Ever since we got our solar system installed about two years ago, I’ve been keeping track of the total power generated by the system. Every month I would write down the totals and add it to my Excel spreadsheet. Although it’s not much work, it’s still manual work… yes all 2 minutes every month.
So when the whole “Internet of Things” discussion started at our office (see Matt’s blog “Azure Mobile Services and the Internet of Things“) I thought it would be a good opportunity to look at doing this using Azure – even if it was only to prove the IoT concept. The potential solution should:
- Use a device which connects to the solar inverter to reads its data via RS232.
- This device needs to be powered by a battery as no power outlet is close to the inverter.
- Upload data to Azure without having to rely on a computer running 24/7 to do this.
- Use Azure to store and present this data.
Hardware
The device I built is based on the Arduino Uno and consists of the following components:
- Arduino UNO R3
- With a little bit of programming these devices are perfectly capable of retrieving data from various data sources, are small in size, expandable with various libraries, add on shields and break-out boards and can be battery powered. Having the inverter on a side of the house with no power outlet close by made this a main requirement.
- MAX3232 RS232 Serial to TTL Converter module
- As the Arduino Uno doesn’t come with any serial connectors this module adds a DB9 connector to the board. Now the Arduino can be connected to the inverter using a null modem cable.
- Adafruit CC3000 WiFi Shield with Onboard Ceramic Antenna
- Some of the existing solutions which can send inverter data to a website (e.g. PVOutput) or computer logging those details, all rely on a computer which runs 24/7 which is one of the things I definitely didn’t want to do. I ended up getting this WiFi shield which, after soldering it on top of the Arduino board, turns the Arduino into a WiFi enabled device and allows it to send data to the internet directly. After adding the required libraries and credentials to my script, having access to a wireless router already enables basic access to the internet. Even though it is sitting quite a bit away from the wireless router, connectivity is no issue.
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| The Arduino Uno unit… | …connected to the inverter |
Azure
To store and / or display any of the info the Arduino is collecting, an Azure subscription is required. For this project I signed up for a free trial. Once the subscription is sorted, the following Azure services have to be setup:
| Azure Service | Description |
|---|---|
| Cloud service | Running the worker roles. |
| Storage Account | Hosting the table storage. |
| Service Bus | Message queue for the Arduino. |
| Website | For displaying data in (near) realtime. |
Putting it all together
So how do all these different components fit together?
The Arduino connects to the inverter via a null-modem cable. Reading data from it is achieved by adding a MODBUS library to the Arduino script. This adds additional functionality to the Arduino which is now able to read (and write) data from MODBUS (an industrial comms standard) enabled devices.
The script is set to run every 30 minutes and only after a successful connection (the inverter shuts down if there is not enough sunlight) it will set up a wireless internet connection and send the data to the TCP listener worker role in Azure.
In Azure, a service bus message queue was created to hold all incoming data packets sent from the Arduino. A storage table was also created to permantly store data received from the Arduino. The great thing with the storage table is there is no need to create a table schema before being able to use it, just creating the “placeholder” is enough!
Using Visual Studio, two worker roles were created:
- A TCP listener which “listens” for any device sending information to the specified endpoints. If a message from the Arduino is received it will write it onto the message queue.
Using Service Bus Explorer you can see the individual messages arriving in the message queue.
- A data writer which checks the message queue for new messages. If a new message has arrived, the message will be read, its content stored in the storage table and the message deleted.
Finally, a simple ASP.Net MVC website is used to display data from the storage table in near real-time. The website displays statistics on how many KWs have been generated during that day and how a day compares to previous days.
Stats for current day.
Website display.
Conclusion
This IoT project was a good opportunity to have a play with various Azure components through using multiple worker roles, message queues and the like. It probably sounds like overkill when just using the one device sending one message every 30 minutes, but a similar setup can be used in larger environments such factories where multiple devices send dozens of messages per minute.
Great Real World Solution Mike!
Perfect example!
Now just multi-tenant it, deliver as a service and sell the box at Dick Smith
good day sir..
how did u connect ur VBasic to arduino via CC3000 wifi???
can u help me sir…
Hi Joel, if you have bought the CC3000 you can download the Arduino library that adds WIFI features to your sketch.
The library can be included via:
#include
Once added it will give you options for making the connection to your wireless access point.
#define WLAN_SSID “XXXXX”
#define WLAN_PASS “XXXXX”
#define WLAN_SECURITY WLAN_SEC_WPA2
(Security can be WLAN_SEC_UNSEC, WLAN_SEC_WEP, WLAN_SEC_WPA or WLAN_SEC_WPA2)
Cheers,
Mike
PS the Arduino language is more a set of C/C++ functions than VB.
board got connected via cc3000 breakboard but what(code to send a http request) next..? please reply….or can mail me at sabiinsearch@gmail.com…. it will b really a great help.. thank u in advance..
Hi Sarbjeet,
Assuming you now have a working connection between the CC3000 and internet, you can send data via “.println”.
client = cc3000.connectTCP(ip, port);
connected = client.connected();
if (connected) {
client.println("this data is sent to the dark side");
else {
// When you get here no connection was made.
}
client.stop();