that people are working with these things. It just takes too much time to get up to speed with each new hack, firmware update or method of working something... Again I would rather use my brainpower to write good code and design good circuits and NOT use it googling FAQs or hack scripts. Did I say I can't stand linux

Hey Bean
Got my Fon in the mail the other day. Spent an hour or so fiddling with it today. I've got SSH access to it and I've disabled the FON updating. My next move will be to put a clean version of OpenWRT Kamikaze on it. Might just use it as is for now and go return my Linksys WRT54G.
I need to order some parts for the serial port on this if I decide to use it as a controller. Still thinking of using the iPaq serial port for 1-wire. Waiting on seral cable in the mail.


Jason

 

[BeanAnimal]

what is SSH

Good job. Maybe after you are done with it you it will be a viable option for a controller.

I just got my pressure sensors in the mail. I am not sure what to hook them up to yet. I am very torn between topologies and platforms. Before it was just a matter of what I wanted to plug stuff into... now it is a matter of how I want to plug stuff in and what it should plug into.

I keep going back and forth between a SBC running windows and a uC or network of uCs

 

[pista01]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9324527#post9324527 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal

I keep going back and forth between a SBC running windows and a uC or network of uCs

If you are going to use 1-wire devices, then you should also look at a TINI. No Windows or Linux OS, and you can use Java.

http://www.maxim-ic.com/products/microcontrollers/tini/
http://www.maxim-ic.com/quick_view2.cfm/qv_pk/4983


Although I'm already using a Linux based mini-itx, I might still get one of these to play with. My controller software is 100% Java, so porting it wouldn't be that difficult. I do like the idea of an embedded Java controller much better than a PC based one, regardless of OS.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Second to C, I hate java

If it can not be programmed in BASIC then I do not want to play with it anymore. I have looked at the TINI but have simply not wanted to delve into yet one more option with it's complications.

The ATMELS have a 1-wire command set. I have an atmega128 that I was going to use. The drawback is the TCP/IP interface that I want to implement.

Anyway... I am off to play with the pressure sensors this afteroon.

 

[aka_BigRed]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9324322#post9324322 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lakee911
Hey Bean
Got my Fon in the mail the other day. Spent an hour or so fiddling with it today. I've got SSH access to it and I've disabled the FON updating. My next move will be to put a clean version of OpenWRT Kamikaze on it. Might just use it as is for now and go return my Linksys WRT54G.
I need to order some parts for the serial port on this if I decide to use it as a controller. Still thinking of using the iPaq serial port for 1-wire. Waiting on seral cable in the mail.


Jason

That's cool! SSH access is definitely the first step to using it as a platform.

The only thing I'd say negative to the router based ones is the storage. Not only it's small capacity, but the longevity of the flash. IIRC from some readings, the flash has a finite number of writes and is meant for "store once read often" scenerios and not the "store often read often" scenario we'd put it in as a Controller. I can't give you any details off the top of my head, but the flash isn't meant to have the constant writes we'd give it because they cut costs since it's not needed. It may have just been the firmware or something. Check it out more if you want, since that statement is based purely on old recollections and not direct fact anymore but just throwing it out there as a possible heads up.

Ipaq still sounds like an interesting way to go Are you going to run the old OS or linux port on it, etc?

I'm printing new versions of my temp board today at work and hopefully will get some time this week to DIY new boards. There's something wrong with the way I have the ones below since every time I plug them into the net they kill all the devices on the net even with no DS18B20 installed. I suspect that it's grounding funny, so the new version is a "minimalist" approach with only grounds for 5V power & OW ground tied together instead of any/all ground pins tied. I also have the "No Connect" pin 6 tied to ground which is my other suspected problem.

 

[perpetual98]

I got my FON unit a while back too, but it's still sitting on my counter in the box. When are you going to get your FON tutorial going?

 

[lakee911]

As long as it's in the box, you are good. Plug the unit in, but do NOT connect it to any network. Let it power up and after 3 or 4 minutes flip 'er over and press the reset button on the bottom of the unit. You'll need a pen or screw driver or something. Hold it in for 60 seconds. Let go. Remove power and power it back up again. Wait a minute or two for it to boot.

Remove the network cable from your PC. Plug in he supplied white network cable into the FON and into your PVC. The Fon has auto-crossover. You should get a linkline on the Fon. Change your computers IP to 169.254.255.2 w/ a nm of 255.255.0.0. Open up IE and go to http://169.254.255.1/ Confirm that your FON is now running firmware 0.7.1 r4 (if I recall correctly).

Create the following file on your PC called Step1.html. This is customized for wired access.

<html> <head> </head> <body> <center><br />
<form method="post" action="http://169.254.255.1/cgi-bin/webif/connection.sh " enctype="multipart/form-data"> <input name="username" value="$(/usr/sbin/iptables -I INPUT 1 -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT)" size="68" > <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit" onClick="{this.form.wifimode.value='";' + this.form.wifimode.value +';"'}"></input> </form>
<p> </body> </html>

Create the following file on your PC called Step2.html. This is customized for wired access.

 <html> <head> </head> <body> <center><br />
<form method="post" action="http://169.254.255.1/cgi-bin/webif/connection.sh " enctype="multipart/form-data"> <input name="username" value="$(/etc/init.d/dropbear)" size="68" > <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit" onClick="{this.form.wifimode.value='";' + this.form.wifimode.value +';"'}"></input> </form>
<p> </body> </html>

Run the step1 and hit submit. Login as username: admin, password: admin. After submitting Step1, load Step2.html and do that one too.

After that you should have SSH access to your Fon. You can access it with Putty (free download).

You can find another tutorial on disabling Fon updates and enabling SSH forever online. Now you've got your Fon in your possesion. For some reason the static IP setting doesn't work correctly. I used DHCP and set up a static reservation on my DHCP server. I set up the APs on the web interface and then I plugged it into my switch and changed my IP back on my PC. Tested the wireless w/ another device. Works like a charm.

Next, you'll need to add a Max232 TTL to RS232 adapter to access the serial port. This will void your warranty and require some soldering. Then install the OWFS and your one wire device to the serial port and you're on your way....

 

[perpetual98]

That's it, hey? Shouldn't be terribly hard.

Have you added a serial port yet?

 

[aka_BigRed]

We shouldn't be posting directions to hack Fon routers in this thread. I don't want mods closing the thread for that reason. I'm interested too, but let's talk about it off this thread, please.

The WRT54G is personally owned item so changing firmware is all OK.

I'm not trying to be a downer, but I've seen mods close threads for less.

Thanks!

 

[lakee911]

Nope. Not too hard. I've not added it. I'm very busy, so honestly I probably won't mess with it for a while. 'til I get bored.... I work 50-60 hour weeks, I'm already 98% done with my kitchen remodel, now I need to build a new skimmer, and about 3 weeks away from starting on a front porch remodel. Then it'll be time to re-landscape (rip out and plant new), and paint the house, and then it'll be vacation time... at the beach... I dunno, maybe August I'll work on it? It'll just be slow... sorry!

 

[lakee911]

BigRed,
You have some valid points. There are some ways around the read/write issues with flash memory. Utilizing a RAM disk w/ periodic writes is one way. Network File storage is another.

I'm gonna use Linux on the iPaq, but I'm waiting on my serial cable.

Jason

 

[djmx2002]

Hey i am tagging along, i am getting a Linksys router, and i already ordered the temperature sensors from maxim for free from their sample menu.

very nice idea, is there any way to have the router connect to another network or it will have to start up it's own network without the internet service?