Remote control and monitoring of a diesel generator

[Jensemann23]

I am beginner (totally) , and I have the following wishes:

I want to remotely (Via internet) start a 230 V AC diesel generator, and monitor fuel level, oil pressure, start battery voltage and coolant temperature.
The engine has a 12V solenoid valve, which must be powered to start and keep the engine running, so as soon as 12V to the solenoid is cut, the engine will come to a stop.
The starter motor is connected to a push-button, and needs to be depressed for 1-2 seconds to get the engine running.

I have a 4G wifi router with subscription.

What hardware do I need?

[pcmanbob]

Hi.

In my opinion having worked on standby generator control systems for over 35 years this in no project for a beginner.

You need to understand how to build and program your controls so that its fail safe, that is it will not cause a dangerous situation in the event of its failure.

You also need an understanding of the safety requirements for remotely starting generators so that you do not endanger a person working locally to the generator you are going to start remotely.

You also need a full and thorough understanding of the existing generator control system and be fully electrically qualified work on mains AC systems as you are going to be working in a control environment that has voltages ranging from 12V DC up to 240V AC.

As you have already stated " I am beginner (totally) " you obviously don't have the required knowledge or qualifications.

Mains 230V AC can and will kill you given a chance, and set fire to or otherwise destroy your house or generator.

[Burngate]

Remote monitoring: ok.
Remote control: NO

You don't say how big the generator is.

At race courses we used a couple of stand-alone generators (30kVA & 70kVA) as well as the ones built in to the scanners.
They were never operated without someone sitting in the cab.
That's because, as well as 240V AC floating around, there's also a large lump of iron whirling around, which can kill nosey teenagers who are bored by the horses

Horses can kill, too, but surprisingly they try not to, unlike lumps of iron.

[Jensemann23]

Ok, maybe I expressed myself wrong. I am a beginner in automation/programming, but I am an experienced engineer. The generator is located in a remote cabin in the woods, miles and miles from people. It is currently connected to a 1200 aH battery bank and a 5KW inverter/charger unit.
In addition to the generator there are 800 W of solar cells. In the winter time tho, the sun is not giving much of a charge, and I want to be able to start the generator to boost the bank, and also to be able to heat up the house prior to my arrival.
The generator is 13 KVA.

[Gavinmc42]

One of my first design jobs was redesigning an engine monitor, simplifing the 4 input digital logic circuit.
12 chips down to 7 chips, It pretty much convinced the boss to keep me and started my design career
It was used for hundreds/thousands of stationary diesel engines, pumping, generators etc.
Most of mine ended up on borehole pumps in the middle of the outback, not much to burn down

As long as the protection circuit does not rely on the Pi and software for shutdown then monitoring by Pi should be fine.
I prefer PiCore OS for jobs like this, got 4+ years of good results using it.

Remote starting?
Anyway to get a camera in there to check before firing it up.
Pi with Picamera and microphone over 4G?
Those shutoff solenoids needed to be held down when starting, robot arm/linear actuator?
Need to make that failsafe.

[Jensemann23]

Yes, I already have an IP camera with pan, tilt and audio.
The shut-off solenoid is spring loaded, I checked now. It is opposite of what I wrote yesterday, its not powered when engine is running, but powered when engine is shut down. (needs to be powered until engine has come to a comlete stop)

[hortimech]

Those shutoff solenoids needed to be held down when starting, robot arm/linear actuator?
Need to make that failsafe.

From what the OP posted it sounds like it is an ETR (Energise To RuN) solenoid, which, if it is, does failsafe. These usually have three wires going to them, earth, pull and hold. When starting the engine 12 volts at a fairly high amps is applied to the 'pull' wire, this operates the solenoid, pulling the plunger in and allows the engine to start. Once the engine has started, the power to the 'pull' wire is disconnected, but low amps are applied to the 'hold' wire which keeps the solenoid plunger held in and the engine running. If the high power was maintained to the 'pull' wire, the solenoid would burn out, but this would allow the solenoid to failsafe and the engine would stop, removing the power from the 'hold' wire also causes the engine to stop.

The other type of solenoid is an 'ETS' (Energise To Stop) and this works by applying high amps to it, which causes the solenoid to operate and pulls the engine into a stop position, power to these is disconnected after approx 15 secs or they will burn out.

[KevinSalyer]

I would suggest that you draw some form of a software flow diagram to determine the different states of your application(Start Generator)
for such applications a state machine, I would think is the best ways of getting the job done, as there is a couple of states involved and you have to react to these states and your software needs to know in which state the application is as small example you are in the starting state the starter motor is turning the diesel engine but the engine has a Mechnical problem in the diesel generator system so it does not start it just keeps on turning by the starter motor, how long will your software turn the starter and what will be the next step( logic decision). Then in your sample code do you really need to hang in the initboot function nearly 1.5 sec why are you doing this ? then in your code you use delay of 4 sec in this time the micro is doing nothing, if an emergency arrises on the engine your code can not react as it is hanging in a delay function, I guess my advice is stop to write code before you haven't considers all states of the application including safety aspects.

This source is about how to design monitor system for diesle generator set.

[masonc]

I would also like to get some ideas on monitoring a generator, but in this case I do not want to monitor the sensors. The generators have control panels with all that work done for you. I will program the control panel to output an alarm when there is a problem, and switch an output high when the generator is running. Other programmable outputs are available if I want to get more sophisticated but just knowing it is running, and knowing it is in alarm is enough.
So all I need is to monitor is two digital outputs from the controller, and send an email when one of those is true. What's the best way to monitor those outputs.
I'm an experienced generator technician, and I have written some Python for pi applications. If something already exists, I'd use that.

[Gavinmc42]

As a bit of protection for the Pi, just use some optocouplers.

I would use some shell script to monitor a GPIO pins.
Easy then to send an email via SMTP.
That's what I use running on PiCore Linux.

I used google to find shell script SMTP code, years ago.
I still get morning emails after about 5 years.
An old Pi B+ will be good enough.
Wired is a bit safer than wireless.

Why shell script?
I had bad experinces with Python.
Shell script called by Watch or Cron just works.

[Userfriendly]

It has taken me a long time to figure out a way to attach a raspberry pi to a Generator to monitor and remote control the machine.
And I have finally figured out a productive and cost effective way.
First of all you will require a DSE control on the generator to be able to access their free gateway web page.
Once the DSE control is set up the Diesel generator usual a DSE 7310 MK11 control panel https://powercontinuity.co.uk/knowledge ... ontroller/
Install the DSE gateway with included aerial.
You will need to purchase a pay as you go SIM card or pay monthly for the constant contention to the generator.
Or
Other option is using an ethernet cable from the gateway straight into the building therefore saving you a monthly cost of a SIM card.
Now that is set up you can monitor and control the diesel generator remotely.
For more accessibility and features attach a raspberry pi the the DSE gateway using a ethernet cable.
Download remote window software on the raspberry pi to access the full features free of charge.
This is the method I have been using on my Diesel Generators because monitor and remote control them from anywhere in the world.

Hope this helps.

DSE-webnet-webpage-powercontinuity.png (140.71 KiB) Viewed 269 times

DSE-webnet-webpage-engine-powercontinuity.png (157.15 KiB) Viewed 269 times