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I am considering a fairly big project and I think using a Raspberry Pi would be the way to go. I need to tackle several different problems with it though and figured I'd ask here to see how much poo poo I am getting myself into before really throwing myself into this. I'd prefer to build / assemble things on my own vs buying a pre-packaged solution, if that matters. I also have set up and run a PiZero as a PiHole server for my house that's been working great. That's my entire experience with the Rasbpi platform. I have a chicken coop that I just built: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3417601&pagenumber=302#post504436105 It's within wifi range of the house but inconvenient to run power to directly so 1st thing would be: 1. Solar power / battery setup for the Raspberry Pi. Powers everything else below as well. 2. I'd like to set up a remote door opener for the coop. Nothing on a timer, just something I can fire off a command for the circuit to activate (probably will use a small motorized piston arm to move the coop side door up and down). 3. A dedicated temperature sensor that logs temps and alerts an email address if temp gets above or below a certain range. 4. Have the device also trip a circuit when the temp is below a certain level to activate a water heater to keep their water from freezing. I have an eye on some fairly low current heating stuff for this, suggestions welcome. 5. (Not mandatory, maybe for later) Have a camera in the coop that streams either time lapse images or video to the network that we can view (think baby monitor) to see if the chickens inside the coop are well. This would all be new stuff for me, if I should move this to a different thread please let me know but it seems like an achievable project and I'm in no rush with it since we can do all of these things manually quite easily and most of this won't really be useful until winter anyway.
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May 1, 2020 13:43
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Camera is the easiest part, running solar is the hardest part especially because your low temp stuff is going to happen in the middle of the night in the winter, most likely when you have problems with your solar setup. Long extension cords are probably way way less of a hassle. The other stuff doesn't seem too hard.
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May 1, 2020 14:01
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Lockback posted:Camera is the easiest part, running solar is the hardest part especially because your low temp stuff is going to happen in the middle of the night in the winter, most likely when you have problems with your solar setup. Long extension cords are probably way way less of a hassle. Yeah I'm thinking set up 1-2 fairly large panels and a substantial deep cycle battery. If it's not enough for this application I can use it to power a watering pump for the garden or something next spring and run an extension cord to the coop if its just not good enough.
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May 1, 2020 14:36
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^^^ E: well never mind then, the Pi probably won't be the limiting factor in that case
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May 1, 2020 14:42
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If you're going to go to all of that effort to automate a chicken coop, consider including (and sizing your battery bank for) supplemental lighting and ventilation (for any high heat events and moisture regulation). Both are very easy to address early, but may require completely changing your battery system if you need them later and haven't sized for it in advance. I have no idea how practical it is to keep water from freezing using battery power, but if you're going to go that route, insulate the hell out of your water system and keep it as small as you safely can.
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May 1, 2020 15:02
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poeticoddity posted:If you're going to go to all of that effort to automate a chicken coop, consider including (and sizing your battery bank for) supplemental lighting and ventilation (for any high heat events and moisture regulation). Both are very easy to address early, but may require completely changing your battery system if you need them later and haven't sized for it in advance. Ah yeah hadn't thought about messing with ventilation (the coop itself has airholes up at the top and the windows are on lift out hinges and are removable to let the entire thing vent during warmer months. For the water I was thinking just 1g or so in a thermos inside the coop itself. So yeah not like heating 5-10g out in the elements at least.
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May 1, 2020 15:05
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I know we're all stuck on the power delivery, but how far from the coop is the nearest outlet? As for the other things, a Pi would be a good solution for expandability and things like capturing a video feed (which I think is pretty cool and would definitely want that if I had a coup). The Temp Sensor is a pretty well-worn path for RPi, a quick google search found tons of examples like this one: https://www.circuitbasics.com/raspberry-pi-ds18b20-temperature-sensor-tutorial/ Sending emails is easy too, I did a Python script that sent emails from my gmail for a non-pi application following something like this and it worked pretty easily: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/send-mail-from-your-gmail-account-using-python I'd setup a gmail account like "ThatWorksChickens" to handle it. There's a bunch of ways to do the motorized door. The hardest part will be getting your servo installed and running well, then you can open it via an email command, IR Sensor (https://thepihut.com/blogs/raspberry-pi-tutorials/raspberry-pis-remotes-ir-receivers) or even make a little app for your phone and open it with a Network command. There's a bunch of Garage Door Projects that you could probably look at and start with: https://www.instructables.com/id/Garage-Door-Opener-2/
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May 1, 2020 15:30
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Lockback posted:I know we're all stuck on the power delivery, but how far from the coop is the nearest outlet? This is excellent, thanks! I kinda didn't know where to start given there's so many different ways to do these. Any reason to go with something beefier than just another piZero for this?
