I have 11 physical devices connected to my 1-wire network. These are wired together in a linear fashion using Cat5, with a total cable run of about 200 feet. I also provide 12vDC to the devices (in the same cable) and use a voltage regulator on each sensor board (I designed and built my own sensor boards) to provide the proper voltage for the board. I use the Dallas/Maxim DS9490D interface to my HomeSeer machine.
I have had extremely reliable 1-wire network operation over many years, with the only issue being an occasional Dallas 1-wire driver lockup that causes mcsxap1wire to continuously report the same values. I resolved this with a script that detects the situation and restarts mcsxap1wire.
I would echo the others and add that using 1-wire can be somewhat of a black magic art. Here are some tips:
* Start simple: get a couple of sensors working for a week and then add additional sensors one at a time.
* Use good quality twisted pair cable, Cat5 works great.
* When planning your wiring, always pair a ground with the data line in 1 of the wire pairs.
* Try to not use connectors. I use terminal blocks on my boards and either wire nuts (indoors) or the telephone style crimps with silicone gel (outdoors.)
* Keep cables separated (1-2 inches) from other wiring (power, cable TV, network, etc.) and especially do nut run them parallel to these other types for any distance.
* Unless you plan to use 1-wire "hubs", try to keep your network topology linear rather than star as this can cause data reflection issues that will lead to many gray hairs.
Overall, I highly recommend 1-wire as a sensor network for medium distance sensing applications.
I have had extremely reliable 1-wire network operation over many years, with the only issue being an occasional Dallas 1-wire driver lockup that causes mcsxap1wire to continuously report the same values. I resolved this with a script that detects the situation and restarts mcsxap1wire.
I would echo the others and add that using 1-wire can be somewhat of a black magic art. Here are some tips:
* Start simple: get a couple of sensors working for a week and then add additional sensors one at a time.
* Use good quality twisted pair cable, Cat5 works great.
* When planning your wiring, always pair a ground with the data line in 1 of the wire pairs.
* Try to not use connectors. I use terminal blocks on my boards and either wire nuts (indoors) or the telephone style crimps with silicone gel (outdoors.)
* Keep cables separated (1-2 inches) from other wiring (power, cable TV, network, etc.) and especially do nut run them parallel to these other types for any distance.
* Unless you plan to use 1-wire "hubs", try to keep your network topology linear rather than star as this can cause data reflection issues that will lead to many gray hairs.
Overall, I highly recommend 1-wire as a sensor network for medium distance sensing applications.
Comment