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• Hello world

  Garrett Bartley • 03/13/2024 at 18:37 • 0 comments

  Obligatory title.  This project has already been underway for months and will likely continue to evolve for as long as I can.

  Since my workshop is in my basement with no windows, I wanted a way to keep an eye on the outside world.  I don't have a ton of wall space (or $$$) to make a fancy fake window, so I opted to use an old eBay PC that I had and a 27" monitor I got from a friend to make a dashboard.
  

  The initial goal was to display the time, weather conditions (from our Tempest Weather Station, and cycle through security camera snapshots.  It grew from there to monitoring e-mail count for work, live [redacted] counts for work, Ring sensor events, and the shop air quality using an AIR-1.  I even added a rudimentary though passably accurate Spotify now-playing widget.

  The server is a NodeJS script running on the shop computer itself.  It uses Node-RED for real-time data from the AIR-1 sensor, Spotify, Ring events, the weather station, and the tomorrow.io API.

  I'm also making use of some of the kids' old iPad minis mounted strategically around the shop.  They currently allow me to toggle the dust collection, an air filter, and a fan.  There's also basic controls for controlling Spotify playback and the volume on the host computer.  The dust collection toggle triggers a function on a Particle Argon that pulses a digital pin attached to a 315 MHz transmitter.  The back air filter is a Spark Core connected to a relay.  And, finally, the front fan is connected to a simple Kasa EP10 plug.  I only just discovered these, and they are fantastic little devices, especially for the price.  When I bought them, they were a 2-pack for $14.  That's probably cheaper than an ESP8226 + relay (plus breadboard, wires, etc.) but in a much tidier package.

  Near-term future goals:

   - Current sensing on dust collection so my automation can know for sure and trigger other things based on on/off status

   - IR control of WEN air filter plus a current sensor on this to know whether it's on or off.

   - IR control of speaker system so I can turn it off when not in use.  Probably also need to put a current sensor on this as well.

  - Add another EP10 to turn battery chargers on when the lights turn on and turn them off 1 hour after lights go out.

  Farther future goals:

   - Current sensing on power tools to automagically trigger dust collection -- maybe.

   - Motorized dust collection blast gates so I don't have to make sure which gates are opened and closed for which tool.  I often forget to set the gates back to the table saw after I use the miter saw or sander.

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