Digital Output issues

**creaseguard** · 07-12-2010, 10:35 PM

I'm having two minor issues I'm not sure how to deal with.

I have a series of fans controlled by relays on Digital Output channels. These relays are subsequently controlled by Temp sensors. For each relay there is a temp sensor. There is logic for on and off. All this works fine. I also have all the fan relays controlled by a master relay (this allows me to toggle the fans all off for testing). Now, when I resume from Hibernation, the master fan relay (that is defaulted to "on") is off. I can manually toggle it back on but I shouldn't have to do this. If I cold boot, it will come on as it should. Am I missing something about Hibernation and digital outs resuming to their default states?

Secondly, on the cold startup the temps read in the 1000's for just a few seconds and then go back to reading normal temps. Probably just a bit of initializaion time lag but I'd like to delay the master fan relay from coming on for 5 seconds or so until the temps stabilize. How do I do that?

Jay

**2k1Toaster** · 07-12-2010, 10:56 PM

Are you using MDX or RRFusion?

**creaseguard** · 07-12-2010, 11:24 PM

MDX and CF 3.1 as the FE. I just today started playing with hibernation, was cold booting the entire time to make sure everything was actually working as designed.

I see there is a plugin for FB for CF 3.1 but didn't want to really use that as I need control outside of CF as well. If for some reason the FE is not running, I still need the fans and amps to run.

Jay

**creaseguard** · 07-17-2010, 07:56 AM

Anyone else running a FB and hibernating? I can't imagine I'm the only one.

Jay

**Sonicxtacy02** · 07-17-2010, 07:57 PM

Originally Posted by creaseguard

Anyone else running a FB and hibernating? I can't imagine I'm the only one.

Jay

I hibernate and my digital outs stay on after hibernation. Course, i'm using centrafusion (i'm the developer) not MDX. Oddly enough i dont even have code that turns the outputs back on. They just remain on.

**2k1Toaster** · 07-17-2010, 08:27 PM

Do your USB ports turn off for hibernation? If so, it is going to reset the device.

Some computers do, some computers dont. Some are configurable. My Toshiba turns everything off in Standby and Hibernate. My Alienware keeps all USB ports on as long as there is battery power even if it is in standby or hibernate.

My guess is Sonic's computer keeps them on like my alienware, and your computer turns them off like my toshiba. Have you tried powering it from a 12v independent source so that it remains on even when the PC is hibernating?

**creaseguard** · 07-17-2010, 10:00 PM

Not sure about the USB's turning on or off. However, today, I had it resume from hibernation on one of the cars start up (ran some errands today and the outputs were off the first couple of startups ) and everything was on. I'm baffled by this as to why it was on today but not on other startups. The ONLY difference I think there was between this startup over previous ones was MDX being kept open and never minimzied to the task bar. And I think it also happened after I did a complete restart once in windows as my bluetooth didn't activate so I restarted to get that to kick in.

I obviously need to play with this a bit more. Plus, my car will completely drain the battery to nothing if I let it sit for a week or more.

I've been looking at the second battery solution but my install has left me absolutely no room to put a second battery in place, even the very small AGM batteries.

Jay

**creaseguard** · 07-17-2010, 10:03 PM

Originally Posted by Sonicxtacy02

I hibernate and my digital outs stay on after hibernation. Course, i'm using centrafusion (i'm the developer) not MDX. Oddly enough i dont even have code that turns the outputs back on. They just remain on.

I've been looking at this over at the CF forum and I think I'm going to install it and give it a go. I got to thinking that if I need to close CF for whatever reason, I can just manually fire up MDX.

Question on the plugin, does it use the existing .xml file or how do you set it up? Can I get temps and output control as well? I really need to be able to read temps as I'm working out some overheating issues and I'm logging temps in the amps, PC and overall system.

jay

**Sonicxtacy02** · 07-18-2010, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by creaseguard

I've been looking at this over at the CF forum and I think I'm going to install it and give it a go. I got to thinking that if I need to close CF for whatever reason, I can just manually fire up MDX.

Question on the plugin, does it use the existing .xml file or how do you set it up? Can I get temps and output control as well? I really need to be able to read temps as I'm working out some overheating issues and I'm logging temps in the amps, PC and overall system.

jay

It uses an entirely new XML file. you can read the raw or converted values of all fb analog sensors, and yes you can control the digital outs as well. Monitoring a temp sensor to have digital output turn on is as simple as this 1 line configuration example.

Code:

<ANALOG0THRESHOLD>Opt;50;GT;DIGITALHOLD1;DIGITALRELEASE1</ANALOG0THRESHOLD>

that 1 line tells CentraFusion to turn on digital ouput 1 when analog input 0 exceeds 50 degrees. Its based on this key.

Code:

<ANALOG#THRESHOLD>TYPE(A);LIMIT(B);OPERATOR(C);OVER LIMIT COMMAND(D);EXIT LIMIT COMMAND(E)</ANALOG#THRESHOLD>

(A). Raw or Opt (raw data or optional converted value)
(B). Integer representing either raw value or converted value based on (A)
(C). GT or LT (greater than or less than)
(D). Specific CF_ACTION or advanced command that automatically runs once threshold is exceeded (listed in commands section)
(E). Specific CF_ACTION or advanced command that automatically runs once value returns under threshold (listed in commands section)

There are now 60 Centrafusion commands and CF ACTIONS that can be used with threshold monitoring. Having more is only a matter of asking for em.

Now a couple things that Centrafusion doesnt currently do but i plan on implementing:
1. Logging
2. Graphing

**creaseguard** · 07-18-2010, 03:05 PM

Is there a "how to" file for Centrafusion I can do some reading? I'm not a programmer and get very confused with all this programming language business so having to write an .xml file from scratch to deal with this is a task for me.

Jay