Newbie question about Sending sensor data with an nRF52832 module to my sensors

[tBS]

I've been reading a lot of posts about BLE modules in general but I can't find how the modules talk to the gateway. What kind of gateway is available out of the box that support BLE communications? Can a RPI act as such? if yes, can you point me to the right direction?

Thanks

[mfalkvidd]

Welcome to the forum @tBS

MySensors cannot send data over Ble, so that's why you can't find anything

[Puneit Thukral]

You can upload Mysensors sketch to NRF5 modules and that way it can speak to mysensors network and then communicate to your controller through the gateway

[tBS]

@Puneit-Thukral said in Newbie question about Sending sensor data with an nRF52832 module to my sensors:

You can upload Mysensors sketch to NRF5 modules:

That I kinda figured it out, Define the board as MY_RADIO_NRF5_ESB and start coding, that solves the sensor piece.

that way it can speak to mysensors network

The question is how? I hear a lot of people doing it. Is is using a microcontroller (ESPs, Arduinos, RPi) with the nRF24L01+ chip attached to it? I am assuming it's the same radio frequency so any of the nRF52832 modules would be able to communicate with it "wirelessly".

communicate to your controller through the gateway
In my case, I am using the Wemo D1 ESP8266 microcontroller, I will have to install a controller and configure my gateway. Is this correct?

I appreciate your help, I am sorry I came late in the game but it's never too late to get involved.

Thanks

[tBS]

@mfalkvidd I really appreciate the time you took to answer my silly question. I am getting there.

[mfalkvidd]

@tBS said in Newbie question about Sending sensor data with an nRF52832 module to my sensors:

I am assuming it's the same radio frequency so any of the nRF52832 modules would be able to communicate with it "wirelessly".

Not only the same frequency, it also uses the same modulation and protocol. That’s why nrf5 can communicate with nrf24.

[Puneit Thukral]

@tBS I think I am in the same boat as you. Well, I started with MySensors few years ago and then shifted most of my stuff to Esp8266 - Tasmota and ESPHome. I am rebooting this project personally for me.

Yet, I feel somehow MySensors is a better implementation in terms of its mesh capabilities and repeater function.
And it is easier to make MySensors battery operated. NRF24 or NRF5x are more efficient power wise as compared to ESP8266 or ESP32.
That said, I think what we lack in this project (and if I am unable to find, maybe someone can point it out) are YouTubers like Drzzs of Home Assistant.

I have a Telegram group of Home Automation users in India and off-late I have been pushing this project on my group. We are in the midst of a lockdown, hence we cannot source parts for now.
That said, I think while you could be late in the game - a lot of development has happened and bugs were ironed out.
I am extremely happy to help as much as I can. I am no expert - so most likely I won't have the answers. I believe two heads are better than one so we can work things out together.

Cheers!

[tBS]

Well, thanks for chiming in. I've done my best to follow several documentation and I can tell you that I am still struggling. I have my ESP8266 MQTTClient gateway ready with an nRF24 attached, then I moved on to a controller. I chose OpenHAB, while my gateway connects successfully to my RPI:
13:17:45.355 -> 5332 GWT:RMQ:CONNECTING...
13:17:45.458 -> 5415 GWT:RMQ:OK
13:17:45.458 -> 5432 GWT:TPS:TOPIC=mygateway1-out/0/255/0/0/18,MSG SENT
13:17:54.216 -> pm open,type:2 0
I couldn't Connect the Mysensors Broker on OpenHAP. So I am stuck here and even if I am successful. I am not even sure if my bluetooth sensor (with the MySensor plumming) will connect automatically to my ESP8266 through the nRF24. Is this how people connect their bluetooth modules to mysensors?
Did I choose an inadequate controller? Who has a barebone configuration to attach nRF52 BLE modules to MySensors that works?
I've some of Andrew EfektaSB's youtube videos doing just that, can someone reproduce what he is doing?
I haven't tried to hookup the nRF24 to a RPI directly and use it that way but I feel like using the ESP8266 gateway easier approach, please advise.

Thanks

[Puneit Thukral]

@tBS Hi, so there are two separate topics. Let us address them one by one. I will pickup the NRF5x communication with NRF24 .

I too am using an esp8266 based gateway which has an nRF24 radio attached. The gateway compiles and starts without a problem.
On the sensor node side, I am using an NRF51822 radio. Now, these devices (to best of my understanding) do not communicate over Bluetooth with the NRF24 or Mysensors.
You need to flash a MySensors sketch with the radio option for NRF5 on your NRF52 or NRF51 chip and then this chip will start talking to your Gateway. Use the radio option and

#define MY_RADIO_NRF5_ESB

disable other radios. For testing you could pickup the Mocksensors sketch, change the radio for match the NRF5. Of course you need to install the boards and the libraries. Follow this NRF5 Beginner Guide.
For me this works fine as well. I can see MQTT messages flowing via the ESP8266 Gateway to my broker. I have not yet added this to my HomeAssistant.
Now, coming to your second topic

Your struggles with OpenHab. I haven't used OpenHab in years, so I am not the right person for it. However, I suggest that you use a MQTT ESP8266 Gateway and use an MQTT broker to see the messages flowing back to the broker.

Hope this helps you.
Cheers.

[tBS]

@Puneit-Thukral , I appreciate your participation. I was able to program the Ebyte nRF52832 module and communicate with an ESP8266 gateway. Before I move on to working on a controller, I would like to see that 8ua power consumption first because my sensor nodes will need to operate on battery for a long time. Right of the bat, with an empty sketch, I see around 17ma, can someone provide the bear minimum code to achieve lower power consumption please?

Thanks

[Puneit Thukral]

@tBS You should try the low power sketches by @NeverDie or @berkseo - They are available on openhardware.io