Count car-starts

mfalkvidd

Solution 1 should be easy to implement by replacing your endless while loops with sending until you get an ack from the controller.

An alternative solution could be to fetch the current time from the controller at startup, and compare the current time to the last time a report was sent. If the time was less than 5 minutes ago, don't do anything. If the time is more than 5 minutes ago, store current time in the eeprom, increment the number of starts and send the new value to the controller.

flopp

@mfalkvidd
I used While just to not try to send data all the time, since it will only be able to send when I leave my house and not away from my house and my thought was not to use MCU so much maybe this is not a problem. I will test to not sleep until it have sent the data successful in this way it will send data within a few seconds as soon as I reach my house.

Perfect idea about fetch time, yes this is definitely a solution for my USB-power-on problem

Thanks

tbowmo

A solution could also be to hack into the wire harness of the car, and detect when the starter motor gets powered up by turning the key. It's 12v so a simple voltage divider could do it. (and perhaps a couple of diodes from arduino pin to GND and vcc for extra protection.)

flopp

@tbowmo
Yes, but I dont want to jeopardize my cars :)
12v can be handle by the Arduino Pro min on RAW pin

flopp

@mfalkvidd said:
... store current time in the eeprom...

How can I store timestamp to EEPROM, it can only handle a value maximum 256 or?

mfalkvidd

@flopp correct. The value needs to be split into four eeprom "slots"

See http://playground.arduino.cc/Code/EEPROMReadWriteLong for info on how to do that.

flopp

@mfalkvidd
thanks

flopp

New version 1.1

// Made by Daniel Nilsson
// Tested with Domoticz 2.4440
// 2016-03-12

#include <SPI.h>
#include <MySensor.h>

#define CHILD_ID 0                          // Id of the sensor child
#define NODE_ID AUTO                        // a number or AUTO to let controller assign
#define SKETCH_NAME "Car start counter"     // Change to a fancy name you like
#define SKETCH_VERSION "1.1"                // Your version

int Controller;                             // Current start counts from Controller, like Domoticz
boolean pcReceived = false;                 // If we have recieved the start counts from Controller or not 
int starts;                                 // summary of all starts to be sent to Controller
int eeprom;                                 // start counts read from/to be stored in EEPROM

MySensor gw;
MyMessage volumeMsg(CHILD_ID,V_RAIN);
MyMessage lastCounterMsg(CHILD_ID,V_VAR1);

void setup()
{          
  delay(500);   // wait for radio
  delay(2*60000);  // Allow time if USB/cigarett plug is powered before you turned the key

  //Begin
  gw.begin(incomingMessage, NODE_ID, false);
  
  // Send the Sketch Version Information to the Gateway
  gw.sendSketchInfo(SKETCH_NAME, SKETCH_VERSION);

  // Register this device as Rain sensor (will not show in Domoticz until first value arrives)
  gw.present(CHILD_ID, S_RAIN);       
  Serial.println("");
  eeprom = gw.loadState(0);                       // read EEPROM
  Serial.print(eeprom);                           // print EEPROM
  Serial.println(" starts have not been sent");
  Serial.println("add 1 start");
  Serial.print(eeprom);
  Serial.print("+1=");
  eeprom = eeprom + 1;
  Serial.println(eeprom);
  gw.saveState(0,eeprom);                         // store to EEPROM at position 0
  Serial.println("");
  
  Serial.println("Startup completed");
}

void loop()
{ 
  
//gw.process();

    //See if we have the start counts from Controller - and ask for it if we dont.
    if (!pcReceived) {
      
      Serial.println("Request start counts");
      gw.request(CHILD_ID, V_VAR1);
      //gw.process();
      gw.wait(5000);
      return;
    }

Serial.println("");
eeprom = gw.loadState(0);                     // read EEPROM
Serial.print(eeprom);
Serial.println(" starts have not been sent");
Serial.print(Controller);
Serial.println(" starts from Controller = ");    
starts = Controller + eeprom;                 // total starts
Serial.print(eeprom);
Serial.print("+");
Serial.print(Controller);
Serial.print("=");
Serial.println(starts);
Serial.print("Send ");
Serial.print(starts);
Serial.println(" to Controller");
Serial.println("");

resend((volumeMsg.set(starts)), 5);
//gw.send(volumeMsg.set(starts));
resend((lastCounterMsg.set(starts)), 5);
//gw.send(lastCounterMsg.set(starts));
gw.wait(1000);
Serial.println("");
Serial.println("store 0 to EEPROM");
gw.saveState(0,0);                            // set 0 start to EEPROM, all have been sent
Serial.println("sleep");                      // mission accomplished
while(1){}

}

// check if "st:fail" during gw.send, thanks n3ro
void resend(MyMessage &msg, int repeats)
{
  int repeat = 1;
  boolean sendOK = false;
  int repeatdelay = 2000;


  while ((sendOK == false) and (repeat < repeats)) {
    if (gw.send(msg)) {
      sendOK = true;
    }
    else {
      sendOK = false;
      Serial.print("Error ");
      Serial.println(repeat);
    }
    repeat++; delay(repeatdelay);
  }
  if (sendOK == false && repeat == repeats){
    loop();
  }
}

