Controller Developer

I have uploaded a new version (0.1.4) that should hopefully be accepted in the coming days.

It allows MySensors devices to better work with voice control.

Its main new ability is that it can split up a single MySensors device into several. The reason this is important is that in the webthings gateway you currently cannot change property names, only thing names. By essentially creating many things with only one property, this problem is circumvented.

It also has some small improvements in MySensors V-types support.

@pentaglut Did you manage to get it working in the end?

Over the past few weeks I've been working on Voco, an add-on for the WebThings Gateway that enables privacy friendly voice control. It's built on Snips, so it requires no internet connection.

https://github.com/createcandle/voco

Since I mostly use the WebThings Gateway to manage a collection of experimental privacy friendly smart home devices that are based on MySensors, it has been fine-tuned to work well with any MySensors network.

Furthermore, the MySensors add-on has a new features that will separate devices with a lot of toggles into multiple separate things. This allows you to name them separately, and thus target them perfectly using just your voice.

It also has a lot of time-based functionality. E.g. you can say "Turn on the heater until 5pm", or "Turn on the relay between 3 and 5 o'clock".

You can also ask the classics, like ask for the time, and set timers, reminders and alarms.

For a full list of all its capabilities check out the Github page.

COLOFON

Voco is a vital part of Candle, the privacy friendly smart home.

Work on Voco was supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL and the Sherpa project. Sherpa, and by extension this project, has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, under grant agreement No 786641.

I didn't build this myself, but I did create the code. It's a MySensors CO2 sensor that is part of a 'privacy friendly smart home of the future' which will be launched later this year.

It was made by artist and jeweler Dinie Besems. All her creations feature small 'skirts' that you can lift to see the data, or cover up the screen if you have visitors and don't want them to immediately see your data.

@nca and @scalz Thanks! Very interesting, good points.

This is a matter of personal taste, but I always prefer serial devices.

• They are easier to connect with simple wiring, since you can use any pin as software serial.
• I also like that if you use multiple serial devices, you can keep the code you need to a minimum. I usually only implement (read: copy-paste) the commands that I really need. E.g. for GSM modems of for serial TFT screens. That can save some space.
• Finally, I get the feeling what with serial it's easier to integrate in future unknown scenarios. E.g. attach a sensor to a USB-to-serial device.

I'd love to hear counter arguments to this actually.

@k5austria said in Soil Moisture Sensor / analog value:

May I operate my cheap Aliexpress radio module (nRF24L01+PA+LNA) with MY_RF24_PA_LEVEL RF24_PA_MAX ? Power supply is enough

In my experience this will fail.

What have you set as:

#define SLEEPTIME 100                               // In seconds, how often should a measurement be made and sent to the server? The maximum delay between measurements is once every 254 seconds, but if you change "byte" to "int" further down in the code you could create more time between each loop.
#define LOOPDURATION 5000                           // The main loop runs every x milliseconds. This main loop starts the modem, and from then on periodically requests the password.

5000 * 1000 = 5.000.000 milliseconds between measurements = 8.33 minutes

Change the loopduration (how long a tick of the internal clock takes) to 1000, and then the SLEEPTIME variable is in normal seconds again.

I have $15 Chinese one that is fully automatic - I don't have to set anything. I love it.

The downside is it can only tell Voltage and continuity, but in 99% of cases that's what I want to know.

Since you are getting an incoming message from the mysgw, it seems that the route between it and the add-on it working. If you can get one message, you should be able to get all of them.

The add-on is built on top of the PyMysensors library. I don't know if it supports your beta version. Here is the code that starts it.

I believe @rmalbers has (had) the ethernet version working?

• Try testing with mysensors version 2.2. That's 100% supported.
  - Have you tried adding a port number to the IP address? 127.0.0.1:5003