When “Stay at Home” has you thinking of completely unnecessary projects.
Finally got the soda machine all tied into my Hubitat thanks to the community. I couldn't be more thrilled and wanted to thank everyone for their idea's to make it happen. And yes, this post does mean there is free beer in my back yard. Just let me know your are a fellow Hubitatian and you are welcome.
The Cliffs Notes version is that I added 3 Zooz ZEN16 relays, which gave me control of all 8 selections from my Hubitat. Now, this happens.
The key to getting all this working was changing my soda machine’s settings to free-vend mode. My particular Royal Vendors Merlin soda machine let me set the price for each selection to 0.00. This made automating a button press all that was necessary to initiate the vending cycle. An issue with trying to control any other devices in the machine is that they are all interconnected. For example, the vending motor turns off after the vibration sensor receives a hit as a beverage is dispensed. So free-vend mode was the clean way to go, as I didn’t have to account for any other components.
For the Merlin model, each button passes a 5vDC current to the control board, which initiates the vending cycle. The board sees any voltage as a trigger, not just 5vdc. So, some of my initial efforts failed. Then, I tried the Zooz ZEN16 Multi-Relay (based on a recommendation from the Hubitat community) and quickly realized I should have started with that. With three relays on each unit, I did some hard math, and concluded I’d need three of them to control my eight selection buttons.
By the same hard math, I realized one of my relays would have an extra slot available. So, the winner of the unused relay was the compressor by way of the thermostat. In keeping the thermostat circuit open, the compressor stays off, and I can control energy usage during my electrical demand rate extortion period (whoops, did I say that out loud?). I currently have the machine on a Z-wave outlet but I’m not a fan of daily power cycling. Doing it this way instead, I can still use the machine all day.
The ZEN16 was easy to install once I fully understood the unit. And I wish to give a shout-out to @agnes.zooz for the relay 101 course. Once she explained how to hook everything up, it was very simple. The bottom line is the switch inputs take no voltage. If utilized, however, they trigger the relay depending on how you have the switch/button defined in Hubitat. For my application, I set them to garage door mode, which is essentially a two-second button press. Of course Hubitat can control the relays independent of the button inputs as well.
The ZEN16 closes the nominal 5vDC circuit for the buttons flawlessly, while concurrently handling a high amperage AC circuit for the compressor. Hats off to Zooz for this little bad boy, the ZEN16 isn’t simply a device, it’s a multipurpose tool. I think my adjustable bed that I lost the remote for years ago is next….
After the relays were sorted out, I figured the machine’s signage lighting was next. The door light on has always bugged me as it lit up the whole backyard at night. I initially wanted to use my extra 9th relay for the fluorescent lights in the door, but I ripped all that out and put in high-density 5000k LED strips, driven by an RGBgenie single-channel Z-Wave controller. I can now dim the door’s display light. I am sure the neighbors behind me will appreciate it.
I also added an RGBgenie Z-Wave remote to control the lighting. With its magnetic backing it will live on the Soda Machine. I added the thermostat [compressor] circuit and the outlet to the remote as well. That left me with 8 buttons left over. And you guessed it, someday I want this to happen . But in all seriousness, the response from the remote through Hubitat is ridiculous. It’s just as fast as pressing the button on the machine.
Another thing I did was put the Kiltlifter (a local Tempe beer I like) on my geo-location so when I am away from home, it is disabled. Sorry (adult) kids, you can’t have dad’s beer.
I'm actually thinking of getting a 4th ZEN16 and hooking the vibration sensor to it. If it doesn’t sense a drop within X amount of seconds of any relay being triggered then Hubitat would know a selection is empty. All kinds of possibilities here and humorous ideas are welcome.
If someone has (or wants to get) a Royal Vendors machine for this project, here are some of the stumbling blocks I ran into.
- The spade connectors for the buttons are the .187” design, and not the standard .250” you find at Home Depot. Don’t waste your time trying to get these to work. My local Ace Hardware has rows of oddball items, and this is where I found the correct connectors.
- You will need to change the switch mode in Hubitat to do any programming on the Merlin. The machine uses the selection buttons to program pricing, soda depth, etc. With the relays installed and set to garage door mode, using the buttons to program the soda machine blew past some parameters. So you will need to change this in Hubitat, or temporarily disconnect the relays, if you configure anything on the machine.
- Solder dip the wires before securing them to devices.
- Make sure your control board matches your model. Mine didn’t, and I spent hours trying to find menu settings that didn’t exist. Parts’ swapping is common for these older units.
- Put product labels in the dispensing buttons before you wire everything up. I didn’t, and am not looking forward to undoing it all just for the labels.
- While you are in the unit rip out the fluorescent lighting. These old ballasts throw off a ton of RF. So much, they have been known to fry the control boards. It takes less than 5 minutes and is well worth it. Get a good, high-density 5000k or 5500k white LED strip for the door lighting. Because the door is CMYK printed Plexiglas, you don’t want any white light color shift. A warm white will give you yellow ice cubes in the image, yuck.
- Regarding Alexa, I found that when I set my Alexa routine to be polite, she wants to add that beverage item to my shopping list. So if I say “Alexa, may I please have a Pabst Blue Ribbon” half the time she gives me a beer and the other half insists on adding it to my lists. Ironically if I am rude, I am batting a 1000. “Alexa, give me a Coors” works every time. Huh? Oh heck no, if my Mother heard me talk like that…..
Parts List
- 1x Hubitat
- 3x Zooz ZEN16 Relays – Z-Wave Plus
- 1x RGBgenie single-channel 8 amp LED controller – Z-Wave Plus
- 1x RGBgenie Z-Wave remote control - Z-Wave Plus
- 2x 10 foot high density 5000k white strips.
- 1x 3-way barrel connector splitter for the relay’s power
- 1x 20 amp power supply with three outputs. (had on hand)
- Various connectors and 16 gauge wire for the selection switches and selection relays.
- 1x crimping tool which I should have bought years ago. ($10 at Harbor Freight).
- Outdoor rated double-sided tape for mounting the relays, power supply, and LED controller. I didn’t want them just lying in the bottom of the door cabinet in case of water intrusion as the unit is outside.
