How to create a touch screen front panel for multiple rooms?

[kleist]

First off, this is quite a long read! I haven’t been really active on the Abacom forums, however I’ve been a long time user of the Profilab Expert and built quite an extensive program.

This is a follow up on the threadthat I started earlier. After playing around I have come to the following:

What I would like to create is (as indicated in the previous topic) a front panel on which you can shift between multiple rooms to set the temperature. I was given a few suggestions, however these didn’t quite did what I want. For one of the suggestions (create a front panel for each room and shift between them) I’ve also come to the conclusion that the program would become too heavy.

The idea I have is as follows, I do not have a clue how to create it and therefore need help with that;

I have a large second home with around 9 rooms of in which I have floor heating. I have temperature sensors in each room that monitor the room temperature. Right now I have a front panel in which I set a baseline (minimum) temperature for each room. If the room temperature drops below the baseline temperature, the heating automatically turns on, until the baseline temperature is reached. After the baseline temperature has been reached, the program keeps the temperature steady.

Now this works great for when I am not around and I want to keep the home just warm enough to prevent fungus etc. But, when I am around I obviously want to set the temperatures higher, which is already possible by changing the baselines temperatures. The deal however is, is that it’s not very user friendly, as you have to type in the temperatures yourself. Now for myself this is pretty easy to do, but for my wife it is not. Therefore I have bought a small touch-screen, which I want to mount to the wall, so that my wife can set the temperature for (for example) the bedroom etc.

This touch screen only has to have one front panel from which she can choose each of the rooms and click the temperature up and down (let’s say between 18 and 25 degrees Celsius). So somehow it has to have some kind of memory to remember the temperatures I have set for each of the rooms. The program has to remember that if I select the bedroom, that I’ve set that to 19 degrees and that when I select the living room that I’ve set that to 21 degrees. The question is how?

Which components do I need to create some kind of memory that stores the temperature settings, so that I can switch between rooms on one single front panel. And also how would this work together with the baseline temperatures? So that let’s say at night, it falls back to the baseline temperatures.

Any help would be appreciated!

[Scorp]

Hello kleist,

i think, a low-cost solution may be to change the wife for someone with technical understanding to actual components
If wife is excluded from exchange then it is necessary to describe existing components.
Is the touch display a passiv component connected to a computer with running Profilab ?
What kind of regulators for baseline temperature are available ?
Another way to start programming is to list inputs and outputs with functionality.
(digital inputs to choose room, analog inputs for base temperature, analog outputs for adjusted temperature etc.)

Then it is necessary to think about the system, running 24h per day, 365 days per year.
If you take a computer to memorize the temperatures, you need a lot of energy.
(in case of 100W you have just about 900kWh per annum)
A better way is to integrate a programmable logic controller (PLC) saving all adjustment and controlling the temperatures.
The PLC can be connected to a computer with your display, only powered if needed.

This article is not for solution, but to think about the way and also to get detailed descriptions of existing components.

Greetings, Scorp

[Bernd33-1]

First: Sorry for my english...not the best

Your question, Kleist, is a realy interesting one. Basically I have a similar problem. My Heatingsystem is in the basement and I will control it from the living room or from the kitchen or from garden... anywhere.
I have also the problem, that the Userinterface should be realy simple AND the Userinterface should be available for several Inputdevices.

One thought from me was, to use the Webinterface (ProfiLab Webserver). On this way, I had one controlinterface which will be shared from all inputdevices. A inputdevice could be a Android Tablet-PC. TabletPCs becomes more and more cheaper so this could be an option. BUT....sorry for that....the Webinterface is only for very simple controlpanels usefull. A bit complex controlpanels are very confusing and difficult in handle (delayed response r. g.).

A second idea was to create a Client Server application with ProfiLab. Ok, this is a bit more complex but as a benefit, you can controll from anywhere you want. BUT...ProfiLab didn't work with Android or WinCE/WinMobile. Buying a "full" Windowsdevice is sadly a bit expensive.

A last thought from me was to build my own "Controlunits". A smal Microcontroller (e. g. Atmega8) with 2 Buttons and 1 Display. This Microcontroller sends its Information wireless (COM to wireless for example with a RFM12 module) to the PC in the basement. On the PC runs the Profilab program. BUT this solution is less flexible.

So, if you found a additional solution, let us knew. And plese, can you post a link to your touchscreen device?

Thanks and best greetings, Bernd

[kleist]

Hi Bernd,

For the monitor, please check out this website: http://www.mimomonitors.com/

So far, no solution, but also no replies. So it doesn't really help!

[abacom]

@Kleist:
If I understood right, everything works fine so far, but now you need to select
two different settings for your control, wich are "PRESENT" and "ABSENT".

Did you allready take a closer look at the "set-list" component?
In my opinion this seems to be perfect for your purpose, doesn´t it?

Attached a "Quick and Dirty" example...

TMPCTRL.zip

(3.07 KiB) 630-mal heruntergeladen