In this tutorial we want to configure a virtual timer for the RevPi Connect.
In PiCtory you will find the virtual device “RevPiTimer”. The “RevPiTimer” is a timer clock that switches on and off to the minute on a weekly basis. There are 16 switching times available for each RevPiTimer. However, you can also use several RevPiTimers if 16 switching times are not sufficient.
We set the following switching times:
| #Timer | Switch on | Switch off | ||
| Day | Time | Day | Time | |
| 1 | Mon – Fri | 07:00 | Mon – Fri | 17:00 |
| 2 | Sa | 10:00 | Sa | 10:15 |
Open your web browser.
- Enter the IP address of your RevPi Connect in the address box of your browser.
The log-in window opens.
- Login with the user name “admin”.
- Enter your password. You will find the sticker on the side of your RevPi Connect
- Click on “Login”
You can now see the current status of your RevPi Connect.
- Click “Apps” tab.
- Click the start button behind the entry “PiCtory” to start PiCtory.
PiCtory opens.
- Open the folder “Virtual Devices” in the device catalog and select “RevPiTimer”
- Drag and drop it onto the Configuration Board.
- Click “File>Save” to save the configuration.
- Click “Tools>Reset Driver”. This activates the changes for the adapter.
Programming the timer
Each timer consists of a switch-on and a switch-off time..
| Timer | Variabel | Meaning |
| 1 | T1_ON_active_day | Activate bit field: on days and active or inactive |
| 1 | T1_ON_hour | Switch on hours 00 to 24 |
| 1 | T1_ON_minute | Switch on minutes 00 to 59 |
| 1 | T1_OFF_active_day | Switch off bit field: on days and active or inactive |
| 1 | T1_OFF_hour | Switch off hours 00 to 24 |
| 1 | T1_OFF_minute | Switch off minutes 00 to 59 |
| 2 | T2_ON_active_day | Activate bit field: on days and active or inactive |
| 2 | T1_ON_hour | Switch on hours 00 to 24 |
| 2 | T1_ON_minute | Switch on minutes 00 to 59 |
| 2 | T1_OFF_active_day | Switch off bit field: on days and active or inactive |
| 2 | T1_OFF_hour | Switch off hours 00 to 24 |
| 2 | T1_OFF_minute | Switch off minutes 00 to 59 |
| … | ||
| 16 | T16_ON_active_day | Activate bit field: on days and active or inactive |
| … |
The bit field for the days and the active switching is coded as follows
T1_ON_active_day and T1_OFF_active_day
| Bit | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Value | active | Son | Sat | Fri | Thu | Wed | Tue | Mon |
For our example we have to enter the following values:
Timer1
Days: Mon – Fri + active, Time: 7:00 to 17:00 o’clock
| Bit | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Value | active | Sun | Sat | Fri | Thu | Wed | Tue | Mon |
| Mon-Fri | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
This results in the binary value “10011111”. This corresponds to the decimal value “159”. This value must be written to the process image later on.
Therefore, following values have to be written into the process image for Timer1:
| Variabel | Value |
| T1_ON_active_day | 159 |
| T1_ON_hour | 7 |
| T1_ON_minute | 0 |
| T1_OFF_active_day | 159 |
| T1_OFF_hour | 17 |
| T1_OFF_minute | 0 |
You can do this with the tool “piTest”, for example. .
Open the command line and write following commands:
piTest –w T1_ON_active_day,159 piTest –w T1_ON_hour,7 piTest –w T1_ON_minute,0 piTest –w T1_OFF_active_day,159 piTest –w T1_OFF_hour,17 piTest –w T1_OFF_minute,0
Timer2
Days: Saturady + active, Time: 10:00 to 10:15 o’clock
| Bit | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Value | active | Sun | Sat | Fri | Thu | Wed | Tue | Mon |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
This results in the binary value “10100000”. This corresponds to the decimal value “160”.
Therefore, following values have to be written into the process image for Timer2:
| Variabel | Value |
| T2_ON_active_day | 160 |
| T2_ON_hour | 10 |
| T2_ON_minute | 0 |
| T2_OFF_active_day | 160 |
| T2_OFF_hour | 10 |
| T2_OFF_minute | 15 |
Open the command line and write following commands:
piTest –w T2_ON_active_day,160 piTest –w T2_ON_hour,10 piTest –w T2_ON_minute,0 piTest –w T2_OFF_active_day,160 piTest –w T2_OFF_hour,10 piTest –w T2_OFF_minute,15
Query timer events
The variable “TimerStatus” indicates whether a timer event is currently active. This is a bit field with 16 bits.
If the bit is set, the timer is on. If the bit is not set, the timer is off.
TimerStatus
| Bit | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| TimerNr | Timer8 | Timer7 | Timer6 | Timer5 | Timer4 | Timer3 | Timer2 | Timer1 |
| Bit | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 |
| TimerNr | Timer16 | Timer15 | Timer14 | Timer13 | Timer12 | Timer11 | Timer10 | Timer9 |
To write a program that responds to Timer1, you can do the following, for example:
Find out where the Timer1 bit is located in the process image:
piTest -v TimerStatus variable name: TimerStatus offset: 11 length: 16 bit: 0
There you go!It is in byte 11, first bit!
Query this bit:
piTest -g 11,0 Get bit 0 at offset 11. Value 0
If you only want to output the value without text, so that you can process it in a script, you can simply query it like this:
piTest –q -g 11,0 0
Set Timer inactive
Switching the timer inactive means that the switching times are not overwritten but also not executed.
If you want to disable a timer you can do this by deleting the respective “Active” bit in the variable “T1_ON_active_day” and “T1_OFF_active_day”.
Find out where our variables are in the process image:
piTest -v T1_ON_active_day variable name: T1_ON_active_day offset: 13 length: 8 bit: 0 piTest -v T1_OFF_active_day variable name: T1_OFF_active_day offset: 16 length: 8 bit: 0
The offsets are therefore as follows:
T1_ON_active_day: 13
T1_OFF_active_day: 16
Set switch-on and switch-off time inactive:
piTest -s 16,7,0 Set bit 7 on byte at offset 16. Value 0 piTest -s 13,7,0 Set bit 7 on byte at offset 13. Value 0
Variants
You only want to define a switch-on time but no switch-off time? No problem! Set the “active bit” only at switch-on time and omit it at switch-off time.
In the example for Timer1 you can change it like this:
piTest -s 16,7,1 Set bit 7 on byte at offset 16. Value 1 piTest -s 13,7,0 Set bit 7 on byte at offset 13. Value 0