More detailed manual

[GegoSK]

Hi,
Firstly, thank you very much for sharing this!

I have the same feeder and I would like to do the same thing. I have some (but small) skills with soldering but schemes are too much for me. Could you please add photos, where is visible both ends of each cables? Or anything dumbproof.
I do not have experience with custom PCB or ordering custom PCB. What should I sent to company? Just file: BOM Fisch Automat.csv?
I have Home Assistant with zigbee2mqtt. I think it should be compatibile, but I'd rather ask. Is it possible to pair it to z2m?

Thank you very much

[mhaid]

Hello Gego,

I think I can send you some more photos of the wiring next week.
So far I have only tested the Zigbee device with Homey. Next week I'll probably manage to test it with zigbee2mqqt as well.

Regarding the PCB order:
The whole thing works relatively simply by uploading the Gerber file (which is actually a ZIP archive). The file is called "Gerber Fisch Automat.zip" here
With some providers, a preview of the PCB is then displayed.

Soldering is a bit more difficult, though, because you have to reflow the surface-mounted components. Especially the CC2530 with its VQFN package is a bit tricky.
Great Scott has a nice video on this (don't worry, you don't need a reflow oven) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYrucIWig24

[GegoSK]

Hi Morris,
thank you for quick respond. Meanwhile, I contacted (random) local PCB manufacturer. Little more expensive than I thought,

It looked easier at the begining. Now, I am not sure, if I am able to manage everything.

[GegoSK]

Hi Morris,
I am still not sure if I am able to do it, but definitely I would like try it.
Thank you for video. I did some research. With solder paste (or even better with paste in syringe) is doable. I know, here is not right place for my noob questions. I am not sure if soldering will be possible with cheap hot air gun like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32884731818.html or https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000112533535.html. I do not have soldering station and I think it is overkill for occasionally soldering.

Before I order everything, I would like to see more detailed manual and photos. No hurry, take your time. I feel that there will be more tricky parts.

[mhaid]

Hello Gego,

I tested the feeder (finally) with Zigbee2mqtt and it worked fine for me :)
For the device to display properly in Zigbee2mqtt you need to add an external converter, I created one for the feeder. I will upload the files and a quick guide in the readme at the end of next week.

At the same time, I updated the feeder's firmware from Zigbee v1.2 to the newer Zigbee v3.0 standard. The new version also includes some improvements and bugfixes.

Reflow soldering should be possible with an airgun like this.
Also I added some more pictures of the cables and put them in the readme file.

[GegoSK]

Hello,
thank you very much for detailed photos. Did you uploaded all files and whole readme? I do not see anthing about external converter.

Right now, I am busy, but I am trying to get all necessary equipment.

[mhaid]

Hello,
you are right, the changes were not commited yet.
I just uploaded the changes, so you should be able to see them now:
https://github.com/mhaid/zigbee_fishfeeder/#zigbee2mqtt

BR, Morris

[GegoSK]

Hi @mhaid,
damn, it is two years now. I was busy. But I finally trying to order PCB (pcbway). I still do not know what I am doing ;) Hopefully I buy something what is usable for this project. I received two questions:

Most probably, those are misclicks. Could you please check it, eventualy correct them. Based on your documentation, correct values should be "5" and "1 kOhm". Am I right?

Thank you