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Web tool for RPICT configuration on Raspberry Pi

The web tool aim to make the configuration of the RPICT units easier.

There are two pages in this tool.

  • Basic Configuration
  • Full Configuration

There are four control button at the top.

Icons of RPICT web tool

They respectively do:

  • Load configuration from file.
  • Load configuration from Raspberrypi.
  • Upload configuration to the Raspberrypi.
  • Save configuration to file.

Installation

This might already be done if you have followed the Raspberrypi first time use setup.

Get the package:

wget lechacal.com/RPICT/tools/lcl-rpict-package_latest.deb

Install it with

sudo dpkg -i lcl-rpict-package_latest.deb

Run the server

To run the server just launch the command below

lcl-server.sh

You can now access the web interface from any computer/device on your network with the address

http://raspberrypi:8000

or

http://ip-address:8000

From there it is possible to configure the RPICT unit directly from the web interface without going through the lcl-rpict-config.py command.

Basic Configuration page

Use the basic configuration for very standard usage of the RPICT unit. i.e. using the RPICT board with their intended sensors.

This page produces configurations with these conditions.

  • All RPICT unit with a voltage port do use a voltage sensor.
  • All slaves are rated the same as masters (e.g. all are 100A).
  • All slaves are RPICT8.
  • Current/Voltage pairing are arbitrary - We have chosen this for you based on the number of slaves and sensors. See the section Sensors Pairing to see what they are. If you prefer changing then use the full configuration instead.

Use the basic configuration as template

It is probably too cumbersome to start a full configuration from scratch. A nice workflow for this is

  • Create a basic configuration and make it as close as possible to the final configuration.
  • Save it to a file.
  • Open that file in the Full Configuration page.
  • Edit the amendment you need there.

For example if you have a RPICT7V1 in 100A and a slave RPICT8 30A. Just build a RPICT7V1 + 1 slave for 100A in the basic configuration. Then use the full configuration to modify the slave from 100A to 30A.

/!\ Note. A configuration generated in the basic page can always be opened in the full configuration page. However the opposite is not possible. Opening a configuration edited in the full page will miss information when opened in the basic page.

Full Configuration page

Full configuration for RPICT hat

The Full Configuration Page allow the full potential of the RPICT card.

Computation Nodes

Nodes are computation programs running inside the arduino chip. They produce different result and use different sensors.

They have to be defined by the user so they can run and compute rms value / powers etc. Defining a node only create a set of values available. You then hae to chose in Output Channels which of these values you would like to see in the output stream.

Single Node

This is the most simple node that uses only one port. It can be a voltage or current port (most of the time a current one).

It produced the rms value from that one port. Also an estimated power can be produced if this is a current port. Outputs

  • Irms or Vrms
  • Estimated Power

The RPICT8 commonly uses this node as it has not voltage port.

Power Node

This a very common node fro computing power using a voltage sensor. It requires two ports. One Volatge and one current. It combined both of them to create a set of output values.

Outputs

  • Active Power (also called Real Power).
  • Apparent Power
  • Reactive Power
  • Power Factor
  • Irms
  • Vrms

The RPICT7V1 commonly uses this node. So does the RPICT4V3 when opting for individual phase computation.

Three Phase Node

This is very similar to the Power node except that it runs three Voltage/Current pairs at the same time. Thus providing 3 phase values that were computed exactly together. It requires six ports. Three voltages and three currents.

Outputs

  • Active Power (also called Real Power).
  • Apparent Power
  • Reactive Power
  • Power Factor
  • Irms
  • Vrms

The RPICT4V3 commonly uses this node.

Frequency Node

This node compute only frequency and only uses one channel port (which is always a voltage port normally).

Outputs

  • Frequency

This node if normally only used with RPICT7V1 and RPICT4V3.

Output Channels

This is were the output stream is configured. You can select all the available values that you want to see in the output there.

Note it is possible to have some node running that do not output anything. For performance concern it is usually better to remove these nodes. Reducing the number of nodes increases the data output update rate.

Hardcoded Configuration

This section is for the most advanced users who are confident with compiling Arduino code.

This tool generates arduino code based on the configuration. The great benefit of this is to free up a lot of memory and have the arduino perform more complex configurations. Also this is a great way to ship the usage of eeprom memory and have the mcu more robust and avoid configuration corruptions.

There you can download the Arduino code. This code should be loaded in the Arduino IDE for compilation.

The RPICTlib is needed. RPICTlib

Also this guide below might help. Upload Arduino sketch from Raspberrypi to RPICT