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May 1, 2020 15:34
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Lockback posted:Just to make sure, you tried plugging the Pi into the TV with a shorter cable and not just a test monitor, right? large hands posted:There's a bunch of different settings you can try editing in config.txt here. Just scroll down to the HDMI section Thanks for the posts I did try TV with a shorter cable, and tracked down a laptop with micro HDMI which works great, so I know all my cables are good now. But I think I have realized what the problem is. My two displays are different resolutions. Asking libreelec/kodi to detect hardware resolution and adjust automatically was likely too much. So my plan is to plug the pi back into the 1440p monitor, adjust resolution to 1080p, then plug back into the TV. I'm at work now so I can't test this theory, but it seems very viable. At least, this is what I'm telling myself to avoid thinking about solving some arcane compatibility problem in config.txt
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May 1, 2020 15:43
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Oh, I posted a while back about having wireless stability issues when my RPi 4 was outputting 4K60 resolutions. It turns out replacing the thin cheap micro HDMI cable I had with a chunky shielded one with a giant ferrite bead on it from Monoprice fixed the issue. (Both were rated for 4k60, so it was probably picking up noise from the rest of my living room setup? For some reason I want to blame the Sega Saturn I picked up recently that sits right next to it and their cables run next to each other.)
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May 1, 2020 19:25
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Is this also the place to ask about other boards? I saw a Rock Pi that has NVMe and that has me really interested because the one thing that annoys me about the Pi are the SD cards. I was wondering if anyone has experience with these boards and if they are any good.
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May 2, 2020 10:16
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Mr Shiny Pants posted:Is this also the place to ask about other boards? I saw a Rock Pi that has NVMe and that has me really interested because the one thing that annoys me about the Pi are the SD cards. I was wondering if anyone has experience with these boards and if they are any good. I haven't used one myself but Christopher Barnatt reviews a lot of SBCs on Explaining Computers. He's got the cadence of a university lecturer but he does a good overview and a little benchmarking and general usage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4p9EpjA0ZM
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May 2, 2020 14:13
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Rexxed posted:He's got the cadence of a university lecturer 
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May 2, 2020 14:46
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You guys say these things as if they were bad things, though?
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May 2, 2020 14:49
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Schadenboner posted:You guys say these things as if they were bad things, though?
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May 2, 2020 14:57
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I’ve been watching EC occasionally over the past year or so. Maybe the most bafflingly bad theme song I’ve ever heard on a show, YouTube or not But in, like, a way that totally fits too. Like it’s clearly inspired by the How It’s Made song but it didn’t quite set right. Bizarro How It’s Made trilobite terror fucked around with this message at 15:12 on May 2, 2020 |
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May 2, 2020 15:08
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Rexxed posted:I haven't used one myself but Christopher Barnatt reviews a lot of SBCs on Explaining Computers. He's got the cadence of a university lecturer but he does a good overview and a little benchmarking and general usage. Thanks for the link, I've been watching quite a few of his videos. The odyssey board also looks amazing, but is too expensive.
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May 3, 2020 08:17
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Ok Comboomer posted:I’ve been watching EC occasionally over the past year or so. Maybe the most bafflingly bad theme song I’ve ever heard on a show, YouTube or not It reminds me of the Discovery Channel "this is what the future will be" shows I watched as a kid, circa mid-90's, with a lower production value (not a high bar to begin with). And yeah it totally works in its own weird way.