//Read if we have a incoming message.
void incomingMessage(const MyMessage &message) {
  if (message.type==V_VAR1) {
    Controller = message.getULong();
    pcReceived = true;
    Serial.print("Received start counts from Controller: ");
    Serial.println(Controller);   
  }
}

thanks to @n3ro for st:fail and @sundberg84 for the hint
@mfalkvidd maybe next version will have timestamp from Domoticz, i am still waiting for an answer if I can send date and time to database. As you can see I have removed while-loop until it successfully sent data to Controller

mfalkvidd

Great work @flopp! Just one comment: You call loop if the 5 resend tries isn't enough. That will re-start the loop. What it also will do is to keep all variables in the loop and resend functions in memory. These will add up over time, which will crash your Arduino after a while. So if you start the engine at work and it takes too long time to reach home, the Arduino will have crashed before it is able to update the gateway. See http://arduino.stackexchange.com/questions/355/how-much-can-i-recurse-how-much-can-i-recurse-how-much-caqfsdrfw for technical details on stack usage and recursion.

You might want to do something like this instead:

bool resend(MyMessage &msg, int repeats)
{
...
  if (sendOK == false && repeat == repeats){
    return false;
  }
  return true;
}

and then change all

resend(..., 5);

to

if (!resend(..., 5)) return;

This will have the same effect, but will not accumulate stuff on the stack.

flopp

@mfalkvidd
Thanks for taking time to read my sketch :satisfied:

if !(resend((lastCounterMsg.set(starts)), 5)) return;

Arduino IDE says

Car_counter.ino.ino: In function 'void resend(MyMessage&, int)':
Car_counter.ino:117: error: return-statement with a value, in function returning 'void' [-fpermissive]
Car_counter.ino:119: error: return-statement with a value, in function returning 'void' [-fpermissive]
expected '(' before '!' token

flopp

@mfalkvidd
this must help, or?

void send();
resend((volumeMsg.set(starts)), 5);
resend((lastCounterMsg.set(starts)), 5);
gw.wait(1000);
Serial.println("");
Serial.println("store 0 to EEPROM");
gw.saveState(0,0);                            // set 0 start to EEPROM, all have been sent
Serial.println("sleep");                      // mission accomplished
while(1){}

}

// check if "st:fail" during gw.send, thanks n3ro
void resend(MyMessage &msg, int repeats)
{
  int repeat = 1;
  boolean sendOK = false;
  int repeatdelay = 2000;

  while ((sendOK == false) and (repeat < repeats)) {
    if (gw.send(msg)) {
      sendOK = true;
    }
    else {
      sendOK = false;
      Serial.print("Error ");
      Serial.println(repeat);
    }
    repeat++; delay(repeatdelay);
  }
  if (sendOK == false && repeat == repeats){
    void send();;
  }

mfalkvidd

Sorry, I forgot to change void resend to bool resend. I have updated my previous post.

mfalkvidd

And no, movin the code from loop to send does not help. The problem is that you will get recursive calls. send calls resend which calls send which calls resend which calls send which calls resend....and so on. For each call, the Arduino will store all variables on the stack and memory usage will grow and grow.

flopp

@mfalkvidd
OK, so you have to go back to where it comes from

flopp

@mfalkvidd
Sorry, didnt work. Almost same error

Car_counter_1.2:84: error: expected '(' before '!' token
Car_counter_1.2:86: error: expected '(' before '!' token
expected '(' before '!' token

flopp

@mfalkvidd
But if I put ! inside ( it works

if (!resend((volumeMsg.set(starts)), 5))return;

mfalkvidd

Yes, sorry about that. I edited my previous post to have ! inside ().

flopp

This post is deleted!

Zeph

OK, let me see if I understand your overall flow.

You have your node connected to switched 12V power in the car. When you turn on the car, the uC gets power, when you turn off the car it loses power. When the car is cranking, the voltage drops enough that it tends to reset again (or else the cranking position on your key switch actually cuts off auxiliary power used by the uC).

So if you are at home and in range, loop() is called by the Arduino runtime just once; at the end of loop() the uC goes into an infinite busy loop rather than return, staying there until power is lost again. If you are away from home or the packets are lost for other reasons, resend() will cause a return from loop(), so that loop() will be called again by the Arduino runtime, so it will just keep trying until either power is lost, or it makes contact with your wireless network again.

Meanwhile every time it starts, the first byte of eeprom is incremented in setup(), and then loop() tries to fetch VAR1, and send VAR1+eeprom(0) back. If it succeeds, then the first byte of eeprom is zeroed.

Right?

That sounds reasonable. My immediate concern would be inconsistent operation during cranking, if the input voltage went just low enough to make the uC unstable. If your car's wiring cuts the power entirely, not a problem. Likewise there appears to be time for the uC to boot, and fully update eeprom, before losing power during cranking. (It's best not to be writing eeprom as voltage drops). It appears that those are not problems for your system tho.

Zeph

@flopp said:

12v can be handle by the Arduino Pro min on RAW pin

Cars go well above 14V during operation (as well as having noise glitches on top of that). If the regulator is only good up to 12v, operation could be marginal. Hence the suggestion from @tbowmo of a couple of diodes in the power feed, to drop a bit of the voltage as seen by the regulator.

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