Nixie Controller Setup
Nixie Controllers will be included for njsPC version 7.1.x and above
Nixie is a controller that operates entirely within njsPC. She provides equipment control for devices associated with your pool. When paired with relayEquipmentManager (REM), you can easily associate equipment with relays connected to a Raspberry Pi, Orange Pi, or BeagleBone computer, without programming experience. Nixie operates in two distinct modes. These modes include a cooperative mode and stand-alone mode.
Nixie works to extend your existing outdoor controller by providing additional relay support for your pool. You may add additional circuits, chemistry controllers, or valves. Nixie will manage the logic for these devices for you.
In cooperative mode your main automation panel remains in control of the primary circuits for the pool. Nixie simply acts as another control panel to the master panel.
When operating in stand-alone mode Nixie will allow you to define one of four profiles. These profiles determine the body control for your setup. To set one of the stand-alone modes for Nixie open up dashPanel then click on the gears icon in the upper right of the screen. From there select the Controller tab. On the Model tab choose the Nixie model that best describes your pool setup. NOTE: If you have a commercial OCP you will not be able to select a stand-alone model.
Single body controllers are those that have only one body and one filter. When Nixie Single Body is selected you will only be able to control either a pool or a spa. No intake or return valves will be created and a single filter will be available.
Shared body controllers are pool/spa, pool/pool, or spa/spa combinations that share a common filter and filter pump. In this configuration Nixie will provide you with a single filter an Intake valve, and a Return valve. The Intake and Return valves should be connected to redirect the water flow so it is drawn from the second body (spa) and returned to the second body (spa) when that body is activated. This also provides a spillway function for to draw from the pool and return to the spa.
Dual body controllers operate dual equipment configurations. In this configuration there will be two distinct and separate bodies that operate independently. Two filters will be created and no Intake or Return valves will be available.
This model is for configurations where no body of water is being controlled. In this configuration, no filter will be created and you will not have the ability to add controllable heaters or chem controllers. Valves, Circuits, Features, and Groups can be added to the controller.
You will first need to get all your hardware in order. This includes any circuit, valve, or heater relays you would like to use. You can use REM, MQTT, sockets, or http interfaces to control these.
While Nixie will operate without REM, you may want to consider using REM to manage your relays. REM allows you to configure and interface with a variety of relay boards and sensors. This will simplify your setup and provide some fault tolerance should an equipment failure occur. Nixie uses a latching mechanism to ensure the communication between njsPC and REM remains constant. If njsPC is shut down for any reason, any relays that are currently closed on REM will open to shut everything down.
Follow the instructions for setting up REM and label the GPIO, Sensors, and Relays so you can identify them later in njsPC. Here is an example of a relay setup on an MCP23017 I2c controller. There are a number of relay boards and GPIO relays supported in REM.
Also take this opportunity to configure your temperature sensors. As a rule of thumb you need 1 water temperature sensor for each filter. An air temperature sensor should also be provided. If you are expecting to set up a solar heater you will also need a solar sensor so the solar heater can calculate the times when solar is beneficial to heat the pool.
The number of bodies for the controller as added when you select the type of Nixie controller. Nixie will add the number of required bodies under management. Your only tasks here are to supply the estimated number of gallons in each body and some specific options related to the spa. The capacity numbers are used in calculations for chemistry control and to suggest the number of bags of salt needed to reach the desired level for your chlorinator.
The capacity of water of the defined body in gallons.
When the controller is switched into spa mode the Nixie will change the heat mode to heater if it is not already selected. This option is really only useful for spa side remotes.
The filter relay(s) define when the filter is operating for the number of bodies you selected for your pool. For single body and shared body configurations you will have one filter. For dual body configurations there will be two filters. For the no body's there will be none. If you are using REM to manage the filter relay select the REM connection. After selecting the connection, select the filter relay from the Device dropdown. Once you have provided all the filter attributes click the Save Filter button to commit your changes. Do this for each filter.
You can name the filter anything you like.
Choose the type of filter media that is used for the filter.
Filters sizes are determined by the surface area of media material. Enter the media capacity and units used to define the media.
The filter pressure section is used to calculate the cleaning cycle for the filter. If you have a pressure sensor mounted on your filter Nixie will automatically calculate the clean percentage for your filter. To do this it needs to know what the reference pressure is when the filter is clean and what it is when the filter is dirty.
The circuit dropdown is used to limit the measurement of the cleaning pressure to times when that circuit is on exclusively. Nixie understands the difference between circuits that are used for lighting so these are automatically excluded from the measurement.
Nixie supports multiple REM servers. Select the REM server from the connection dropdown that contains the filter relay.
Select the relay device that is attached to the filter relay.
Automated valves including IntelliValve and CV24s should have constant power applied to at least one pair of their 3 wire connector. When connecting valves to a relay use a SPDT relay where the non-diverted (default position) is connected to the normally open side. That way if njspc or REM is turned off the valve will cycle to the default position. The normally closed side should be for the diverted position of the valve.
If you are using a Nixe Shared model then an intake and return valve will have already been created for you. Intake is the valve on the suction side of your pump and return is the valve on the pressure side of your pump. Nixie will automatically control the position of these valves based upon the body that is currently turned on. If you add a spillway circuit or feature, these valves will cycle so that water is sucked from the pool and returned to the spa, creating a spillway effect.
You may add a ridiculous number of auxiliary valves to Nixie. The diverted position of these valves are triggered by the state of the circuit or feature you assign to it. For instance, if you have a circuit named Sheer Descent, then whenever the Sheer Descent circuit is energized the valve will be triggered to the diverted position. If you are using REM select the connection and device that the valve is connected to.
AUX Circuits are any device that is controlled by a relay. To configure a circuit click the gears icon in the upper right hand corner of dashPanel then select the circuits tab. On the AUX Circuits tab the pre-defined circuits to operate the stand-alone controller will already be there. You do not attach these to REM as they are controlled via the filter relay(s).
To add a circuit click the add circuit button. A new circuit will appear in the list. Define the circuit by providing it a name and selecting the appropriate REM relay. The type determines the special functions related to the circuit. For instance, if you select any of the lighting circuit types it will place that circuit into the Lights section of the dashPanel. If you select one of the color changing options the color options will be provided for the light and send the appropriate on/off/on sequences to control the light to the relay.
You may define up to 32 heaters associated with the bodies on your Nixie controller. That would be a bit ridiculous but 32 jumped in our heads for some reason. In most circumstances you may have up to two for each body. To define your heaters select the gears icon at the top right of dashPanel. Click the Add Heater button and a new heater panel will appear.
It is important to define the type of heater we are working with. If the heater is a gas heater then the connection to the heater relay should be to the fireman's switch on the heater. If this is a solar heater then the solar relay should be connected to the solar valve in REM.
Select the target body or bodies that the heater is available for. If you have a shared body and the heater can heat either the pool or spa then select pool/spa from the body dropdown. If you only want the heater options to be available for the spa for instance select spa. Once you are done setting the attributes of the heater press the Save Heater button to commit your changes.