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May 3, 2020 14:31
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Discussion Quorum posted:It reminds me of the Discovery Channel "this is what the future will be" shows I watched as a kid, circa mid-90's, with a lower production value (not a high bar to begin with). And yeah it totally works in its own weird way. Exactly. It has a total Public Access vibe that I love
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May 3, 2020 16:43
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Anybody gonna buy that super fancy raspberry pi camera with the "real lens" mount. Doing some testing but looks like my railfan webcam thing is gonna happen. Initial tests are looking good. re: raspberry pi cable talk You can get a 200' extension cord on amazon for $62, the power needed is miniscule, you could probably get away with stringing two of those together if you're just running the rasbperry pi and one or two other things. I wouldn't run a 1/2" power drill but 10w draw should be fine. Trenching a single cable involves waiting for it to rain, then use a butchers knife or whatever to cut a 4" deep line in the ground and then push the cable in there, probably wrap anything sensitive in saran wrap and electrical tape. My landlord did this for our coax/cable run from the garage to the house and seemed super sketch but held up ok for ~10 years
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May 3, 2020 20:48
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Hadlock posted:Anybody gonna buy that super fancy raspberry pi camera with the "real lens" mount. Doing some testing but looks like my railfan webcam thing is gonna happen. Initial tests are looking good. The first step in this process is calling 811 or whoever marks underground hazards in your area to make sure you're not going to cut a 200' trench through a power line or gas main or something.
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May 4, 2020 02:29
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Don't just dig a trench and lay a power cable in your yard. Find a way to do it right or don't do it at all. Especially if you're going to run wall power out there.
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May 4, 2020 02:40
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Yeah, “a landlord did it” isn’t a particularly stellar endorsement
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May 4, 2020 03:01
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If you are to do something crazy like that I would run some exterior grade CAT6 in a conduit and get the POE hat for the Pi.
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May 4, 2020 03:09
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Yeah if you're not comfortable making changes on your own land probably don't go around digging a 4" trench by hand. It's possible that someone else also dug an electrical/gas/water/sewer line also not to code crossing that same section. Most trenches dug to code are 36" deep so you probably wouldn't hit anything but you never know. And then you would want to remove the cord later before you sold the property to avoid liability. There's lots of janky half assed ways to do things that probably won't burn down your chicken coop. But maybe it will and it'll invalidate your property insurance so who knows.Varkk posted:If you are to do something crazy like that I would run some exterior grade CAT6 in a conduit and get the POE hat for the Pi. Yeah that works too
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May 4, 2020 06:19
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Don't loving bury an extension cord. Use Underground Feeder (UF) cable. If you already have the exterior plug, I'm sure you can split off of that box, run 24 or whatever inches of conduit off of it to the ground and run UF (directly buried, no conduit required) to where you need power and terminate it in another box/outlet. Also, burying a cable 4" deep is above the frost line in a large amount of the country. This is also a terrible idea. Just hire an electrician to do this for you if you don't understand the true ramifications or how to do things to code.
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May 4, 2020 15:41
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Pilchenstein posted:I assure you, I do not. Would pay real money to have the guys from The Secret Life of Machines do a series about computer stuff.
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May 4, 2020 15:53
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For the record I'm not running any power to the coop other than a temporary extension cord to get the system troubleshooted and running until solar is working.
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May 4, 2020 16:11
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That Works posted:For the record I'm not running any power to the coop other than a temporary extension cord to get the system troubleshooted and running until solar is working. Word, then you don’t have to bury it. Just run an outdoor extension cable to the coop across the lawn like a lazy Christmas dad
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May 4, 2020 16:13
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You could bury one anyway as a surprise for the next owner
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May 4, 2020 16:13
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AlternateAccount posted:Would pay real money to have the guys from The Secret Life of Machines do a series about computer stuff. Tim Hunkin definitely still uses a ZX Spectrum
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May 4, 2020 16:21
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I've been considering picking up a Raspberri Pi 4 as a retro emulation machine. I know Retropie has a list of what emulators they support but I also know that some of their emulators are windows only. I've been having a slightly tough time finding a list of which emulators are supported by raspberry pi and which aren't. Specifically, when I go to https://retropie.org.uk/stats/pkgflags/ and try to understand the info there. The Raspberry Pi 4 is listed as DRM/KMS + ARMv8, so I'm wondering what that means for emulators that have a big 'X' under DRM/KMS but have a check under ARMv8 and vice versa. Does that mean that the Pi 4 will support them or not? Does it need support from both technologies to run that emulator, or just one of the two? Does it matter which one? That sort of thing.
