I saw this page and thought I give it a go. So I bought two OrangePi Zero 2. There's a lot of potential (WiFi) as a dedicated gateway. Currently the price is about US$20 on AliExpress (caveat emptor) There are a few flavors of Linux for it. I've dabbled with Armbian, Ubuntu and Debian
Another upside is that it doesn't draw a lot of current ~0.5A, though I haven't been successful in getting the radio to run (the reason for me being here) This is also a downside as I suspect the power supply needs to be very close to 5V. Thinking it was a power hog like the RPi, I used a 5V-3A supply. This supply operates on the principle that the load will pull down the voltage. There are dire warnings on the orangepi page about using cheap SD cards, but failed to mention that power supplies have to be matched, too.
It has a different CPU than the Orange Pi Zero non-2, the board that is used here.
Use the serial interface to configure the board. You're going to be doing all your configuration in a terminal, anyway, so you don't need a monitor or a keyboard. https://www.instructables.com/Setup-Orange-Pi-Using-Serial-Port/
The big downside is that the SPI interface is not supported. My research indicates that in order to get it to work one must jump through some serious hoops and being low on the learning curve, those hoops are probably out of my reach. https://forum.armbian.com/topic/21688-tips-on-configuring-double-spi-through-two-chipselects-on-orange-pi-zero-2/
The armbian OS has another big downside, WiFi is not supported. Putting a TP-Link nano router configured as a client works, but it's another $30! Why did they even release the OS?
So! Was anyone successful in getting the Orange Pi Zero 2 configured as a gateway?
I mean the ESP framework version, selected by the board version
https://arduino.esp8266.com/Arduino/versions/2.0.0/doc/installing.html#:~:text=Open Boards Manager from Tools,from a drop-down box.
...
compiled: Jan 27 202312:42:11
01/27/2023 12:42:11
RTC lost confidence in the DateTime!
RTC is the same as compile time! (not expected but all is fine)
01/27/2023 12:42:11
19.25C
01/27/2023 12:42:14
19.25C
-------- power loss -----
RTC communications error = 4
01/01/2000 00:00:00
0.00C
RTC communications error = 5
01/01/2000 00:00:00
0.00C..
------------- return power supply +5v ----
RTC lost confidence in the DateTime!
01/01/2000 00:00:12
19.50C
RTC lost confidence in the DateTime!
01/01/2000 00:00:15
19.50C
...
https://forum.arduino.cc/t/librairie-makuna-freez/1081415/34
bravo and good explanation
good to show that Arduino "8bits" and MySensors can do things simply, without gas factory
an extensible basis for further input/output
(door contact - relay control ...etc )
Thanks
@nekitoss
I used 3.3V pro mini with regulator removed and powered by Vin pin. Also removed leds from the pro mini.
I used minicore bootloader.
I used the small pir sensors and again removed the regulator to power directly from the pro mini outputs.
After that sleep the node and trigger on interrupt.
Send battery level once a day.
Use inbuilt battery level monitor and not external components that constantly drain power to get battery level.
1.8V is 0% on the graph (not visible yet!) but I have had nodes working below 1.7V It's a matter of luck with that it seems.
Hope this helps you on the right track. I'll try and help if you want.
This is the latest image and still going strong after 18 months. Voltage is at 2.903V
Here is photo of the test example - I need to make a case and produce more of them over winter.....
Here is the same build/code of a window sensor. Similar time frame but hardly triggered.....
