Hi,
since one of the last updates we have got a Reboot and E-Stop command. Why not also a Shutdown Command (Shutdown and Reboot could be one command with a parameter if reboot should be executed).
I am operating my FB with a solar panel, and in the evening when it goes off duty I always need to shutdown manually via the web app.
In combination with the “Shutdown” and “Startup” sequences that are automatically executed on those events, this would be a powerful way to customize shutdown and startup behavior, which is mandatory if running with solar power.
Thanks
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Are you powering with solar directly or do you have a battery in line with it?
I have a battery in line of course…
@mbuchberger1967 I think we can add this to the next release. It should not be too hard to add, but I will need to check a few things. I will let you know when an update is available.
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that sounds good 
thank you
@mbuchberger1967 Just got off of our daily call. After talking it over with @Gabriel, it seems like it will be very easy to add. We are going to add this feature to the next release. You can subscribe to our newsletter to be notified of the next big release.
@mbuchberger1967 I’m curious, do you also have to manually boot up the FarmBot in the morning, or does it come online on its own when the solar power kicks in? It would be interesting in future versions to add some hardware specifically for this kind of use case, such as a power-on header that you could hook a button to, an ambient light sensor, or a signal from some external system.
On another note, do you use the FarmBot to monitor the voltage of the system and if it drops below a threshold (on a cloudy day, for example) have it send you a message?
Sorry for that interrupt, but I also could profit from this function since my device is also running on solar power. In the past when the voltage dropped down to a certain level which was tracked by my home automation system, I simply cut farmbots supply cable with a relay. In the morning when the voltage came up, the relay turns on again and the bot is supplied and will boot up. I’ve never had problems with the SD card or the files on it, but it’s surely not good to turn the device off that way.
You could also connect the farmbot to the solar inverter which usually turns off all outputs to protect batteries from undervoltage. But I didn’t like the risk that this would turn off the device while performing a sequence.
Having some kind of a hardware add-on for solar powered devices would be great. Some people will be able to tinker something to get it work, but offering something that works directly, out of the box might be awesome.
@mbuchberger1967 uses the same home automation system as I do, but there are probably more devices running on solar power out there. Wasn’t one of your devices in your backyard also powered by solar @roryaronson? How did you control power outage when the battery is drained?
I sized the solar system and battery to generally not run out of power, though whenever it did, the inverter that the bot was plugged into would automatically shut off if the voltage was too low. As long as that happened at night I didn’t have to worry about a sequence being missed.
If the bot was supplied DC power directly from the battery (bypassing an inverter and the included AC power supply), then the Farmduino could have circuitry to measure voltage and overall energy consumption which could be reported to the Pi. The Pi (FarmBot) could then be programmed using the normal facilities to take actions based on certain voltages. 
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@mbuchberger1967 The feature has been added to the application. Once we are done with QA (plus some tasks that need to go out with the next release) it will be available in the sequence editor.
Hi all,
@roryaronson
As I am living in Germany I can never be sure that my solar battery can keep the FB running over a longer period of time
This is why I want to shutdown the bot in the evening, and start it up next day when it is dry or sunny.
I am using OpenHab2 as home automation system and a lot of Z-Wave devices as actors. I plan to use a Z-Wave 230V switch to turn on power in the morning, maybe also depending on the weather conditions.
As I have only a 12V solar battery / charge controller I cannot connect the FB directly via DC, so I will use a 230 V inverter, conntect this to a z-wave switch that can be controlled by my OH home automation system.
I am not yet done completely, I am just about to install the solar panel and electrics right now.
For the other way around, I hope that my charge controller or inverter can somehow signal low battery state to my home automation system, that I can shutdown FB. My charge controller hat an output to signal this. I like your idea of having the farmduino reacting on that signal, but I am not sure if my hardware skills are good enough to build a connection to the Farmduino board and to process this signal in a way, that it can be used by the PI. But if anyone would like to support me with that, I’d love to try this…
BR
Markus
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@Ascend
My wife/kids accidentially interrupted the power supply of my farmbot several times, and I did already 2 re-burnings of the SD card. So the SD card itself was not damaged, but the OS did not startup correctly or behaved very strange…
That’s why I really want to have a clean shutdown procedure…