General Discussion

@hek And now for the really useful stuff: https://github.com/narkoz/hacker-scripts :+1:

Have a look at 123d.circuits.io. It has an editor like Fritzing, which you can easily toggle to schematics view or PCB design. It might fit yours needs.

Maybe 123d.circuits.io is a good alternative for MySensors users. It has an editor like Fritzing, which you can easily toggle to schematics view or PCB design. It is even able to simulate Arduino with running code! Quite impressive.

In general the readings will not be underwater. At best, I think we could cover a foot or two with RF before the signal fades to noise. Even though sound travels well underwater, RF at these frequencies do not. But what we hope to do, is take them out, leave them sealed and then download the information via a stored CSV file. That is the part we are struggling to code with right now. Sensor arrays: We are building one to ride on surfboards that has gyrometric and accelerometric capabilities as well as temperature using a sinple DS18B20 tail into the water. This is for a social science project. However, a more involved project involves pressure, temperature and conductivity (this is the hardest one to reliably measure with affordable parts). the whole shebang is used to monitor streams, rivers and as of late wells to assess the impacts of salt run-off and ground water infiltration. Currently the commercial units cost $1500 plus a reader per single instance. If we can get this to work we can install 10x the number of sensors and engage citizens and science teachers in the building of our network. Right now, I am trying to make it easy to get files out without the help (who might be 10 or not technical) having to open the units and reassemble them properly. Thus the WIFI.

perfect ! a big thank you from France

You should be able to use the RS485 transport layer available in the development branch. It is still quite undocumented though.

Is it an ac or DC motor.? In both cases you can measure current, but you can have a different solution. A board like http://m.ebay.com/itm/1pcs-5A-range-Current-Sensor-Module-ACS712-Module-NEW-/381374424345?nav=SEARCH Is an easy (invasive) solution.

@skatun You just do sending the same way on gateway as on the nodes. send(msgTemp.set(temperature, 1))

Oregon is 433mhz right? You need a 433mhz reciever and either decode it into MySensors language or connect a reciever like RFXCom or RFLink (work with Domoticz) to your controller (=Not MySensor). Both above support Oregon. Here is a good project by petewill that includes decoding 433mhz to MySensors: http://forum.mysensors.org/topic/7/controlling-blinds-com-rf-dooya-motors-with-arduino-and-vera

I guess I solved the problem. Please check http://forum.mysensors.org/topic/2193/gatewayesp8266mqttclient-in-development-branch/11

Thanks Hek - the ESP8266 gateway was already on the list to investigate... so much cool stuff to do, so little time :-)

Yeah, makes sense... I guess then that z-wave it is for controlling 220v. I have read that 433mhz usually doesn't have two way communication, which is inconvenient for reliable setups (state of main lights etc). And z-wave is not quite cheap setup. I am planning to use MajorDoMo controller, they support Z-Stick and raZbery as gateway. What would be the cheapest and minimum z-wave setup for turning on/off (and maybe dimming) the lights? So far I've found f.eks. z-stick https://www.m.nu/zwaveme-stick-p-1778.html for 35ish euro and popular Fibaro WALL PLUG FGWPF-102 for 60ish eur. Would that be minimum that I need to hook up to a pc running a controller that supports z-wave? Than it would be about 60euro for every new light/switch (vs 6 eur for one risky diy). Being a cheap guy I must ask, is there any cheaper certified alternative? :)

I don't know yet haven't opened it yet. But, i think its only a switch to different windings on the motor.

@hek I am back from work. In 10 mins I knew what was the problem and you won't believe it :| Since I was flashing at first the gateway, thus I defined the MY_SOFTSPI and didn't commented it back when I was flashing the relayactuator ! What a mistake !! I'll keep you updated as I'll start development the logic for the gateway using mqtt and the other node. Thanks hek.

Here is the video from my presentation if anyone is interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jluCmp8X29I&index=5&list=PLWYzpH_PTTmPrwl-kjN_V6cJZDzLW-ELb

@Cliff-Karlsson In the long range variants, the LNA is for the receive side (does a better job amplifying the received signal) and the PA is to produce higher power output on the transmit side. I use a module with a LNA/PA for my gateway and also for nodes that are far away or behind a few walls. Cheers Al

@lrtsenar The MySensors Libraries were designed around the nrf24l01 transceivers which have much more built in capability than a simple 433Mhz Tx/Rx pair. You can make a node which contains a nrf and 433 Rx/Tx and it can transfer messages between the MySensors architecture and common 433Mhz devices. If you are only interested in 433Mhz devices with Domoticz, see the RFLink project for more info. I believe it requires a mega to fit their libraries.

I think that will be my strategy. That is, I keep my current rf24 gateway and larer on add a "69" gateway when the rf24 does not really cut it abd i have to use 69 nodes (typically the ones far away). I am not too fond of deploying wired repeaters unless I have to.