Help with some circuit issues

[scanman]

Hello,

I really like this plug in and it works well. I'm having some problems with my hardware though - can anyone spot the obvious issue?

I have an Uno with Ethernet Shield and a relay board (diagram, sketch and relay manual attached). It seemed to work ok on the bench but not now it is installed (The relay board status LEDs worked on the bench and still do if I disconnect the ground between the shield and relay board). When connected as per the diagram, the network connection is lost and the board performs oddly - resetting, firing relays randomly etc.

I'm sure it is something to do with the grounding but it is escaping me at the moment! Any help gladly appreciated!

[zwolfpack]

What are you using for the USB power? Can you monitor the +5VDC going to the relay board to see if it is solid?

In your picture, the red/black leads going to the relay board are swapped (red to GND pin 1, black to +5VDC pin 10 per manual). I think it's wired correctly though, zooming into the image it looks like on the shield the black lead is labeled '5V'.

[joegr]

The black wire you are using between the modules can't be connected to the black wire on the 24VAC side. Same for the red wires.

[enigmatheatre]

I would say powering 8 relays from the Uno is your problem as the onboard voltage regulation is probably struggling, especially if you are running it USB. Try powering the board from a 9V DC power supply if you have one, 12V will do but 9v is kinder to the board. Better still you should only have the trigger wires and a ground going from the Uno to the Relay Board and you should power this from a 5v supply then the power is not being pulled through the board as the Ethernet shields are very fussy about power fluctuation.

like this:

[Ken.238]

You might take a look at the Vin pin.

[scanman]

Thanks all for your comments.

zwolfpack, The 5V on the USB is coming from a wallwart PSU. Not perfect but seems ok. You are correct about the red / black being inverted in my diagram. The relay board is mounted upside down compared to the diagram and I must have got confused yesterday. Correction below.

joegr, Yes, the 5V and 24V are completely separated unless there is a fault in the relay

enigmatheatre, Thank you. I tried this and combinations thereof (with the correction mentioned to zwolfpack). Semi-success in that the relays can be controlled from Homeseer however about 3 in 5 times, the relay changing state causes the network board to reset. I've tried a few combinations. The arduino powered from a 12V PSU and separate 5V PSU to the relay board (via the pins on the right). It knocks out the network board whatever the combination frustratingly.

I have shown a couple of the combinations (and the correction to yesterday's layout below) in case anyone has any further thought?

Appreciating your time and help!

[drhtmal]

One of your photos looks like it is hooked up as explained on the last page of the manual.Try two different power supplies as a test. I am wondering if the power supply you are using can provide enough power to run the Uno, Ethernet shield and the 8 relays. Are you removing the jumper when you powered the relay from a external power supply?

[scanman]

Thanks drhtmal , yes I did.

Hmmm, I may look at a more conventional irrigation controller for this summer so I can tinker with this on the bench

[Mahera]

I assume that the arduino is now farther away from The homeseer Controller or wherever the network cable plugs in. pretty far fetched but could it be that the network cable shielding creates a ground loop?
the wall ward has no ground so it’s floating. Out of desperation I would see if I can cut the shield from the network cable to disconnect the ground coming from the network hub. Is the hub( or switch ) grounded?
weird that the network shield on the arduino is acting up. My guess Is that it is indeed a grounding issue as scanman already asked.

[cowsr4eating]

scanman - I use nodeMCUs and this plugin to run remote sprinkler zones. I use regular 24V AC sprinkler valves and power with a cheap 24V AC doorbell transformer. I then use 3.3V relays to to turn on/off the sprinkler valves. All the NodeMCU has to power is the relay. The doorbell transformer output is wired to all relays so only one transformer is needed. I use OpenSprinkler as my sprinkler controller, and there is s free HS3 plugin for OpenSprinkler. It works fine on HS4. I then link OpenSprinkler zones to a NodeMCU pin. There are no wires connected to the "remote" OpenSprinler zones, so the NodeMCU effectively extends my sprinkler system. When a zone goes active, the NodeMCU pin goes high, triggers the relay and completes the 24V AC circuit to engage the sprinkler valve. You don;t need OpenSprinker if you want to simply setup a schedule for how long each zone will run, but there are some advantages to a dedicated sprinkler controller.

If you have all of your zones in a single location, I would suggest looking at OpenSprinkler. You enter your lat/long and it connects to local weather services (I think NOAA) and adjusts the watering times based on temp, humidity, and rain using a formula to calculate trans-evaporation. There are dials you can tweak the calculations to better accommodate your specific weather.

On a side note, I also use latching (DC) sprinkler valves with NodeMCU to turn on/off the water to the house. An Arduino stepper motor driver works great to reverse polarity to turn on/off a DC latching sprinkler valve. The advantage of the latching sprinkler valves is they use no power other than the 3 seconds I engage power to enable/disable the valve, and they will survive a power outage.

[joegr]

[USER="84823"]...On a side note, I also use latching (DC) sprinkler valves with NodeMCU to turn on/off the water to the house. An Arduino stepper motor driver works great to reverse polarity to turn on/off a DC latching sprinkler valve. The advantage of the latching sprinkler valves is they use no power other than the 3 seconds I engage power to enable/disable the valve, and they will survive a power outage.

I too use latching valves. One disadvantage is that if power fails while a valve is open, it will remain open till power is restored, maybe hours later. I couldn't accept that since some of the zones are watering house plants (in pots). I used a WiFi Arduino with a lithium battery to avoid this problem.

[cowsr4eating]

I too use latching valves. One disadvantage is that if power fails while a valve is open, it will remain open till power is restored, maybe hours later. I couldn't accept that since some of the zones are watering house plants (in pots). I used a WiFi Arduino with a lithium battery to avoid this problem.

Because of the power fail issue with latching valves, that is why I only use them to cut off water to the house in case of a leak vs. run irrigation. I guess worst case I could lose power, power be off longer then my UPS units have power, then have a leak, and the house floods. I guess I'm only able to handle two faults. I guess I could cut off the water right before the UPS shuts down the HS server is shutdown.

I assume you are using HS to turn on/off zones. With your wifi arduino/lithium battery setup you could have a fail safe timer. If the zone is on a max of XX time turn it off. You'd have to move to the API sketch, if not already, but that gives you the ability to ensure no "flooding" with the fail safe in the battery powered Arduino.

[joegr]

...I assume you are using HS to turn on/off zones. With your wifi arduino/lithium battery setup you could have a fail safe timer. If the zone is on a max of XX time turn it off. You'd have to move to the API sketch, if not already, but that gives you the ability to ensure no "flooding" with the fail safe in the battery powered Arduino.

Yes, I have this. The command from HS to turn a valve on includes the number of seconds for it to remain on. The valve turns off after the time is up. HS is informed of each valve state change, and can always command any valve off before the timer runs out. There is some sanity checking on the Arduino for reasonable run times based on the use of each valve/zone. I even have the normal water hoses automated. For example, if it is in a certain time range, and the back door is unlocked, then the backyard water hose is turned on. I wouldn't want the hose to burst and waste a lot of water while I am gone or asleep, and it is nice not to have to manually open/close the faucet when I do need to use the hose. Yes, it is a custom Arduino sketch.