Relay actuator control, sensor development

The relays mentioned earlier are to be connected to the RPi using a screw-down type connector mounted on the relay card. The original header will be removed. A ribbon cable with stackable header will be mounted on the RPi GPIO header. The RTC will 'stack' on top of the headers pins, 1,3,5,7,9. The ribbon cable will be cut and the selected wires attached to the relau card using the screw down connector. Ordinary breadboarding connector wires were used but proved too unreliable.
Intermittent connections caused problems.


The controller script will be in python language.

Currently there are two scripts, s-extend.py and s-retract.py.

The extend script extends the actuator for 17 seconds. The script is run twice each day, once in mid-morning, oonce in the afternoon.

The retract script is run once each day at the end of each day and runs the amount of time of the sum of the two extend scripts, or approximately 34 seconds.

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The sensor has been mounted on the array. Currently, the sensor is on the pipe with the array. The sensor will be mounted on a stationary point to maintain the same position with respect to the sun.
A new mounting mechanism is needed. The aluminum strips are too flexible.

The wires have been connected to the sensor and run into the house and to the staion.
Each wire has a different color piece of heatshrink tubing for identification.

A PCF8591 will be used to read the data. The PCF8591 card is mounted on the master breadboard, as is the RPi.

A buck voltage converter is also mounted on the master board. This will convert the battery bank 24vdc to 5vdc for the Raspberry Pi. The connection between the supply and the RPi is a mini-USB connector matching the socket on the RPi.