Domotiocz + Rain gauge

[sundberg84]

This is great!
1 year - times fly by, but my rainsensor is going strong!

I just wanted to celebrate 1 year for my Rainsensor on batteries, reporting every hour (or less when it rains). Still going strong and 81% battery left! Except for some range issues in the beginning you can see its working as it should:

Also It will be my (almost) 1000th post so thank you all for making MySensors such a great community. I just love every minute here!

[mrwomble]

@sundberg84 Wow, that is impressive! What type of batteries are you using?

I'm waiting for parts to come in to start building some battery powered and external sensors.

[sundberg84]

@mrwomble - 2xAA

[Qu3Uk]

Thats impressive, out of interest are you doing anything with this data in domotiocz?

[sundberg84]

@Qu3Uk nope, just monitoring. I could probably use it for watering if I made some actuators... but not that garden interested.

[sincze]

@sundberg84 , very nice. I would say.. I want that as well ;-)
any suggestions for a shopping and modification list?
As I don't have a 3D printer to print the thing myself.

[sundberg84]

@sincze - its not a 3d printed box, its an old 433mhz tip sensor.
There is something similar on mysensors shop :http://www.ebay.com/itm/misol-Spare-part-for-weather-station-to-measure-the-rain-volume-for-rain-meter-/271862662076?hash=item3f4c4703bc:g:IGsAAOSwq7JT8vJY&rmvSB=true

[TheoL]

@sundberg84 Just playing with your sketch, because it's easier for my to understand than the one one the build page. I'm curious about how domoticz handles these values. I don't see you reset the hwRainVolume variable. So does this mean that this is an ever increasing value that must be send to Domoticz?

[sundberg84]

@TheoL - Correct.
There is a countervalue and Domoticz calculates the value from midnight each night.

[TheoL]

@sundberg84 Thanx for your fast reply. So what happens when the float resets to 0?

[TheoL]

@sincze Hello my friend, just curious how many sensors you've got hooked up at the moment?

[sundberg84]

@TheoL - Just to add what we discussed in chat for future questions - If float would hit the maximum value (which is hugh so lets hope its not a problem) im not sure what will happen...

[TheoL]

@sundberg84 It's also not a concern of the MySensors node. This should be handled by Domoticz. I really like your sketch, it works like a charm. I modified it to my needs so that I can run the node without the sleep. Still need to think of an hourly heart beat. But almost there.

[sundberg84]

@TheoL - If you modify the sketch with a heartbeat() please post it :) Im interested as well!

[TheoL]

@AWI do you happen to know if the pulse counter in Domoticz is a 1mm pulse counter? Or is it a real tip pulse counter? Right know where checking whenever the rain fall exceeds 1mm and send a pulse ++ in that case. Meaning we miss some pulse counts when we reset the node.

[AWI]

@TheoL My rain meter counts in 1 mm resolution but I am sending actual total (in mm) from the start of sensor and keep totals in EEPROM.

[TheoL]

@AWI (Glad that your back, hope you're doing allright) So, if I understand your setup correctly you don't send the pulse count to Domoticz? I kind of like it, because that way I can reset the rain sensor many times and still keep the rain fall log in sync, without using the EPROM.

And my rain sensor did reset a couple of times. I had to put a diode (Dutch name is blus diode) between the two wires coming out from the rain gauge to prevent this.

[AWI]

@TheoL (i'm fine, thank you) That is what i'm doing. The only thing what I need to do after a reset is delete the miscalculation in Domoticz (easy). My sensor (oregon) uses a 'reed' switch (no induction). I MySensoriz'ed it without losing the original circuitry and function. (so in parallel).

[TheoL]

@AWI A lesson learned a couple of month ago. When using an induction reed switch (some of them have a coil around the glass) always add a reversed diode. Otherwise the polarity of the reed switch is being turned for just a millisecond which is enough to cause the arduino to reset ;-). I'm still learning a lot about electronics.

At the moment the diode seems to work. No Arduino resetting for the last couple of hours.

Regarding to the pulse counter is seems to work perfectly. That way I don't need to store any values on the EPROM, which is something I prefer not to do. I just query the current pulse count from Domoticz when the sensors boots. Sending the total amount of rain is as easy as pulse count * bucket size. Not real rocket science.

[TheoL]

@sundberg84 Here's the first version of the sketch. Note that I don't use the sleep. My main goal for creating my own outside weather station is to get rid of the batteries. Because they always same to stop working whenever I'm not at home.