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May 4, 2020 18:38
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khy posted:I've been considering picking up a Raspberri Pi 4 as a retro emulation machine. I know Retropie has a list of what emulators they support but I also know that some of their emulators are windows only. I've been having a slightly tough time finding a list of which emulators are supported by raspberry pi and which aren't. Any emulator in particular you are looking for? Lakka's support page is here and I imagine Retropie is similar. This page doesn't include the 4, but basically its similar with better SNES speed. http://lakka.tv/doc/Hardware-support/
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May 4, 2020 19:09
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Lockback posted:Any emulator in particular you are looking for? Lakka's support page is here and I imagine Retropie is similar. This page doesn't include the 4, but basically its similar with better SNES speed. There's no single specific emulator I want, I'm just curious about all my options. Two years or so ago I helped a coworker set up a Raspberry Pi 3+ as a Retropie emulation system, and with the Pi 4 out I thought I'd take a look at setting up one of my own. I remembered that not every emulator (PSX, Gamecube, etc) was supported on Retropie on the Raspberry Pi 3+ so I was looking up the latest list to see what has and hasn't been added. Most likely I'd want the major US Consoles and handhelds (SMS, Genesis, SegaCD, NES, SNES, N64, GB, GBA) but i would be ecstatic if I could get PSX, Saturn (Pretty much only 1 game I care about there though), and Gamecube support. I just wasn't sure if the CD-Based devices would be too much for a Raspberry Pi to handle. I had never heard of Lakka before and it does indicate it supports PSX which would be amazing. Arcade support would be great, and when looking at the various MAME options that's where I was slightly confused with RetroPie's support flags. Hence why I decided to ask here where people are much more knowledgeable than myself.
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May 4, 2020 21:48
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General rule is that 3D stuff is not going to play on a Pi due to hardware limitations, not Retroarch. I want to say most PSX and a decent number of N64 games will work.
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May 4, 2020 21:53
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Warbird posted:General rule is that 3D stuff is not going to play on a Pi due to hardware limitations, not Retroarch. I want to say most PSX and a decent number of N64 games will work. Yep, this is my experience. PSX runs pretty well, everything was playable and the slowdowns I saw were probably the same slowdowns that happened on original hardware. This guy claims the Saturn works pretty well: https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroPie/comments/cildjc/i_tested_sega_saturn_on_the_pi4_i_cant_believe_it/ Gamecube will be a stretch, sounds like some games run ok, most are pretty bad. Everything else you listed should be fine.
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May 4, 2020 22:28
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N64 games aren't a great metric for "works with 3D", my Pi3 could run Dreamcast games fairly smoothly, problem is N64 as a system is really hard to emulate, especially with the games that pushed the system to its limits.
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May 4, 2020 22:45
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Thanks guys, I think I'll definitely pick up the Pi 4 with 4GB Ram. Of course once I get it I'll have to figure out how the hell to get Lakka and other stuff (That guy posting the Saturn worked well on his Pi 4, I would LOVE to get Shining Force 3 on there) going but I can wait until I actually get the Pi in my hands and get it set up. Utlimately I think I'd love to get Breath of Fire 3/4 and a whole mess of other PSX games on it. If I can get good PSX emulation with decent speeds I could see myself occupied and entertained until Covid has long passed... khy fucked around with this message at 00:47 on May 5, 2020 |
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May 5, 2020 00:33
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Lakka’s pretty newbie friendly iirc. I want to say if you plug in a usb controller you don’t even need a keyboard to get going. I’m sure it has gotten better but my time with Retropie was a low grade nightmare to get things set up. I think it may have been during an architecture shift or something though. It was ages ago.
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May 5, 2020 01:00
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Lakka is braindead to get going. Moving roms is a bit more work if you want to move gigs quickly, but for moving a couple games your fine. The online help is generally pretty good. It's a pi and Linux so there will be a few quirks generally things worked easily.
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May 5, 2020 01:13
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