Switchy

Ruby Application to switch AC loads (e.g. turn a lamp on and off).

Example

Command-line App

TODO: This documentation is prescriptive, not descriptive. Update this when it’s finally implemented.

$ switchy 1 status
Light 1 is: OFF
$ switchy 1 on
Light 1 switched on.
$ switchy 1 status
Light 1 is: ON
$ switchy 1 off
Light 1 switched off.
$ switchy 1 on
Light 1 switched on.

Ruby Library

TODO: This documentation is prescriptive, not descriptive. Update this when it’s finally implemented.

# Direct Access to individual lights
# ----------------------------------------
# Light 1 starts out off. 
s = Switchy.new
s.light1
# => false # light 1 is off
s.light1 = true
# => false # previous state returned; light1 was off, now on
s.light1
# => true
s.light1 = false
# => true # previous state again; light1 was on, now off

# Access to lights array
# ----------------------------------------
s.lights
# => [false, false, false, false, false, false]
s.lights[2]
# => false
s.lights[2] = true
# => false 
s.lights[2]
# => true
s.lights[2] = false
# => true
s.lights[2]
# => false

The Hardware

TODO: Write me!

This application
Ruby serialport gem
Teensy development board / Atmel AVR at90usb162
usb_serial driver for Teensy
switching circuit
modified power strip

USB Serial Driver

Teensy USB Serial Example, Simple Pin Control Shell

Example Commands
  B0?   Read Port B, pin 0
  C2=0  Write Port C, pin 1 LOW
  D6=1  Write Port D, pin 6 HIGH  (D6 is LED pin)

>

TODO

Circuit default lights at boot should light onboard LED and no other outputs.
Add blink feature to usb protocol. NOTE: This will entail setting up a flasher register and timing/counters. For starters, just set it to blink a hard-coded rate when “2” is sent, e.g “switchy 1 2” would blink light 1 at some rate. Later we can attach different blink rates and/or patterns to other numbers. For example, 3 might blink at the same rate as 2 but out of phase, so “switchy 1 2 2 3” would oscillate lights 1 and 2.
There’s an enable line on the 74ls244 driver chip. Use it. Device should boot disabled. Once everything’s had a chance to settle (10-100ms or so), enable the driver chip.
Add circuit schematics to the project.
Fork the circuit, make a version with just a little LED light bar and no 120VAC switching. (Trust me. The little LEDs are VERY compelling!)
- 4-LED Version. Fixed colors on all LEDS.
  - Blue/White LED: Specs are running
  - Green LED: Specs passed!
  - Yellow LED: Specs were Pending!
  - Red LED: Specs failed!
- 3-LED version. Fixed colors on all LEDS. LEDs blink when specs are running. Version 1: blink green, or all 3, or cycle all 3, LEDs. Version 2: blinking green means running, blinking yellow means running but a pending spec was found, and blinking red means it’s still running but failures have occurred.
  - Blinking: Specs are running.
  - Green LED: Specs passed!
  - Yellow LED: Specs were Pending!
  - Red LED: Specs failed!
- 1-LED Version. Single RGB LED.
  - Blinking (ooh, or throbbing) Blue/White: Specs running
  - Green: Passed
  - Yellow: Pending
  - Red: Failed
- 1-LED Version. Single Bi-color. Same as RGB. Will need to oscillate because red/green = orange.
  - Blinking: Running
  - Green: Passed
  - Orange: Pending
  - Red: Failed
Expand the switch control logic. Need static on/off, Timers, and blinkers. Note: if the board can handle infinite vs. countdown, then implementing one-shot timers is easy: just set countdown to 1.
- Static on/off: Sit pin state and forget about it. SET C4 1
- Blinker: set pin state for n milliseconds, toggle to other state for m milliseconds. Repeat x times. (0 = infinite) TMR C7 1 500 250 10
- Timer: set pin state for n milliseconds, then toggle it to other state. TMR C6 0 60000 250 1 # alarm timer, flashes C6 once for 250ms after 60s
Given the above switch control logic, the ruby app should now be able to programmatically define compound events like:
- When program starts, turn off siren, green, yellow and red lights.
- When test runs, turn off siren, yellow and red lights, and blink green light at 2Hz.
- If a spec is pending and green light is blinking, turn off green link and blink yellow light at 2Hz.
- If a spec fails and red light is off, turn off green and yellow lights, honk siren for 250ms, and blink red light at 2Hz.
- When specs all pass, turn on green light for 10 seconds.
- When specs fail, “blink” siren for 1 second every 60 seconds, turn on red light and leave it on.
- Blink RGB yellow by seting Red and Green to blink. (Need to build the system to permit synchronous blink rates.)
2009-04-20: Review previous TODOs in light of first finished prototype.
Change progress formatter lights, and light up only one pass/fail/pending LED as specs run. As each example completes, animate the display by moving the the one led to another spot. So if all your specs are passing, you’ll see the green light move 1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 1 -> 2 etc. If you have any pending specs, they will light up 1 -> 2 -> 1 -> 2 etc. When the test finishes, light up all the status lights of the appropriate color.
As a potential addition, light up one of EACH status color as they occur. So you might have Pass light 3, Pending light 2, and Fail light 1 lit. As each example completes, animate the status light for that example’s color. Then, when it’s finished, turn on all status lights for the final pass/pend/fail status and turn off all other lights.