UnorthodoxEng

joined 1 year ago
[–] UnorthodoxEng@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I did it by measuring the torque required to turn the valve (using a spring balance on the end of a lever which operated the valve.

Then bought a servo which had about double that torque rating - just so it has some in the bag if needed & won't be over-stressed long term.

I fabricated a bracket for mine - but this could more easily be 3D Printed.

Then used an ESP32 (Arduino kind of thing) to control the servo.

Unfortunately, I have no links or guides for you to follow - you'll have to figure it out as you go.

[–] UnorthodoxEng@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Previously I've achieved similar using an RC Servo with a fabricated bracket.

The reason I didn't use a typical motorised valve is I wanted proportional control of the flow, not just on/off.

If this is a Radiator Valve, there are plenty of off the shelf solutions, replacing the whole valve. Some of them will talk to home automation systems.

[–] UnorthodoxEng@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Relatively!
There's a bit of a learning curve initially - though much less now as you can buy a HA server pretty much ready to go.

If you stick to devices with HA compatibility out of the box, then it's really easy.

The main differentiating factor is, if you delve deep enough, you can do anything you want with it - including making it talk to things that were not compatable out of the box.

Fortunately there's a community of 'propeller heads' figuring out how to integrate all kinds of random things.

I'd never used HA until March when I had Solar & Batteries installed. The app from the manufacturer (Solis) was useless. I followed someone elses instructions on GitHub (blindly) and it worked amazingly well.

Since then, I've just learned gradually, adding different things to it. Now I know the basics, it feels friendly enough.

Today I made it switch on my Christmas Lights at 5am, switch off at sunrise. On at sunset & off at 11pm. Really easy, no code to write. Just works.

[–] UnorthodoxEng@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Just two words - Home Assistant