nrf24l01+ Crap (in my situation)

[janvier123]

Hi,

Iam looking for an alternative way to use mysensors without any WIFI / nrf24l01+ / wireless communication.
The reason for that is: i have setup a gateway at my attic and 3 nodes on the floors below.
I have it setup like this:

Gateway (attic) -> Node 1 (work room, 1st floor) -> node 2 (kitchen, ground floor) -> Node 3 (living room, ground floor)

So basically if node 1 craps out on me, node 2 & 3 will go down as wel, since they rely on node 1 to pass the info to the gateway. Ive tried different antenna's but there is too much electrical wires and concrete in the way for a good signal. There is not allot of room for different locations, so i have to see if i can do it by running UTP cables.
WIFI is also crap, even 1 floor takes 90% of the signal :)

So is there a way for mysensors to connect via UTP / LAN cables?
Otherwise i have to refer to Ethernet shields and aREST lib

Greetz

[TheoL]

@janvier123 It's also possible to use MySensors with serial lines. But then you need to install wires through your house. Which you probably already are planning if you want to use ethernet?

[janvier123]

I have a few of those POWER-LINE Ethernet things, its a rented house so i cannot make allot of holes ;)

[AWI]

@janvier123 If there is no other use for the UTP cable you can also power the nodes wiith the wires left. RS485 requires only two wires (and shared ground) so you have 5 wires left for other puposes. RS485 devies can connect in parallel on the bus. Some basic testing

[janvier123]

do they have to be run in a loop(each other)? or can they be connected each one to a (one)gateway?

[AWI]

@janvier123 all to one gateway. Just like using a radio

[den2k]

Does wifi work? It is likely that it is also pretty bad. 2.4GHz can be horrible for multiple reasons which you cite. Its already over saturated in most places so 5GHz for WiFi is the way to go. But for you wireless may not work. You could try using something with 433 MHz or sub 1GHz radios if you really need to go wireless. rfm69 support is baked into mysensors so if wireless is a must, I'd look at that. nodii may work if something small and integrated is needed. But it may be better in your case to go with a wired connection (ie; powerline with ethernet shield) as I've seen lots of issues with concrete building not supporting wireless at all.

[janvier123]

My wifi station is based on the ground floor, in the heating room, this is also the place for my main electrical box, so that's allot of wires that interfere with it

its a router / modem from Telenet, those are crap anyway, standing 1 meter from the device with no wall in between and you already loose 1 bar

i can try with those 433mhz wall socket things, but i notice a small delay between commands, its acceptable

ill just order a few Ethernet shields and some powerline things or maybe create a gateway for each floor ;) (ethernet gateway)
that MAY work ;)

[TheoL]

@janvier123 Could be possible that the RFM69 is a better choice in your situation. Because that have a better coverage.

[janvier123]

Ive checked the RFM69 and ive decided that iam not going to try it
But instead, if i read it correctly i can use an Arduino + (official) Ethernet shield as a gateway.
Domoticz supports multiple gateways, so i should be able to place an Ethernet shield on each floor and use the NRF's to each gateway

ill how that works out

BTW: this is an W5100 right?

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoEthernetShield