We didn’t achieve much today. Nick cut down the starboard rear hatch door frame with an angle grinder as it wasn’t perpendicular. I then gave the bare edge a coat of primer to protect it from rusting before Darren gets around to painting the complete steel door frame.
Nick then gave me a fire blanket and the last fire extinguisher in the chandlery. Jan and I agreed the priority location was the galley so that’s where they have been installed. I also had some play time spent time attempting to reconfigure the Empirbus system so one of the buttons on the remote key fob would activate the lights and the bow and stern. The button does control them but I haven’t been able to configure the 60 second delay. The plan is for the lights to automatically turn off after 60 seconds. Obviously more thinking is required! Half the wiring to the GSM/GPS module has been installed, however I’m not sure it is correct so no further action is planned until I can confirm what has been done is correct. During the wiring process I accidentally touched a positive and negative wire together and “blew” a digital fuse. It was very easily fixed. Just push a couple of buttons to reset the system.
Another task today was to relight the Refleks diesel heater to see if we could get it to work correctly. Prior to lighting it I cleaned out the soot from the base and ran my finger around the underside of the lower lip feeling for the small holes in the vertical lining which I’d read about online. Then a quarter of one firelighter was lit using the gas hob lighter and dropped down the centre of the stove. After the heater had warmed up I set it to 1 (lowest setting) and the bottom third of the cylindrical vertical grill started to glow cherry red. The setting was then raised to 4 and 30 minutes later the entire grill was glowing red with blue flames around the ring. Whilst the flames don’t look as blue as those on the YouTube clip we might just have a working heater. After a couple of hours Jan was complaining about the high temperature inside Waiouru so we turned the heater off.
During the afternoon I managed to catch the second half of the Scotland –v- South Africa match. Not the most exciting game I’ve watched. Hopefully NZ –v- Wales next weekend will be more interesting.
I’d better head to the OS website and plan tomorrows walk.
5 comments :
Hi Tom, nearly there, well done!
To configure the Empirbus to automatically turn of lights there are a couple of ways. The easiest is in the output channel config (click on output channel, then look at fields at left of screen) the box labelled Function can be set to Auto-off(Time2) and you then put a number of seconds in Time 2 box. That way, the output will always turn off after the prescribed time.
Of course you may not want that, you may want it to go off automatically with the keyfob, but to stay on if switched on another way. To do that you have to edit the channel subscription, ie again click on the output channel, the in the middle screen area where it ways "Channel subscriptions" click on the relevant subscription and click the edit button just above. The screen that pops up allows you to edit the subscription and if you look carefully mid-left of that screen there is a field called Delay. For each subscription you can select the type of delay - on delay or off delay (you want the latter) and whether it uses the value in time 1 or time 2 fields that are in the basic channel data (as per my first option). Thus different switches can have different on or off delays for the same output.
We have a keyfob and a GSM remote function for the heating, but when it is activated in that way, it always goes off after 90 minutes just in case it was activated accidentally and I didn't want it to be on for ever! Having the keyfob beside the bed for heating is great!
Hope that helps! If you need further advice please feel free to email me on nick.norman@btinternet.com
Kind Regards
Nick
Hi Nick,
Thanks for the advice. I've actually previously done a delay on the shower extractor fan and have repeated the process with the remote. Whilst the key fob button turns on the consumers the delay hasn't occurred to turn them off (Delay Off). I'm going to upload the software again and retry the fob button. However it's the GSM/GPS module and node wiring that has me scratching my head!
I have a different GSM module not supplied by Empirbus, which connects directly to the Empirbus inputs. However looking at the literature for your device, it looks like the outputs are pull - up rather than pull down, making them not able to be connected directly. The diagram has a note saying you have to put relays in between, with the GSM output connected to the coil and the NO contacts between the common and input. If I am correct, that all seems rather poor to me. Surely Mark can steer you in the right direction? Just to rub it in, my GSM module cost around £150, though it does not have GPS.
Nick,
Just tested the remote again whilst watching the system live. The delay worked but interestingly I need to press the button twice. The first time it turns on the consumers and the second time it activates the delay.
As for the GSM module. I have it one third wired but am struggling with the remaining connections. There are too few terminals on the nodes for the number on the module (I think). Mark Johns is away at the moment but hopefully I'll get some additional advice on his return.
Hi Tom, that is not how ours behaves, just one press is required to turn on and then it turns off after the delay. Sorry but I think you should check the configuration again as it is easy to make a mistake!
Nick
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