I want flowmeter readings in the rate controller app.
I only need m3/hour and m3/hectar. No need for controlling the flow.
What are my options?
I have some ESP8266. I think I should be able to use only that if I get the correct flowmeter.
I think the SK21 RC board might be a little overkill on this.
I have built an RC12 and an RC12-2 board and used them with the rate control app by SK21. Both have worked well. If you just want the rate calculated, both of those board use an arduino nano plugged into a enc28j60 Ethernet shield. One easy option would be to get a nano, load the program SK21 wrote on it for the RC12-2 board. Plug the nano into the Ethernet shield so it can connect to the rate control app. At that point you would just need to provide 5v to the VIN pin on the nano and a ground. Pin D3 is the flow pin. It needs to be grounded every time the flow meter pulses. You may need to use an opticoupler to invert the signal if your flow meter pluses a positive voltage output. That would be a half way easy solution. I do have a spare RC-12 board on hand if you want it to make mounting easier you can have it for the price of postage.
(The red slash through the opricoupler in the Lower right hand corner was a mistake. I was just trying to make a mark by the flow pin by the nano on the schematic)
Ok. So the RC12 will convert signal to 5v for me. And I will need an Arduino uno on top.
Or, I can convert it myself and plug directly into any microcontroller.
I plan to fit the flowmeter on the pump, and broadcast to the spreading tractor over LoRa.
I have other LoRa plans for the setup as well.
Finally made some progress on this.
The flowmeter has several methods to read flow. I ended up with frequence/pulse readings.
Steep learning curve for me. Meter is supplied with 12v and outputs 24v.
First I tried to read the flow when the meter was in frequency test mode, but I had no luck with that. Maybe the NodeMCU 8266 is to slow. Flowrates was far out. Max and min flow was ok, but in between was way above max.
Took down the voltage to around 3v with a variable resistor, and then I could read pulses on my NodeMcu 8266.
Can’t find default values for liter per pulse, so I’ll have to compare with the flowmeters display, and adjust.
It’s a start. Planning to read the flow in a webapp on my mobile for this season.
I try to send this flow measurement into the rate control app.
Sending RC:flow:13.1 over UDP to port 8888
I can pick the packets in wireshark at the Surface pc running Rate Control.
I think this should be possible.
But I can’t figure out how to make RC read the data.
@SK21, any tips?
Option 4 only shows the target data. Option 3 will show actual rate applied. The latest nano code will work with this option.
Sorry but I get nothing.
Just to be clear, should my setup work?
Simple code on 8266 sending RC:flow:13.1 over udp with wifi.
String msgFlow = "RC:flow:" + String(dummyFlow, 1);
udp.beginPacket(destIP, destPort);
udp.print(msgFlow);
udp.endPacket();
Feels like I’m very close, or do I need to use nano/teensy/esp32 with latest code to make it work?
Should identify with module / sensor ID perhaps?
