CustomSensors
Warning:connectingthewrongvoltageleveltotheanalogordigitalinputscanphysically
damagethemPort.Alwayscheckvoltagelevelsbeforeconnectingnewsensors.Oreven
betterfollowinstructionsfromexpertsontheforumthathavealreadyconnectedsucha
sensor.
Itisrecommendedthatyoudontdefineyourowncustomsensordefinitions.Instead,modify
existingones.
Pins
Label
Function
Overview
Ports
Input
0v2v=off,>4v24v=on
RJ451&5,TB7
Output
0,5v,12vor24v
RJ452&8,TB8
Power
0,12v,24v
RJ454,TB6
Ground
Common
RJ457,TB3
A+
Analog+
differentialanalog,positive
RJ453,TB5
Analog
differentialanalog,negative
RJ456,TB4
RTD
RTD
ResistanceTemperatureDetector
TB1&2
Power
Currentdrawoftheconnecteddevicesmustbekeptunder40mAtotal,peroutputvoltage(5v,
12v,24v).Thisincludescurrentonboththepowerpinsandtheoutputpins.
Analog
Analogisdifferential,andcanvarybetween2.048vand+2.048v.
Toconnectasingleendeddevice,theApincanbegrounded.Thentheinputvoltagecanvary
between0and+2.048v.
Tomeasurevoltageshigherthen+2.048v,andvoltagedividercircuitcanbeused.
RTD
TheResistanceTemperatureDetectoristypePT100,withanalphacoefficientof0.00385
ohms/ohm/C.TheRTDinterfaceis2wire.Temperaturemeasurementscanvarybetween
50Cand+250C.
RJ45Pinout
Notes:
Eventhoughtherearemultipleinputsandoutputsperport,onlyasinglesensorcanbe
definedperport(theadditionalinputsandoutputsareforsecondarysensorfunctions,
liketamper)
SensorautodetectisonlyprovidedonRJ45ports,andisenabledbytheattacheddevice
connectingIn2andOut2(pins5and8)
Configuration
Customdevicetypesaredefinedbyplacingdefinitionsinthecustomsensordefinitionaccess
fromthebottompanelofthewebuserinterface.
ThestructureformatisJSON,witheachtypeofdevicebeinganentryintheJSONobject,
indexedbythenameofthedevicetype.
Onceanewdevicetypeisdefined,itcanthenbeusedwithintheuserinterfacetocreate
individualmachinesofthattype.Thedevicenamewillbeavailableasanoptioninthedevice
configurationpulldownmenusfortheporttypes(RJ45orTerminalblock)thatitisdefinedfor.
ErrorsinthestructuremaycausethestructuretoloadwhenthemFicontrollerstarts,andan
errormessagewillbedisplayedintheserverlogfile.(ex:<launcher>ERRORSystemService
Unabletoparsecustomsensorbundledata.Butthecontentisvalidatedbeforesaving,sothis
shouldnowhappen.
Definingacustomdevicewiththesamenameasapredefineddevicewilloverridethe
predefineddefinitionwiththecustomdefinition.
Parameters
Thisisforinformationalpurposesonly.Donotcreateyourowndefinitionsbyrandomly
assigningvaluestothesefieldssomenotallcombinationshavebeentested.Tocreateanew
customsensor,itisrecommendedthatyoufindanexistingoneontheforumandmodifyit
suchasbychangingtheconversionfunction.
Name
Description
Type
desc
devicedescription
string
analog
whetherthedeviceistoreportanalogvalues
boolean
rj45_v1
whetherthedevicecanbeconnectedtoanRJ45
port
boolean
tblock_v1
whetherthedevicecanbeconnectedtothe
terminalblock
boolean
pwr_volt
power
integer(12,24)
output
whetherthedevicesoutputistobedynamically
boolean
controlled(versusconstantlyon).Ifthisvalueis
true,thedevicewillhaveon/offbuttonsintheuser
interface,andwillbeselectableasanoutputinthe
ActionTab
do_volt0
voltageforoutput1
integer(5,12,24)
do_volt1
voltageforoutput1
integer(5,12,24)
rep_analog
whetherthedeviceistoreportanalog
measurements
boolean(0or1)
analog_tag
tagforanalogmeasurements
string
rep_sum
whetherthedeviceistoreportasumoftheanalog 0or1
measurements
sum_tag
tagforsumoftheanalogmeasurements
string
rep_rms
whetherthedeviceistoreporta
RootMeanSquaredcalculationoftheanalog
measurements
0or1
rms_tag
tagforanalogRMSmeasurements
string
rep_rms_sum
whetherthedeviceistoreportasumoftheRMS
oftheanalogmeasurements
0or1
rms_sum_tag
tagforanalogRMSsummeasurements
string
rep_input0
whethertoreportthestateofthefirstbinaryinput boolean(0or1)
(I1)
input_tag0
tagforthefirstbinaryinput
string
unit0
unitsforthefirstbinaryinput
stringwithtwovalues,
separatedby/
rep_input1
whethertoreportthestateofthefirstbinaryinput boolean(0or1)
(I2)
input_tag1
tagforthesecondbinaryinput
string
unit1
unitsforthesecondbinaryinput
stringwithtwovalues,
separatedby/
default_tag
specifieswhichofthetagstodisplayasthedefault string
intheuserinterface(suchasthevalueinthe
DevicesTab)
conversion
conversionfunctionforanalogmeasurements
string,consistingof
xyzwhichisthe
analogmeasurement,
andarithmetic
operations.
