Idag fick jag ännu en förfrågan om jag har tillgång till protokollet för IVT’s värmepumpar. Det korta svaret på denna fråga är nej. Det långa svaret är “nej, men det verkar inte vara ett komplicerat protokoll”.

Följande är det det jag minns från då jag undersökte IVT’s kommunikation. Om det stämmer för andra än den pump som jag har vet jag inte.

• Gränssnittet är normal RS232 kommunikation.
• Varje datapaket består av nio byte; stx, cmd, sex data bytes, samt kontrollsumman (XOR av datat)

Jag har inte sparat de anteckningar jag gjorde då jag först undersökte möjligheten att själv kommunicera med pumpen då det för min del inte är värt besväret. Statlink, programmet som Peter Hansson har skrivit kan ju redan kommunicera med de flesta av IVT:s pumpar och programmet kan dessutom exportera all nödvändig data till fil i drift så det känns som att uppfinna hjulet igen. Dessutom säljer han programmet så billigt att det inte är lönt att lägga ned tid på att göra det själv.

Jag lade istället min energi på att skriva ett grafprogram samt ett annat program som läser in det exporterade datat och för över det till en MySQL databas.

Så tyvärr min kära läsare, jag har inte tillgång till IVT:s protokoll.

Jag har nu försökt att få Statlink att fungera under Wine, men tyvärr lyckades det inte. Vad som går fel vet jag inte säkert, men det ser ut som om det har med grafiken att göra.

I’ve just uploaded a beta 1 version of the flat file to database conversion tool I’ve been working on. You can download it here: (beta download no longer available)

To run it you’ll need to extract the files to a folder of your choice an then edit the settings. The “settings.xml” that comes with the archive is setup to work with the files produced by Husdata.se’s Statlink software, as well as Lämpömittari (although I have yet to verify this).

The configuration should be pretty self explanatory. There are really only a few settings you’ll need to change; the FlatFileToDb/DatabaseConnection/* and the FlatFileToDb/DateSortedFiles/RootPath settings.

If you’re going to use this software with Statlink, you’re now all set. Users trying to get it to work with Lämpömittari need to edit the FlatFileToDb/DateSortedFiles/* settings as the filenames are likely not the same as Lämpömittari produces.

I don’t recommend changing the <../File/RegExp>-tags unless you really know how regular expressions works.

Once you have the settings sorted, you can now use the SQL script file that comes with the archive to create the required database on your MySQL server. If you’re not using the default configuration in the FlatFileToDb/DateSortedFiles/ section you’ll have to create your own database with associated tables.

There are two modes the application can run in; Auto parsing and manual. To enable the auto parsing mode you’ll have to start the application using the command switch “/auto”, ie. “c:\path\FlatFileToDatabase.exe /auto”. When in auto mode, most of the user interface is disabled.

Exiting the application can only be done using the exit-button, other ways (ALT-F4 etc.) will only hide the application window; it will then only be available through a double-click on the applications icon the notification area (or Systray, depending on who you ask) on your Start-bar.

Even though I doubt that by using this application you put you and yours in danger (or your files for that matter), you use this software at your own risk.

Peter, over at husdata.se, has released a new version of his software for the IVT heatpumps. The major improvement is the ability to place the status labels on a custom background, so that you can create your own view of your installation - very nice! Since he hasn’t posted any screen shots on this feature, I’ve added a screen shot from my own setup so you can see what it is all about. I made the background image in SketchUp, a very easy-to-use 3D rendering program.

Another new feature that has been added are graphs for the temperature readings, also a nice thing to have. Depending on which features Peter intends to implement TWatch might become obsolete… I’ve had some thoughts to move from todays flat-file database to a SQL database to both increse the parsing speed and to ease the addition of new featers to TWatch.

Lastly, I’ve ordered a few samples of the 1-Wire temperature sensors from Maxim and I’m going to try their .NET API, should be an interesting experiment.

Update: Someone else also liked the 3D model I made: Click me

After three visits they finally managed to fix the leak! Thankfully they manged to do it before the real winter hit us, shame they had to come three times - the second time to conclude what we concluded the first time and a third to fix it. *grumble*

The development on TWatch is a bit slow at the moment, but it is coming along. I sent out a test copy a while back, but the tester then went silent, guess he didn’t really care to test it…

The service guy is coming tomorrow to fix the leak that he supposedly fixed the last time he was here. I sure hope he gets it right this time! I just checked how much it has leaked the last few days and it is very little, but it does leak so something has to be done for sure.

Work continues on TWatch, it is seems stable so once I add a bit more error-handling it is time to start adding the fun stuff. The first thing I’m adding is network support - remote viewing.

Boo! The heat pump is still leaking Not much, but it still needs to be fixed. Again. Oh well, it is still functional so I’ve still got heated water and warm radiators….lets just hope it doesn’t totally break down when that huge storm they’ve been talking about on the news hits us…

The user ‘köldmedie’ over at Husdata.se’s forums wanted some statistics for a system with a volume tank….here’s mine for the last five days.

The repairman came this morning and fixed the leak. Hopefully it’ll work as it should from now on.

My dear heat pump is leaking! Time to call the repair-man.
If you look closely, you can even see the drop in that thing to the right in the rightmost image. (click image to view a larger version)