Advice The Home Improvement/Automation Thread

Yeah, you can run Frigate in docker and just point HA to it. I mean, supposedly you can. I tried a few months back but couldn't get shit working. However, I have about zero knowledge about Frigate so it was almost certainly 100% my fault.
the frigate proxy works great. Also i got my TPU up and running. 8x 4k cameras, full recording, motion detect, cat, dog, person, car, truck detect.

12% cpu. TPU rocks.

Gotta add package detection and hopefully license plate and face recog next.
 
@Mr. Argumentor

Ramp/soak PID controller is the way to go - I've got a couple of Omega CN7500s that'd do the job. Whatever one you pick, make sure the thing takes a suitable thermistor/thermocouple that can handle the kiln temperature.

Now the CN7500 user interface is garbage. Most controllers like this are. I hook mine up to a PC and use their software to configure it because the front panel interface sucks so bad. There's probably better choices.

Don't worry about switching 240V in the controller, using a separate SSR or even a mechanical relay is fine.
 
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@Mr. Argumentor

Ramp/soak PID controller is the way to go - I've got a couple of Omega CN7500s that'd do the job. Whatever one you pick, make sure the thing takes a suitable thermistor/thermocouple that can handle the kiln temperature.

Now the CN7500 user interface is garbage. Most controllers like this are. I hook mine up to a PC and use their software to configure it because the front panel interface sucks so bad. There's probably better choices.

Don't worry about switching 240V in the controller, using a separate SSR or even a mechanical relay is fine.
I'll look into them, thanks

Ease of use is going to be as important as anything else in this. At least two are going to one of my wife's friends and I don't want to have to field her phone calls whenever she forgets how to do this. Same for my wife's usage as well, really.
With that in mind, how bad is "garbage"? Like, hot stinky, New Jersey barge in the middle of the hottest week of summer, or just sitting on the curb waiting to be picked up?
 
@gee

So I picked up more kilns today. These are gonna be for the wife to use, she wants to get back into glass work stuff. For glass we're going to have to setup a feedback circuit that gets the internal temp from the kiln in order to control temp, and allow it to ramp down from X to Y and hold, then ramp from Y to Z and hold, then shut off.
The only control on these things right now is what the kiln guy called "an infinite switch" which appears to just let you set the amperage through the coils then does your basic bang-bang control through bimetallic strips.

Depending on what is easiest, I'd like to be able to get rid of the infinite switch and just hook up a PD or PID controller and let it hum along.

I can source the pyrometer through my guys at school, but do you have any ideas of what I should be looking for in regards to the controller? I've got half a dozen of these little bastards, all 120V, so I'd like to find something that is relatively cheap.
I followed this for a PID-control oven, and was planning to build my own enclosure before my shitty oven's controller died, now it just sits on my wall and controls the oven in the garage: https://www.powdercoatguide.com/2014/09/how-to-build-powder-coating-oven-part-ii.html
 
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@wetwille is perhaps actually an expert in this area
This is true - expert layperson. I've been maintaining my step-daughter's old pottery kilns for last 18 years and my(5 workers) for last 8. And have done several mods. Some of those kilns may be only rated for cone 6, hence my comment on k23 or k28 brick. If only rated to cone 6 he'll destroy them quickly trying to melt metal. The rating is on the manufacturer's plate. Even cheaper cone 10 kilns will struggle with metal unless spec'd for "true cone 10" which some will call cone 12(it's made up). And you really want Kanthal elements to take that kind of a beating. You can pick up a bare-bones Orton** circuit board PID for about $150 - will need thermcouple(type k) and a transformer and relays. It's nice that it already makes sense for people doing glass or you can switch to a pottery or metal clay program. Generic PIDs are nice but other people will throw up their hands at helping you if they can't relate to your gear.
*Kiln brick will melt if gotten hot enough - seen that ;)
**Dr.Orton developed that lovely cone system for pottery. Orton and Bartlett make equally good shiite. They make LCD screened, wi-fi compatible controllers but they start around $750.
 
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@Mr. Argumentor

Ramp/soak PID controller is the way to go - I've got a couple of Omega CN7500s that'd do the job. Whatever one you pick, make sure the thing takes a suitable thermistor/thermocouple that can handle the kiln temperature.

Now the CN7500 user interface is garbage. Most controllers like this are. I hook mine up to a PC and use their software to configure it because the front panel interface sucks so bad. There's probably better choices.

