The touch interface really makes these so much more useful. I already liked the M5Stack system, but now it is looking even better. The brighter screen is just a bonus. This could really be a game changer in Home Automation space for those that like to tinker, but are not quite up to all the wiring and heavy coding.
The on-screen code with interfaces that change took me about 45min. It's pretty Intuitive... I will be making the project available later once connectivity is added. As M5stack has dock that charge the stack devices you could have one that you can move around and it recognises the room it's in and displays only controls for that room
I don't think a slider on a screen constitutes a thermostat, some code and a GUI will make it a virtual thermostat at best... Or maybe I'm wrong and the final version can actually control the temperature in a house (or room) or will it need other hardware to do that ?
The temp is pulled from MQTT so it knows what it measures against. It has the ability to actually turn on/off heating based on the slider and updates the slider accordingly is setpoint changes via Alexa. It is a fully operational thermostat ( although not yet complete) needs some work on multi room setup and extra screens but this was only 45 min... So let's not expect miracles :) it's just to demonstrate how flexible UIFlow is
@@notenoughtech I understand it's mostly a demonstration and I must admit it is pretty neat. Communicating through MQTT and/or Alexa is pretty amazing stuff too, I'm just saying that my gas heater doesn't communicate through MQTT or Alexa, it uses wires. My comment was just to clarify that If I buy a thermostat in the store it can communicate with my gas heater and actually control the temperature in my house and I think this one needs extra hardware to do that...
Actually no, if you buy a thermostat you will still need a relay to get your boiler going (whether you are using the wired switches existing in your setup or hook up the wireless module). Thermostats usually consist of 2 modules. One to handle thermostatic control and a relay to do all the turning the heating on and off. This unit actually has Grove connector which you can link to a relay turning this into a compatible setup that you can just add to your old thermostat in parallel. Take a look at my $5 thermostat write-up and you will see how I modified the 30yo heating
@@notenoughtech I bought 2 thermostats for OpenTherm gas heaters in the past and both were "plug-and-play", so no relay needed. I think your 30yo heating is not modulated and has simple on/off regulation, that is not the case for more recent gas heaters. Most 30yo heating is highly inefficient so I would recommend upgrading your gas heating instead of the thermostat ;-) I still think the idea of your video and the new M5 stack core are pretty nice, but I guess we just disagree on what a thermostat is or is supposed to do.
Plug part refers to connecting 3-5 wires (that's how you send the command to your boiler) in that regards even M5stack is plug and play as I can just connect to the wires I have it for my thermostat and it will work just the same. As per heating unfortunately it's a 5-8k job something I can't do just yet as boiler has to be relocated for a meaningful upgrade
Do you happen to know how the virtual buttons are exposed? I've looked at (but am by no means an electronics expert so could be missing something) the schematics and expected some GPIO's for them but I cannot see how to address them.
Its a very variable thing. It depends on things like screen brightness and usage, network traffic other devices connected etc. You could get about 1h30-2h with things turned on
@@notenoughtech Yeah, I should have been more specific... I was thinking a similar scenario as your thermostat (mostly static screen with some periodic wifi communication), but I am guessing that is basically the "things turned on" case. Thanks for the reply.
@@notenoughtech Do I need an idea?😳 Seriously though I have tried very briefly using ‘blockly’ connection to WiFi and MQTT and therefore via node-red switched stuff on and off using a core2 ui switch 😂🤣🥲👍
Really looking forward to the thermostat video. Graphical programming also potentially useful, particularly for new people to learn? Talking about myself here ;-)
The touch interface really makes these so much more useful. I already liked the M5Stack system, but now it is looking even better. The brighter screen is just a bonus.
This could really be a game changer in Home Automation space for those that like to tinker, but are not quite up to all the wiring and heavy coding.
The on-screen code with interfaces that change took me about 45min. It's pretty Intuitive... I will be making the project available later once connectivity is added.
As M5stack has dock that charge the stack devices you could have one that you can move around and it recognises the room it's in and displays only controls for that room
@@notenoughtech It really is a great system. I look forward to seeing a lot more projects with this. It has so much potential.
