dropControllerV4: Notes & To Do

 
 

Known Issues

  • Times are not fully validated when they are entered. In some cases this can cause invalid values. I plan to fix this.
  • There are no drop time checks. This means you can overlap drops with each other. I have not yet decided if I will add this or not.
  • The scale on the graph gets crowded if the numbers get too large (need to be very large). I need to recalculate the scale.

 

To Do / ideas

  • Add a user save function for specific sequences.
  • Add a time out to the valve drain function.
  • Format numbers (add leading zeros) when updating the screen. Partially done.
  • May add a camera keep awake function using the focus trigger. Activate the camera’s focus signal after a period of inactivity.
  • Clean up the code. Reduce the javascript character count. Maybe minimise the js and css.
  • Remove the top button switch (switch 2) from the PCB and remove the top hole from the case. The SEL button has been moved to the front panel next to the SET button.
  • Rename FT2 to AUX on the side plate.
  • Remove the Input trigger. The Input trigger has been removed on the latest version.
  • Add a PCB connector for 24v. This is for the 16 valve version.
  • Add manual triggers / test triggers for the camera and flash. This will allow a quick test to see if the camera and flash are connected and working.

 

Notes

The 8 valve version allows up to 24 drops. Any valve can be used with any drop.
When the SEND button is clicked, the drop data is sent to the dropController device and the drop sequence is started. While the sequence is active the controls in the web app are inactive (same as previous versions).

Clicking the Number of drops label or quantity brings up a number of drops dialogue. This will be a hidden feature.

 

Hardware Changes

I have made a couple of hardware changes to the latest design.

General design

I decided to keep the SEL button so I moved it to the front next to the SET button. I think this looks and works better and means the hole in the top panel is not required. The SEL button is now used for Manual Drain.

In a very early version of the dropController I had hardware buttons to open the valves. I removed these when I started selling the device and I have regretted removing the buttons ever since. Manual Drain adds back the ability to open and close the valves without using the app. This is handy for cleaning and draining.

PCB

The pin used to check if the device is an 8 valve or 16 valve controller has been moved and therefore, the pin used on the prototype PCBs is no longer valid and not used in the code. The new pin on the prototype PCB is floating and may confuse the dropController. Because the signal is floating there is a chance the dropController will think it is a 16 valve version. This effects the prototypes only and the new PCBs using the new pin works as expected.
I have separated the code for the 8 valve and 16 valve versions.