Discussion between tlfong01 and Satyam

6:55 AM

Q: How to control my DOL starter buttons (ON and OFF) with NodeMCU of my 1.5 hp motor (motor starter/panel) to control it remotely?

I have been working on an IoT project at home. I have three different tanks with different volumes of water in them. I want to have the levels displayed on my dashboard using a Raspberry Pi. I need to automate the pump accordingly. The only problem is that I can't run a wire three stories high to...

tlfong01

(1) You can use Rpi Pico W instead of ESP32/NodeMCU. (2) You can use relay module instead of the bard relay switch.

Satyam

Can you provide me few links for connecting the same with my system? I mean atleast a circuit with starter board or something like that.

I think I will stick with NodeMCU cause I need that data to be transferred over the internet cause my tanks are not in the same place. But they are in the range of wifi. Also, I kind of want to work with an SLC relay, which is again a relay module and not a bard relay switch. And sorry if I was not clear my area of expertise is in software and I am very new to this. My bad!!

tlfong01

You might like to read Part C of my answer to the "relay module" which contains one or more "relay switch modules": electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/505318/…

Satyam

Thank you! That did help me understand! about relay

tlfong01

You might also like to read about NodeMCU (eLUA), which, in my opinion, is out of date, and poorly supported. NodeMCU - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NodeMCU

Or consider this: ***Banana Pi PicoW*** Takes On Raspberry Pi Pico - Ian Evenden, 2022sep28
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/banana-pi-picow

Satyam

7:07 AM

But this is not available at my place (India)!!

I will test with a single board of NodeMCU first. If that feels efficient then well and good else I'll resort to changing it to this. I might have to order this from abroad. And also I have a very low budget for implementation.

But once again thank you for all these good suggestions. I will try if my approach isn't efficient.
Thank you very much!

tlfong01

Banana Pi BPI-PicoW-S3 is a Series of Low-Powered Microcontrollers Designed for IoT Development, Size Same as Raspberry Pi Pico - HK$44
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/1005004775859077.html?gatewayAdapt=4itemAdapt

Banana PI BPI PicoW-S3 (Wifi, BLE, ESP32-S3) - TaoBao ¥40
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.8.22f42648qLJjwp&id=684299644869&ns=1&abbucket=12#detail

Ah, start with ESP8266-12 NodeMCU might be a good idea in you situation. But I don't suggest to use eLUA, because the learning curve is very steep. You might like to let me know your rough project plan, like which IDE to use etc, I might share some of my ESP8266-12E NodeMCU with you

Satyam

Ok, I think I will be using the ESP8266-12E for my project.

Here is a rough idea of what I am trying to do.

I have a spare raspberry pi 3b+ board. So, what I did is I created a server and a UI that show all the water levels of my tanks (I have 5 tanks in total (4 top on 3 stories and 1 on the ground floor)). I have two motors that are responsible to fill these tanks. One is a 1.5HP motor that is submerged and will be responsible to fill the Top 3 tanks with some ball valve changes overhead. So need that measurement for turning the valves accordingly using a stepper motor(future project in hand).

And there are 2 tanks that are responsible for drinking water. So, 1 tank that is on the ground floor is connected to a 0.5hp motor that will be pumping water that is on the top floor (3rd floor). Also, these tanks are a bit far from each other (To balance the weight on the building (lol!!)). Luckily there is a room on the same floor (It's my workplace where there is a reach of the internet (WIFI)).

So, now I want to collect the water level using NodeMCU and Ultrasonic sensor and get the levels on my raspberry (server and UI) that can be accessed over the ground floor or any floor (Which also has a router that is extended or I'll use port forwarding mechanism). So need to automate the DOL accordingly for getting the water filled up in the tanks.
My parents are Old and we are not at home. So I want to help them with this.

That's it. If further, you can help me with this. That would be much appreciated.

I got all the details of circuits and other stuff. I was just caught up with the DOL. How to trigger them using another relay and a NodeMCU. So that is where I got stuck.

I am getting few more Ideas on how to connect a relay to DOL buttons. Using NO and NC circuit. Just trying to figure out the connections

tlfong01

7:53 AM

Ah, you project is very practical. This part is particularly interesting: "... One is a 1.5HP motor that is submerged and will be responsible to fill the Top 3 tanks with some ball valve changes overhead., ...". I might have more suggestions later.

Satyam

Ok, Thank You. I'll get in touch with you if I need any more suggestions on the same.

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