General Discussion

Thanks Sparkman. I searched the forum for the banner message, didn't realize that it had been discussed before without mentioning the contents of the message. Sorry about that.

The nice thing about the MQTT Client Gateway form 1.4 was, that it was the controller too. :) If I need a controller, I will use node-red with the serial gateway. MQTT is then handled by node-red. :)

Use a LoRa transceiver if you want really long range on an ISM band. You can't legally use an FRS/GMRS for sensor data. It's reserved for voice communication.

Magnetic switch or tilt switch (ball or mercury) would be a safe bet. Other possibilities would be a mechanical switch either at the top or bottom (that reacts to the weight of the mail). A light sensor / resistor (which obviously wouldn't work at night) or perhaps some sort of IR beam (not very battery friendly I imagine). Personally I have been using tilt switches for a couple of years. Very jumpy though when it comes to debouncing. Never tried with a capacitor as a simple hardware debouncer but rather just run the tripped message every loop and then sleep at the end of the loop, first for 10min and then until the next interrupt. Domoticz sets the sensor as "off" automatically after a time. A bit hacky but it works it seems. Reading the tilt switch state and getting it right every time became too frustrating. Speaking of debouncers, I was almost desperate enough to look into debouncer ICs like the Maxim MAX6816/MAX6817. Almost. A bigger concern is perhaps radio range. Despite earlier trials that seemed to indicate that the range was ok (and activating ACK), I had to set up a repeater node (with a pa+lna no less, the normal module wouldn't work!) and manually make sure the mailbox node always sends through the repeater. I was planning to set the repeater up eventually anyway, this just forced my hand.

I looked through the areas you suggested but I didn't see any reference to the letters used in the following line of data or how the data is laid out. 0;0;3;0;9;read: 0-0-0 s=0,c=1,t=23,pt=2,l=2,sg=0:455 0;0;1;0;23;455 I did figure out that the last number at the end of the line was the data being sent. Can I assume that you can't use the data directly from the gateway, It has to be connected into a VERA box?

@Cliff-Karlsson said: mys.sleep(BUTTON_PIN-2, CHANGE, 0); Change to wakeUpReason = mys.sleep(BUTTON_PIN-2, CHANGE, SLEEP_TIME); See documentation on wakeUpReason if you only want to send battery value at wakeup.

@Tommy-Sharp the gateway is like the RFXTRX, it has no memory by design.

I never had a chance to explore the northen countries, folks say its beutifull landscape and nice people. perhaps some day.

@TheoL said: Thank you everyone for your replies. I'm currently using Domoticz with Razberry. And that works okay. But when I define scene's and activate them, it takes sometimes a couple of seconds for each switch to go off or on accordingly to the scene. I read on this forum that most Vera users are happy with it. So I was thinking that I might switch over to Vera. But if I'm not mistaken I should go for a more expensive model? I'm also very curious if I can hook up OpenHAB to Vera. Because OpenHAB has some features which I also like ;). I have been a Vera user , all flavors , for more than 8 years now, I have tried Ui1.5.x.x and UI7.x.x ,I have tried the Vera Edge with approx 40 sensors and modules and using PLEG for controlling most all aspects of the Home automation. I found the Vera Edge could not handle all the Automation, tech support worked with me for 3 weeks to try to get the Edge to cooperate . I finally sent it back to where I bought the Unit. I changed over to my Veralite and my Vera3 and split the work up between the 2 controllers. I run Mysensor Ethernet Gateway on both of my controllers, 1 gateway for 2 Veras. I have Zwave motion sensors,Zwave modules, Zwave dimmer modules, Zwave Honeywell Thermostat and Temperature and Humid sensors that are Zwave. I have Mysensor door/window sensor built with Attiny 85, so much cheaper to build than using Nano or Pro-Mini I also have Scene controllers built with pro-Mini that control ceiling fans remotely, bedroom lights remotely, Entertainment Centers remotely. You get the Idea. Now nothing is perfect I have had my glitches but for FREE their is no other controller I will use , unless someone comes up with one as reliable and cost effect as MCV. This is my 2 cents worth.

@5546dug @hek Thanks guys. Will jump in and see what happens.

@LastSamurai said: I love the project and I want to "steal" your work. :cold_sweat: I just realised that I forgot the "don't" there. I fixed that.

Thank you for your reply. Things are getting more clear. I am just still not familiar with the chip. Suppose now that I have one chip as a transmitter and I have 8 nodes as receivers. In the first case the TX will be able to transmit to all 8 nodes successfully, right ? But If now I want after transmitting to be able to receive an ACK or a specific form of bytes which indicates that the value was received by one of the 8 eights correctly. Will that be applicable ? Will the trasnmitter node be able to receive from the 8 nodes ? As I said I still can't get how is the nrf configured, like what are adresses and whether all nodes has same frequency or not...etc. Thank you.

Why not connect the arduino directly to the IO pins of the raspberry? I have a similar setup running with a sensebender micro as a gateway.

@BastienVH I use 0.8mm wire. I have found it suits me for all-around soldering of both through-hole and SMD. For tip I would recommend a chisel tipped one. That provides the best heating and you can turn it depending on the area you solder in. Very rarely I change tip to a pointy one, but for sure, it is good to have the option to switch tips. They eventually wear out. Of course, it is a matter of personal taste as well :)

You can look that up on the main page under API/Download: http://www.mysensors.org/download/serial_api_15 For the sending problems: I seem to have had a similar probleme here too. I will try to wait() fix too and report my findings :)

glad you found your issue

Thanks for that advice. I reckon ill get started with some hacking and see how far I get! Thanks!