Phidgets are low-cost, versatile sensors that can be used for a wide range of applications. They even have their own Node-RED suite of nodes!
With Edge MC, users can instrument their entire shop floor with low expense and overhead. However, using the nodes requires installing, configuring, and running a local server to compile the sensor outputs.
The secret to easy installation is the Wireless VINT Hub. The Wireless hub runs this server by default, so it can pipe sensor data directly to Node-RED either over Wi-Fi, a targeted client, or local Ethernet.
Configuring the wireless hub is easy - the hub will automatically open its own Wi-Fi access point. After accessing the hub’s Control Panel via the web browser, a user can connect the hub directly to their Edge MC via the local network. Consult the hub documentation for more information.
Now, connecting your sensors and getting them into Tulip is as easy as connecting Phidgets’ nodes. In the photo below, the hub is connected to Node-RED/the Edge MC as a WiFi client with IP address 10.0.3.2. That being said, we think the easiest way to connect here is still over LAN - that way, you can still configure wired and wireless networks independently of each other.
Note that four separate sensors are connected and piping data to Tulip; a Sound sensor, an Accelerometer, a Humidity sensor, and a Current sensor.
(A note: since the Current sensor outputs a voltage signal, it needed a small formula to convert DC voltage to DC current. We also added a deadband filter to only return values more than 5% different than the previous.)