I don't think a slider on a screen constitutes a thermostat, some code and a GUI will make it a virtual thermostat at best...
Or maybe I'm wrong and the final version can actually control the temperature in a house (or room) or will it need other hardware to do that ?
The temp is pulled from MQTT so it knows what it measures against. It has the ability to actually turn on/off heating based on the slider and updates the slider accordingly is setpoint changes via Alexa.
It is a fully operational thermostat ( although not yet complete) needs some work on multi room setup and extra screens but this was only 45 min... So let's not expect miracles :) it's just to demonstrate how flexible UIFlow is
@@notenoughtech I understand it's mostly a demonstration and I must admit it is pretty neat. Communicating through MQTT and/or Alexa is pretty amazing stuff too, I'm just saying that my gas heater doesn't communicate through MQTT or Alexa, it uses wires. My comment was just to clarify that If I buy a thermostat in the store it can communicate with my gas heater and actually control the temperature in my house and I think this one needs extra hardware to do that...
Actually no, if you buy a thermostat you will still need a relay to get your boiler going (whether you are using the wired switches existing in your setup or hook up the wireless module).
Thermostats usually consist of 2 modules. One to handle thermostatic control and a relay to do all the turning the heating on and off.
This unit actually has Grove connector which you can link to a relay turning this into a compatible setup that you can just add to your old thermostat in parallel. Take a look at my $5 thermostat write-up and you will see how I modified the 30yo heating
@@notenoughtech I bought 2 thermostats for OpenTherm gas heaters in the past and both were "plug-and-play", so no relay needed. I think your 30yo heating is not modulated and has simple on/off regulation, that is not the case for more recent gas heaters. Most 30yo heating is highly inefficient so I would recommend upgrading your gas heating instead of the thermostat ;-)
I still think the idea of your video and the new M5 stack core are pretty nice, but I guess we just disagree on what a thermostat is or is supposed to do.
Plug part refers to connecting 3-5 wires (that's how you send the command to your boiler) in that regards even M5stack is plug and play as I can just connect to the wires I have it for my thermostat and it will work just the same.
As per heating unfortunately it's a 5-8k job something I can't do just yet as boiler has to be relocated for a meaningful upgrade
Thank you Mat. 👍🏻
Good morning, do you have an example code to send a voltage to pin g25 or g26 of the dac for the M5 core 2? Thanks in advance
No, I'm sorry but your best bet: docs.m5stack.com/en/core/core2
Do you happen to know how the virtual buttons are exposed? I've looked at (but am by no means an electronics expert so could be missing something) the schematics and expected some GPIO's for them but I cannot see how to address them.
In the UIFlow you can use the nodes if you configured your device correctly.
Map of the SPI for the touch is here
docs.m5stack.com/en/core/core2
Are you aware of a TDS monitor sensor which can be integrated with this device to monitor the water TDS 24x7
Not come across anything like it but if you up for the challenge you can make your own as the pins are exposed ;)
Hi, do you have any idea of how long it will last on a full battery charge?
Its a very variable thing. It depends on things like screen brightness and usage, network traffic other devices connected etc. You could get about 1h30-2h with things turned on
@@notenoughtech Yeah, I should have been more specific...
I was thinking a similar scenario as your thermostat (mostly static screen with some periodic wifi communication), but I am guessing that is basically the "things turned on" case.
Thanks for the reply.
You could add a PIR and wake it up when you pass by. That would save extra power for sure
Well - I just had to get one! 👍
Awesome what's in your mind? I should be sharing project soon I ordered 11 TVRs I will try to integrate this as well
@@notenoughtech Do I need an idea?😳 Seriously though I have tried very briefly using ‘blockly’ connection to WiFi and MQTT and therefore via node-red switched stuff on and off using a core2 ui switch 😂🤣🥲👍
I'm all for purchases just because something is cool :)
Really looking forward to the thermostat video. Graphical programming also potentially useful, particularly for new people to learn? Talking about myself here ;-)
I'm going to try to do all of this in UIFlow. Worse case I'll do most in UIFlow and then just make needed edits in micropython.
too much talking
Written article is available if reading is more what you are looking for
@@notenoughtech This contribution is pure Marketing, sorry.