/*
 Arduino Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge, SI7021 Temperature + Humidity sensor

 Created October 2nd 2016
 Author by Theo

 This node uses a tipping bucket rain gauge for measuring rain fall. And a si7021 Temperature and Humidity sensor. The logic in
 this sketch might be specific for Domoticz, because of the Pulse counter.

 Based upon sketches created by @BulldogLowell / @PeteWill, @sundber84
 for free public use

 Hardware used:
 Arduino Pro Mini 3.3V
 buck converter
 nrf24L01+ radio
 100 uf capacitor
 2 10K resistors (for i2c)
 1N007 diode
 MI-SOL Rain Guage 
 SI7021 sensor

 Version history:
 02-10-2016 Initial version
*/

/**
   Configure MySensors
*/
// Enable debug prints
// #define MY_DEBUG

// Enable and select radio type attached
#define MY_RADIO_NRF24

/*
  Include libraries used by the sketch
*/
#include "ThresholdUtil.h"
#include <math.h>
#include <Time.h>
#include <SI7021.h>
#include <MySensors.h>

/**
   Define constants used by sketch
*/
#define BUCKET_PIN 3                  // The Arduino pin to which the bucket is attached. We need an interrupt pin (2 or 3 on the Uno and the Pro Mini) 
#define SKETCH_INFO "Outside weather" // The name of the sketch as presented to the gateway
#define SKETCH_VERSION "1.0"          // The version of the sketch as presented to the gateway
#define CHILD_ID_HUM  2               // The child id of the humidity sensor
#define CHILD_ID_TEMP 1               // The child id of the temperature sensor
#define CHILD_ID_RAIN_LOG 4           // The child id of the rain gauge
#define MS_WAIT 100                   // short delay used to give the NRF24L01+ antenna some time to recover from the last data sending
#define bucketSize 0.3                // I've used a MI-SOL Rain Guage which has a bucket size of 0.3 mm

/**
   Declare MySensors messages used by the node
*/
MyMessage msgHum( CHILD_ID_HUM, V_HUM );
MyMessage msgTemp( CHILD_ID_TEMP, V_TEMP );
MyMessage msgRain( CHILD_ID_RAIN_LOG, V_RAIN );
MyMessage lastCounterMsg( CHILD_ID_RAIN_LOG, V_VAR1 );

/**
   Declare variables used by the Sketch
*/
SI7021 humiditySensor; // Declare a SI7021 Temp humidity sensor object
float hwRainVolume = 0;           // Current rainvolume calculated in hardware.
unsigned long hwPulseCounter = 0; // Pulsecount recieved from GW
boolean pcReceived = false;       // If we have recieved the pulscount from GW or not
unsigned long lastTipTime = millis(); // TS of when the bucket tip has been detected for the last time
volatile unsigned long wasTippedCounter; // Queue for storing the tipped counter as been set by the interrupt handler.
byte lastHour;                    // Stores the hour used for checking if time needs to be synchronized

/**
  Present all child's to the gateway and query for the pulse count known by the HA controller.
*/
void presentation() {
  // Send the sketch version information to the gateway
  sendSketchInfo( SKETCH_INFO, SKETCH_VERSION );

  wait( MS_WAIT );
  // Register all sensors to gw (they will be created as child devices)
  present( CHILD_ID_HUM, S_HUM, "Outside temperature" );
  wait( MS_WAIT );
  present( CHILD_ID_TEMP, S_TEMP, "Outside humidity" );
  wait( MS_WAIT );
  present( CHILD_ID_RAIN_LOG, S_RAIN, "Rain fall" );
  wait( MS_WAIT );

  unsigned long functionTimeout = millis();
  while ( pcReceived == false && millis() - functionTimeout < 30000UL ) {
    request( CHILD_ID_RAIN_LOG, V_VAR1);
    Serial.println(F("Getting pulse count"));
    Serial.println(F("."));
    wait( 1000 );
  }
  attachInterrupt( digitalPinToInterrupt( BUCKET_PIN ), sensorTipped, LOW ); //FALLING );  // depending on location of the hall effect sensor may need CHANGE
}

