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This is dangerously close to being off-topic but it would be good to hear from people interested in PLC4X: I would really like to see home appliance manufactur

This is dangerously close to being off-topic but it would be good to hear from people interested in PLC4X: I would really like to see home appliance manufacturers extend their products with a simple 2.n IO pin interface at the back. Absolutely minimal. For example: a kettle could have an input pin to turn it on/off and an output pin that just writes whether it is on or not. A simple 4-pin interface on the back in this case. An ice-machine that has three size options and an on/off switch. The classic case of the bean-to-cup coffee machine. Does anyone know if there is a standard (for manufactures) for this sort of thing? If this was a standard that added a dollar or 3 to appliances one could plug-in some IOT board that allows for Home-assistant or similar integration. Of course I've completely ignored the question of whether or not a market exists.

ZiiS 5y ago
Adding physical connectors to mains voltage devices operated near water has significant costs. Wireless has managed to cater for this segment though still severely lacking standardization.
wiseleo 5y ago
I am interested in that, but my approach is more of a modchip on top of the existing board. It's not that difficult to intercept SPI and I2C in-circuit and thus enable IoT capability for legacy appliances.
DannyBee 5y ago
The standard you probably want is IO-Link, or close to it. It was meant to bring a bit of smarts to the standard 3-wire sensors and basic actuation pins, with 100% backwards compatibility. So you have a standard analog temperature sensor that outputs 4-20ma on its pins. With IO-Link, it still does that, but if you hook it up to an io-link master, you can just read the temperature directly in C/F on the same pins. Or adjust the calibration. Or … It's not a perfect match, mind you, but i think it's pretty close.
Maxious 5y ago
There is a sort of this thing for demand response - ie. the electricity company urgently needs to reduce load and are willing to pay you for it. Of course, the appliance manufacturers have to provide a way for electricity companies that use different communication protocols to have this control. Enter AS/NZS 4755 which uses a RJ-45 connector - if you pull the DRM1 pin to ground, the device turns off.
pjc50 5y ago
The industry equivalents are probably something like MODBUS or CAN. But a kettle which has enough electronics in it to support an isolated waterproof low-voltage control connection instead of the cheap mechanical system would be significantly more expensive. Also, nobody wants a wiring loom for their kitchen. If you have to do it, do it over zigbee or something.
- p_l 5y ago
  A lot is being done on Zigbee/Z-wave plus MQTT
epaulson 5y ago
This is a level or two up the stack and I think it's more "meet in the cloud", but the Home Connectivity Alliance was just kicked off at CES to make appliances more interoperable: https://staceyoniot.com/will-a-new-standard-for-smart-appliances-matter/ https://staceyoniot.com/will-a-new-standard-for-smart-applia...

ZiiS 5y ago

Adding physical connectors to mains voltage devices operated near water has significant costs. Wireless has managed to cater for this segment though still severely lacking standardization.

wiseleo 5y ago

I am interested in that, but my approach is more of a modchip on top of the existing board. It's not that difficult to intercept SPI and I2C in-circuit and thus enable IoT capability for legacy appliances.

DannyBee 5y ago

The standard you probably want is IO-Link, or close to it. It was meant to bring a bit of smarts to the standard 3-wire sensors and basic actuation pins, with 100% backwards compatibility. So you have a standard analog temperature sensor that outputs 4-20ma on its pins. With IO-Link, it still does that, but if you hook it up to an io-link master, you can just read the temperature directly in C/F on the same pins. Or adjust the calibration. Or … It's not a perfect match, mind you, but i think it's pretty close.

Maxious 5y ago

There is a sort of this thing for demand response - ie. the electricity company urgently needs to reduce load and are willing to pay you for it. Of course, the appliance manufacturers have to provide a way for electricity companies that use different communication protocols to have this control. Enter AS/NZS 4755 which uses a RJ-45 connector - if you pull the DRM1 pin to ground, the device turns off.

pjc50 5y ago

The industry equivalents are probably something like MODBUS or CAN. But a kettle which has enough electronics in it to support an isolated waterproof low-voltage control connection instead of the cheap mechanical system would be significantly more expensive. Also, nobody wants a wiring loom for their kitchen. If you have to do it, do it over zigbee or something.

p_l 5y ago
A lot is being done on Zigbee/Z-wave plus MQTT

epaulson 5y ago

This is a level or two up the stack and I think it's more "meet in the cloud", but the Home Connectivity Alliance was just kicked off at CES to make appliances more interoperable: https://staceyoniot.com/will-a-new-standard-for-smart-appliances-matter/ https://staceyoniot.com/will-a-new-standard-for-smart-applia...