Don't worry about switching 240V in the controller, using a separate SSR or even a mechanical relay is fine.
The mechanical relays wear out real fast with glass work - you have to ramp so friggin slow. Like, I have to ramp at 45f/hr on my bigger pieces., like 1.5 seconds on, 10 seconds off. Then work times of 7-12 hours once I reach the top temp. Then annealing hold and ramps to move through the actual anneal slowly and then cool take almost 2 days. 10's of thousands of clicks for one piece. SSRs - but please encourage him to build in lots of headroom, they lose carrying capacity real quickly under ambient heat and their own. Like, I use two 40 amp ssrs per kiln and each is only carrying 7.5-8 amp. They get mildly warm. I installed a laptop fan just in case since the controllers run off 12v.
Oh, and the sound of mechanical relays is like being in a cuckoo clock shop if you have several kilns going. It's not that comforting after you've had one freeze ON. *You don't notice it didn't click off ;)
 
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Alternate answer on controller. Look for a badly damaged kiln on craigs or FB marketplace and snag the digital controller and all connectors. Manufacturers make some nice connector shit that is hard to find, particularly where the elements hook up. I've got entire controllers for $150-200 by hunting. One was NOS, still factory sealed with everything - cabinet, cord, thermocouple, transformer. That was dumb - someone should have tried to outbid me.
 
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The mechanical relays wear out real fast with glass work - you have to ramp so friggin slow. Like, I have to ramp at 45f/hr on my bigger pieces., like 1.5 seconds on, 10 seconds off. Then work times of 7-12 hours once I reach the top temp. Then annealing hold and ramps to move through the actual anneal slowly and then cool take almost 2 days. 10's of thousands of clicks for one piece. SSRs - but please encourage him to build in lots of headroom, they lose carrying capacity real quickly under ambient heat and their own. Like, I use two 40 amp ssrs per kiln and each is only carrying 7.5-8 amp. They get mildly warm. I installed a laptop fan just in case since the controllers run off 12v.
Oh, and the sound of mechanical relays is like being in a cuckoo clock shop if you have several kilns going. It's not that comforting after you've had one freeze ON. *You don't notice it didn't click off ;)
Ok yeah, I didn't realize that kiln firings take that long. Definitely go with the SSR.

And agreed on SSR heat. Get one that comes on a heatsink already with a means of mounting it. They drop a couple volts and at 30A (say) that's 60W of heat you have to dissipate. A vertical heatsink and passive cooling is fine, but make sure the whole box containing the SSR is well ventilated. I wouldn't get clever trying to mount one to a CPU cooler or anything, just buy the big dumb heatsink.
 
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Ok yeah, I didn't realize that kiln firings take that long. Definitely go with the SSR.

And agreed on SSR heat. Get one that comes on a heatsink already with a means of mounting it. They drop a couple volts and at 30A (say) that's 60W of heat you have to dissipate. A vertical heatsink and passive cooling is fine, but make sure the whole box containing the SSR is well ventilated. I wouldn't get clever trying to mount one to a CPU cooler or anything, just buy the big dumb heatsink.
That 60w feels about right. Like a small incandescent is inside.
His metal melting would be ok with mechanicals since that poor kiln is going on and pretty much staying there for the duration. One exception to that is if you have a graphite crucible and have placed chonks of metal in - you want to heat those slowly and reach in and move them about gently until say 800f, so they have finished expanding for most part. Otherwise, they can get jammed together and break the crucible. Safer to melt one chunk half way and add pieces, like melting chocolate, no jams.
Oh, most of those kilns, with say 40 lbs of metal and a crucible in it will take probably 6-7 hours of continuous running to get to 2000f. Empty they might be able to do 1000f upward per hour.
 
the frigate proxy works great. Also i got my TPU up and running. 8x 4k cameras, full recording, motion detect, cat, dog, person, car, truck detect.

12% cpu. TPU rocks.

Gotta add package detection and hopefully license plate and face recog next.
Are you using Unraid? Cause maybe I need to pick your brain on how to set it up.
 
Are you using Unraid? Cause maybe I need to pick your brain on how to set it up.
I am, unraid is pretty awesome, and I thought I would hate that its this appliance OS based on slackware that i cant fuck around with under the hood, but so far it just works.
 
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So how in the fuck do I setup Frigate up to work? :lol:
I mean, ideally they come equipped with a pretty wide range of armaments which would make them, if not ideal, at least suitable for just about any combat situation they happen to engage in.

Nowadays with current Naval CONOPS, they're generally just a part of a larger support fleet for an aircraft carrier, because unless it's a sub, the USN treats every ship as a part of a CSG.
 
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i assume you have community applications installed.

Get GPU Statistics up and running as a first step

 
The install the nvidia version of frigate, following this guide

 
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also, buy a coral, and an adapter if needed. I bought the dual coral just for futureproofing, and a 1x pci-e adapter to house it in (its m.2 e-key... which is not common).

If you can get a USB coral, thats obviously easiest.... but theyve been outta stock everywhere for 8 months
 
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