/**
   Setup of the sketch. It initializes all sensors and queries the gateway for the current time.
*/
void setup() {
  Serial.begin( 115200 );
  pinMode( BUCKET_PIN, INPUT_PULLUP );

  humiditySensor.begin();

  registerThresholdedSensor( CHILD_ID_TEMP, 1, TEMPERATURE_SENSOR, 0.5, 30, 20 );
  registerThresholdedSensor( CHILD_ID_HUM, 2, HUMIDTY_SENSOR, 2.0, 30, 20 );

  unsigned long functionTimeout = millis();
  while ( timeStatus() == timeNotSet && millis() - functionTimeout < 30000UL ) {
    requestTime();
    Serial.println(F("Getting Time"));
    Serial.println(F("."));
    wait( 1000 );
  }

  lastHour = hour();
}

/**
  Sends the value of the rain gauge to the Gateway.
*/
void sendRainVolumeData() {
  float hwRainVolume = hwPulseCounter * bucketSize;
  Serial.print( "Tipped " );
  Serial.print( hwPulseCounter );
  Serial.println( " times." );
  Serial.print( "Rain fall is " );
  Serial.print( hwRainVolume, 1 );
  Serial.println( " mm." );
  send( msgRain.set( (float)hwRainVolume, 1 ) );
  wait( MS_WAIT );
  send( lastCounterMsg.set( hwPulseCounter ) );
  wait( MS_WAIT );
}

/**
  Main loop of the node. It checks:
  - whether the rain gauge bucket has been tipped.
  - whether the hourly heartbeat needs to be send.
  - checks all thresholded sensors
*/
void loop() {
  if ( wasTippedCounter != hwPulseCounter ) {
    hwPulseCounter = wasTippedCounter;
    sendRainVolumeData();
  }

  byte currentHour = hour();
  if (currentHour != lastHour) {
    Serial.println( "Resyncing hour" );
    requestTime(); // sync the time every hour
    wait( MS_WAIT );
    lastHour = currentHour;
    sendRainVolumeData(); // Send heart beat
  }

  checkThresholdedSensors( readTHSensor, updatedTHSensorValue );
}

/**
  Interrupt handler for handling bucket tips.
*/
void sensorTipped() {
  unsigned long thisTipTime = millis();
  if (thisTipTime - lastTipTime > 100UL) {
    wasTippedCounter++;
  }
  lastTipTime = thisTipTime;
}

/**
  Threshold util wants to know the current value of a specific sensor.
*/
void readTHSensor( uint8_t aSensorId, ThreshHoldedSensorType aType, float *value ) {
  si7021_env data = humiditySensor.getHumidityAndTemperature();
  switch ( aSensorId ) {
    case CHILD_ID_TEMP:
      *value = data.celsiusHundredths / 100.0;
      break;
    case CHILD_ID_HUM:
      *value = data.humidityPercent;
      break;
  }
}

/**
  Threshhold util detects that the value of a specific sensor needs to be send to the gateway.
*/
void updatedTHSensorValue( uint8_t child_id, uint8_t sensor_id, ThreshHoldedSensorType sensor_type, float value ) {
  switch ( child_id ) {
    case CHILD_ID_TEMP:
      Serial.print( "Sending temp " );
      Serial.println( value, 1 );
      send( msgTemp.set( value, 1 ) );
      wait( MS_WAIT );
      break;
    case CHILD_ID_HUM:
      Serial.print( "Sending Humidity " );
      Serial.println( value, 1 );
      send( msgHum.set( value, 1 ) );
      wait( MS_WAIT );
      break;
  }
}

/**
  Call back handler for handling time send by the gateway.
*/
void receiveTime(unsigned long time) {
  Serial.println( F("Time received..."));
  setTime(time);
  char theTime[6];
  sprintf(theTime, "%d:%2d", hour(), minute());
  Serial.println(theTime);
}

/**
  Callback handler for handling incomming MySensors message.
*/
void receive(const MyMessage &message) {
  if ( message.sensor == CHILD_ID_RAIN_LOG && message.type == V_VAR1) { // We only expect pulse count values from the gateway
    hwPulseCounter = message.getULong();
    wasTippedCounter = hwPulseCounter;
    pcReceived = true;

    Serial.print("Received last pulse count from gw: ");
    Serial.println(hwPulseCounter);
  }
}

ps. Because the old MySensors API's where removed from the main page, I had to move over to MySensors 2.0. I just uploaded the MySensors 2.0 to my serial gateway and everything seems to work fine. With this I mean all MySensors 1.5 node's are still doing their work. Love it!

EDITED: Added rain rate. But still testing.