VeraPlus Serial Gateway Not Recognized

[smint]

Dear friends,

Having purchased the new Vera plus I waned to start attaching my custom sensors into the controllers.
The checklist first:

1. Mysensors plugin - seemed all ok, uploaded all jsons and xml definition files, created the device, powercycled - gateway showed up, although with an error.
   

2. Connected the serial gateway - checked wiring, used V3 board, uploaded the code, and as seen below the pwr and red light are on (all the time).
   

3. App - went into serial port configuration and no luck - device not there. Powercycled several times - no luck.
   

4. Plugin version 1.5 - attaching variables (UI7) - dashboard shows the below all the time:
   

5. Parameters:
   

6.Variables:

This is all I could think of - browsed the forum and sam a lot of possible topics but in all cases the device got recognized somehow but did not work - mine is not showing up. I have a IP GW module en route but till then I wanted to try the serial one first.

I would really appreciate your feedback and experience with this. Anything I can do?

Thanks!

[hek]

Does your Nano have genuine FTDI chipset?
Do you use the UI7 branch of the Vera plugin?

[smint]

Hello Hek,

I believe the FTDI is genuine, have a look - it's a bit blurry

For the import of the vera files I used Vera-UI7 branch - imported actually all that was in except the CONTRIBUTING.md, .project and .gitattributes.

[korttoma]

Try another USB cable, some USB cables are of poor quality and cause problems.

[smint]

Yes, this occurred to me as well so I changed for other USB mini cable. No change. too bad I don't have more Nano's lying around to test it - but this one was used for testing of the NRF transciever some 2 years back. I just connected it to PC , loaded the new sketch and connected to Vera.

[BartE]

@smint I do not have any VeraPlus expecience but i do use a Vera2 and Vera3.

I my case sometime the USB gateway is nog recongised by Vera.
My start up procedure:

• switch on Vera (without USB GW)
• wait a while to let it boot
• connect the MySensors GW (make sure the USB light comes on, not sure if a VeraPlus has a USB led)
• press reload button in UI (if the USB port is not shown in port configuration)
• again wait for Vera to be ready
• go to serial port config to see is port is available now. Make sure you set the serial speed (baud) setting correct and press save

[Peter Mietlowski]

I've had issues with power cycling Vera with the USB gateway connected, what you need to do is unplug the USB gateway and power on Vera, wait for it to fully boot and the Lua engine to fully load, plug the gateway in, then go into settings -> Z-Wave -> Advanced and click on "reload engine" (why this is here when it has nothing to do with z-wave is anyone's guess), then refresh your browser and it should show up in serial port config (assuming it's a genuine FTDI). You'll need to do this EVERY time you power cycle vera in the future... or at least that's my experience with Vera 3 on UI7.

I've read somewhere a while ago it's somehow linked to the startup power draw on the USB port and using a powered USB hub will fix this but haven't had the opportunity to try

[smint]

Wow , ok with the approach from Peter/BartE it showed up.

Now I guess I have to configure it:
For the Used by device: setting, select the Arduino Gateway Plugin [] from the menu of available devices.
Set baud rate to 115200.
Set the parity to none with 8 data bits and 1 stop bit.

I don't see Arduino GW plugin - but I see MySensors Plugin (if this is right then I suggest to update the Vera setup page).
So it's configured and I see :

I will try to plug in some sensor to test it out but I must say that if the power goes out and Its stuck then I have a problem. Would you say that the Ethernet GW has the same issue? Has anyone tested it?

BTW. Thanks guys - you rock!

[smint]

One observation: Having the GW next to my Vera, it seems some of my Z-wave devices that I had placed further away, now can't connect - strange, it seems like the range has decreased but I have to test it properly.

[smint]

Gents (and Ladies) my plugin as depicted does not have an inclusion start/stop button as referenced for other Vera models. Do I start the inclusion process in the same fashion as for other Z-wave devices using Vera inclusion?

[korttoma]

The inclusion can be started if you press the ">" button on the "MySensor Plugin" device and go to "Settings"

[smint]

faceplam - thanks !