unit
unitforanalogmeasurements
string(CELSIUS
specialcasefor
temperature)(native
FAHRENHEITnot
supported)
unit0
inversion0
whethertoinvertthefirstbinaryinput
boolean
inversion1
whethertoinvertthesecondbinaryinput
boolean
precision
numberofbitsofprecisionforanalog
measurements
integer
<tag>_unit
unitsforcustomtags.forinstance,
counts_unit:openingstospecifytheunitfora
tagofcounts
string
<tag>_type
binaryspecifiesthevalueisabinaryvalue(two
states)Specifyingasbinarywilldrawgraphasa
2statelinegraph
binary||undefined
Notes:
somebooleansarefalse/true,andsomeare0/1
theinputnamesarezerobased(0,1)whilethepinsare1based(1,2)
Example
{
"UbiquitimFiTHS:Humidity":{
"desc":"Ubiquitihumiditysensor(needtoroutepins1and2ofMFITHStopins3
and6ofthemPortRJ45connector,orpins5and5ofthemPortterminalblock)",
"conversion":"xyz*50",
"analog":true,
"rj45_v1":true,
"tblock_v1":true,
"pwr_volt":12,
"rep_analog":1,
"default_tag":"humidity",
"analog_tag":"humidity",
"unit":"%",
"precision":2
},
"Illuminometer":{
"desc":"Illuminometer.24Vpower,output0~5VDC",
"analog":true,
"rj45_v1":true,
"tblock_v1":true,
"pwr_volt":24,
"rep_analog":1,
"default_tag":"light",
"analog_tag":"light",
"conversion":"xyz*5000",
"unit":"lux",
"precision":2
},
"SparkFunIlluminometer":{
"desc":"www.sparkfun.com/products/9088",
"analog":true,
"rj45_v1":true,
"tblock_v1":true,
"do_volt0":5,
"rep_analog":1,
"default_tag":"lux",
"analog_tag":"lux",
"conversion":"2xyz*4",
"unit":"lux",
"precision":4
},
"InfraredBeam":{
"desc":"InfraredBeamDetector",
"digital":true,
"rj45_v1":true,
"tblock_v1":true,
"pwr_volt":24,
"do_volt0":24,
"rep_input0":1,
"input_tag0":"beam",
"default_tag":"beam",
"unit0":"broken/unbroken",
"inversion0":true
},
"LightSensor(Seeedstudio)":{
"desc":"Seeedstudiolightsensor",
"conversion":"xyz*5",
"analog":true,
"rj45_v1":true,
"tblock_v1":true,
"do_volt0":5,
"rep_analog":1,
"default_tag":"lux",
"analog_tag":"lux",
"unit":"lux",
"precision":2
},
"MoistureSensor(Seeedstudio)":{
"desc":"Seeedstudiomoisturesensor",
"conversion":"xyz*50",
"analog":true,
"rj45_v1":true,
"tblock_v1":true,
"do_volt0":5,
"rep_analog":1,
"default_tag":"m",
"analog_tag":"m",
"unit":"%",
"precision":0
},
"SoundSensor(Seeedstudio)":{
"desc":"Seeedstudiosoundsensor",
"conversion":"xyz*50",
"analog":true,
"rj45_v1":true,
"tblock_v1":true,
"do_volt0":5,
"rep_analog":1,
"default_tag":"sound",
"analog_tag":"sound",
"unit":"%",
"precision":0
}
Templates
Analog
"ExampleAnalogSensor":{
"desc":"Thisiswherethedescriptiongoes.",
"analog":true,
"rj45_v1":true,
"tblock_v1":true,
"pwr_volt":24,
"rep_analog":1,
"default_tag":"light",
"analog_tag":"light",
"conversion":"xyz*5000",
"unit":"lux",
"precision":2
},
Interfacing
ThemPortsanaloginterfaceisdifferential,andsupportsvoltagesbetween2.048and+2.048
volts.
SingleEndedSensors
SingleendedsensorscanbeconnectedbysimplyconnectingthemPortsnegativeanalogpin
(A)tothemPortsgroundpin(G).
VoltageConversion(05v,010vsensors)
Avoltagedividercircuitcanbeusedtolowervoltagestothesupportedrange.Caremustbe
takentoensureresistorswiththecorrectvaluesandaccuracyareused,andtoprovidetheright
levelofoverallresistanceinthecircuit.
CurrentConversion
Somesensorsusecurrent,opposedtovoltage,toindicatethemeasuredvalue.020mAand
420mAcurrentsarecommon.
Inbothofthesecases,a100Ohmresistorcanbeusedtoconvertthecurrenttoamaximum2
volts.
Aburdenresistorcanbeusedtoconvertthecurrentmeasurementtoavoltagemeasurement,
whichcanbereadbythemPort.
