Question about triggering Art Controller by RTC alarm before purchassing it

[gonzo]

Hi,

I am newbie and I have the following doubts before purchasing Art Controller, for if it will be suitable for my project.

I want to automatically turn on one arduino board on a specific date time (every day at 9am for example).

So my questions are:

– Could be Art controller triggered by one RTC external input signal (like the DS3231 chronodot for ex) to automatically power on every day at 9am?

– Is this is true, when Art controller is powered, how can I tell to arduino to power on? Bypassing the Art controller 9V power to arduino?, triggering to one switch (between arduino and 9V power) to turn on? (<- in this case what kind of swith).

Will work Art controller for this purpose?

Sorry for this newbies questions. I am not yet completely confortable in this electrical world

Thank you,

Gonzo

[Windell Oskay]

Hi Gonzo,

The Art Controller requires an incoming logic-low signal to trigger it.  The DS3231 does have an alarm output, and it looks to me as though its output is an “active low” type that would be appropriate for triggering the Art Controller (so long as you use a pull-up resistor, as described in the datasheet).

To power on an Arduino with the Art Controller, you can either use the same 9V DC power supply that you use to power the Art Controller, or a different one.  The simplest method would probably be to use the same power supply. Connect the + 9 V line both to the (+ side of the) Art Controller power supply input and to the “Common” port of its relay.  Connect the ground line both to the Arduino’s ground and to the (- side of the) Art Controller power supply input.  Add another wire from the “NO” port of the relay to the +9V input of the Arduino.

[gonzo]

Thank you for the prompt response Windell.

In that case this is just what I need. I am going to try it and comment here how it was.

For the cheap price of this circuit I have nothing to loose.

Regards,

[mtbf0]

why not just put the arduino into a low power sleep state and let the rtc wake it up directly?

[Windell Oskay]

It’s a fine idea if you have an Arduino variant that is capable of a low-power sleep mode.  The most common varieties do not, because they have additional (relatively power hungry) circuitry that runs all the time.  Something like an Arduino Pro or Diavolino can shut down much further, though.

[mtbf0]

yeah, i use a lot of rbbb’s and diavolinos.  it’s a shame there’s not a jumper on the leonardo to tell the 32u4 to turn itself off.

[gonzo]

Yes. I have already tried that. But it is not possible that approach on my project because I am using one Wifishield that is not shutting down when arduino goes to sleep. And wifishield is eating all the battery. I have further investigate that an seems that the only solution is to power down the whole boards-circuit-thing and them to power up at specific time… for example with Art Controller + Chronodot

Art controller is on the way to home, so I will update how it was.

Regards

[Author]

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