FreeBSD and controlling an alarm via relay

Wed Jul 6 12:41:53 UTC 2011

Cool man, thanx a lot, you and all the guys who answered were really really helpful.

Στις Wednesday 06 July 2011 15:34:30 ο/η Dale Kline έγραψε:
> OK  - now I understand.  The relay driven by the computer is a very smart "switch" which changes the condition of the MCT-100 loop,  and causes the Transmitter to send a signal to another Receiver.  So if you wire the relay connector block to the MCT-100 loop input, it will work fine.  That part is straightforward. I could not tell if the MCT-100 is current or voltage driven,  but it will work with the relay either way.
> I'm not familiar with the zoneminder.  I'll have to look into that.  I wanted to do some of that at home to let me know when someone drives into our driveway.
> BTW,  I am a hardware person - soldering iron and that stuff.  This software is a challenge that I am trying to learn.  I am one very small step above absolute beginner with this FreeBSD code.   But volts and amps and ohms, that I understand.  :-)
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-freebsd-hardware at freebsd.org [mailto:owner-freebsd-hardware at freebsd.org] On Behalf Of Achilleas Mantzios
> Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 8:21 AM
> To: Dale Kline
> Cc: freebsd-multimedia at freebsd.org; Chris Hill; Ian Smith; freebsd-hardware at freebsd.org
> Subject: Re: FreeBSD and controlling an alarm via relay
> 
> Hello, not quite.
> Here is the idea (which has roughly worked in the past but with "peculiar"-exotic hardware (e.g. 14.4Kbps modem ) :
> 1) FreBSD server runs zoneminder. 
> 2) A deamon polls zoneminder's sharedmem (IPC) to see if we have any kind of alert
> (motion detection) produced. (that means that we verify that some camera detected unwanted motion)
> 3) Upon motion detection within the above daemon a script is called which sets some bits in some relay board 
> 4) this relay board closes a NO circuit or opens a NC circuit in MCT100
> 5) MCT100 talks directly to visonic powermax+ control panel and triggers a burglar alarm
> 
> I had the above idea working 2-3 years back, with the following differences with regard to the above
> a) a http://www.visonic.com/Products/Wireless-Property-Protection/Door-window-contact-mct-302 door/window
> was used instead of the dedicated MCT-100 xmitter. MCT-302 had an additional hard-wired input (NO/NC/EOL) which behaved
> like a distinct zone with its own xmitter, pretty much like the MCT-100 does. Problem with that was that the battery 
> went off too early and also the contact was completely damaged/malfunctioning in the end. That is why i opted
> for the more dedicated MCT-100 xmitter which is designed to do just that, (as you said) sense for difference in current
> in the circuit and transimt an event to the powermax+ central panel.
> 
> b) instead of a dedicated-specialized relay board, i was utilizing an old ZyXel modem, which i had connected in series 
> with the MCT-302 NC circuit. Normally the ZyXel allowed for current to pass through the circuit.
> when the zoneminder-polling daemon detected an unwanted motion detection it run:
> vm shell -l cuad1 -S offhook_onhook.pl
> (vm comes with mgetty)
> where offhook_onhook.pl looked like:
> #!/usr/bin/perl
> #
> use Modem::Vgetty;
> 
> my $v = new Modem::Vgetty;
> 
> $v->device('DIALUP_LINE');
> $v->send("ATH1");
> sleep(2);
> $v->send("ATH0");
> 
> This 
> $v->send("ATH1");
> sleep(2);
> $v->send("ATH0");
> part seemed to do the trick just fine.
> 
> Thing, is that i am thinking these days, of trying either to re-do the old 1.23 zoneminder port for FreeBSD 8.2
> or join bsam at freebsd.org, in his effort to have a fully functioning zoneminder 1.24 port with local bktr camera support.
> Along with that, i want to get rid of the old "MCT-302/ZyXel model" way and try something better and faster.
> 
> That is the whole story, i hope i made it clear enough :)
> 
> Στις Wednesday 06 July 2011 14:55:45 ο/η Dale Kline έγραψε:
> > Hi,
> > I guess I don't understand your application here.  The Visonic is a battery operated UHF remote alarm transmitter,  that looks at a wired loop for a change in condition (a door magnetic reed sensor, for example) and then it transmits an alert to a remote Radio Receiver (MCR-304) if that door opens or closes unexpectedly.  The MCT100 has a three volt battery with an operating life of 45 - 50 months according to the spec.  It does not need a voltage supply,  nor would you want to turn it on and off during operation.
> > The Relay boards, on the other hand, are capable of turning on and off the four or eight relays from your computer commands.  The relays are capable of switching ANY AC or DC voltage, at a rated current (24 VDC OR 120 VAC @ 15 Amps and so on).  The 5 volt @ 72ma rating is the voltage and current that the board must supply to make the relay close.
> > The green terminal blocks then connect to a floodlight (for example) that would turn ON after the UHF Receiver that is listening to the MCT100 Transmitter indicates that someone has opened or closed the door mentioned in the first paragraph.
> > Am I following what you want to do?
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-freebsd-hardware at freebsd.org [mailto:owner-freebsd-hardware at freebsd.org] On Behalf Of Achilleas Mantzios
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 5:50 AM
> > To: Ian Smith
> > Cc: freebsd-multimedia at freebsd.org; Chris Hill; freebsd-hardware at freebsd.org
> > Subject: Re: FreeBSD and controlling an alarm via relay
> > 
> > another thing that puzzles me is power.
> > This board : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-Eight-Channel-Relay-Board-RS232-Serial-Controlled-/110710333092?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item19c6d99ea4
> > needs VDC 12V supply 
> > while this one : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-Four-4-Relay-Module-Board-Home-Automation-/180646300804?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a0f5bcc84
> > is self powered from USB.
> > 
> > batteries do not come cheap, and having an extra AC/DC adaptor is not very good either ...
> > 
> > another thing is the relay parameters, i see various figures :
> > Relay parameters: 5V / 72mA, 15A/24VDC (120VAC), 10A/250VAC or
> > Each switch 12VDC/15A or 240VAC/10A or
> > Open (No) and Closed (NC) Contacts rated for voltages: 12VDC/15A; 24VDC/15A; 125VAC/15A; 250VAC/10A
> > 
> > my specific application i want to drive is this wireless xmitter :
> > http://www.visonic.com/Data/Uploads/MCT_100_Installer_Guide_English_DE2241U.pdf
> > Should i assume my device that i want my relay to control will have voltage of 3V?
> > 
> > for which Voltage/Ampere figures should i opt? are those figures crucial?
> > 
> > thanx a lot
> > 
> > Στις Wednesday 06 July 2011 11:03:14 ο/η Ian Smith έγραψε:
> > > On Tue, 5 Jul 2011, Achilleas Mantzios wrote:
> > >  > �������� Tuesday 05 July 2011 16:10:59 ��������������:
> > >  > > On Mon, 4 Jul 2011, Achilleas Mantzios wrote:
> > >  > > 
> > >  > > [snip]
> > >  > > 
> > >  > > > I was thinking of some relay board (instead of the old modem), 
> > >  > > > possibly ethernet controlled
> > >  > > 
> > >  > > This box has relays and GPIO available via ethernet. It's probably 
> > >  > > overkill for your application, but it's well made and easy to use:
> > >  > > 
> > >  > > http://www.extron.com/product/product.aspx?id=ipltcr48&s=0
> > >  > > 
> > >  > 
> > >  > That is too big for my application, thanx anyway.
> > >  > Most probably i'll go for something cheaper like this one 
> > >  > http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-Eight-Channel-Relay-Board-RS232-Serial-Controlled-/110710346488?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item19c6d9d2f8
> > > 
> > > These look quite well designed and built to me, reasonably priced new, 
> > > but check out the/a source site [1] for various models, 1- and 4-relay 
> > > boards too, or if you prefer, RS-232 serial rather than USB interface 
> > > for the 8-relay boards.  There's also a simple parallel port to 8 TTL 
> > > outputs board (hi Tim!) and various other stuff.  I'm tempted myself.
> > > 
> > > [1] http://sigma-shop.com/category/4/relay-boards.html
> > > [2] http://www.sigma-shop.com/page/12/manuals.html
> > > 
> > >  > Could i use the ucom driver to talk to the USB device like a normal serial device, via /dev/cua*** ?
> > >  > The above link says one needs to talk to the relay with:
> > >  > 8 Data, 1 Stop, No Parity,Baud rate : 9600
> > >  > and the commands look like:
> > >  > FF 01 00 (HEX) 
> > >  > or 
> > >  > 255 1 0 (DEC)
> > >  > 
> > >  > could i be able to specify those over ucom? 
> > > 
> > > If so, great.  If not and you have a serial port, the code will be the 
> > > same anyway, except the port used.  I grabbed most of the manuals from 
> > > [2] and found the Linux software examples are all this one:
> > > 
> > > =======
> > > Linux :
> > > The USB-serial device is automatically detected and mapped to /dev/
> > > ttyUSB0 (or USB1 in case there is already a similar device).
> > > My test script: (Thanks Julian!)
> > > --------------------------------------------------------
> > > # cat relay.sh
> > > while true
> > > do
> > > echo -e "\xFF\x00\x00" > /dev/ttyUSB0 ; sleep .1
> > > echo -e "\xFF\x00\x01" > /dev/ttyUSB0 ; sleep .1
> > > echo -e "\xFF\x00\x00" > /dev/ttyUSB0 ; sleep .1
> > > [..]
> > > echo -e "\xFF\x01\x01" > /dev/ttyUSB0 ; sleep .1
> > > echo -e "\xFF\x02\x01" > /dev/ttyUSB0 ; sleep .1
> > > [..]
> > > echo -e "\xFF\x07\x01" > /dev/ttyUSB0 ; sleep .1
> > > echo -e "\xFF\x08\x01" > /dev/ttyUSB0 ; sleep .1
> > > echo -e "\xFF\x01\x00" > /dev/ttyUSB0 ; sleep .1
> > > echo -e "\xFF\x02\x00" > /dev/ttyUSB0 ; sleep .1
> > > [..]
> > > echo -e "\xFF\x07\x00" > /dev/ttyUSB0 ; sleep .1
> > > echo -e "\xFF\x08\x00" > /dev/ttyUSB0 ; sleep .1
> > > =======
> > > 
> > > If using sh[1] you might need to use \0377 instead of \xFF
> > > 
> > >  > do you know any application, perl library, utility or just a guide for standard C serial port programming?
> > > 
> > > Anything that can write bytes to a serial port - perl's overqualified :)
> > > 
> > > [..]
> > > 
> > > cheers, Ian
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Achilleas Mantzios