Requesting value from Domoticz

[A Former User]

@gohan Yes, I understand, but when I create a dummy text sensor I can't define its child ID. Can I find it somewhere?

[gohan]

You have to create a sensor in the sensor node sketch, assign a child ID to it and present it like the others sensors during setup, then it should show on the controller. I can't be more specific because I haven't worked on text sensors yet

[A Former User]

@gohan Dummy sensors are created in Domoticz, they don't use the MySensors library, so one doesn't upload any sketches to Arduino :)

What I want to achieve specifically is to send outside temperature received from WeatherUnderground to one of my MySensors nodes.

[gohan]

I know, but if you don't create a sensor able to receive the value, you can't send anything to it through the mysensors network

[A Former User]

@gohan hey, now I get it!

got it working the way I wanted, thank you so much :D

[gohan]

Just for my curiosity, why are you using the temperature from weather underground? Is it just displayed on a screen?

[A Former User]

@gohan I'm doing a project for my master's thesis.

There's a mathematical thermal model of a building running on MySensors node. I wanted to supply it with an information about actual outside temperature to have accurate results.

[gohan]

A real mysensors project would require an external node with temperature and humidity sensor 😁

[A Former User]

@gohan This model is just a small part of my project. But I get your concept.

There's already a DHT11 node running inside my house, measuring quantities that you've mentioned.

[mar.conte]

@tomek_olo
Sorry what is the way for send from domoticz child -node to other node through lua script for example Tanks

[A Former User]

@mar.conte I don't understand your question. Can you clarify, please?

[mar.conte]

@tomek_olo
Sorry what is the way for send from domoticz child -node to other node through lua script for example Tanks

[A Former User]

@mar.conte

OK, I'll try to describe everything I've done to get it working:

1. I'm presenting MySensors node to Domoticz as S_INFO: "present(CHILD_ID, S_INFO);"
2. Next step is to add this node in your Domoticz. It should be visible at first in "Devices" as a "Text" device. After you add it it will be present in the "Utility" tab.
3. Now you have to edit a text value of this device in Domoticz. (I think that's what interests you but in reverse) I'm using a "Device" script that updates this text value with outside temperature every time the weather is updated:

commandArray = {}
local tempOut = devicechanged["Outside_Temperature"]
local tempOutIdx = 25

if ( devicechanged["Outside"]) then
commandArray['UpdateDevice'] = otherdevices_idx['TextNode']..'|1|'..tempOut
end

4. Now when I want to download this new value to my node I use "request( CHILD_ID, V_TEXT );" and inside "receive()" function:

if (message.type == V_TEXT) {
if (message.sensor == CHILD_ID) {
outTemp = message.getFloat();
}
}

That's all, it's complicated. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I'll do my best to help.

[gohan]

If the temperature sensor is also running on a mysensors node, you can send the value from the node to the one with lcd screen directly without using the controller.

[mar.conte]

For send message to child node wich isnt present in device list? In other words i have a node wich is in device list and the child 's node called S_custom with id 200 .... the node id is 101...

[ricorico94]

Hi,
I've been trying to modify the sketch of Solar Powered Plant moisture sensor so that I can remotely control the sleep time from Domoticz.. But so far I failed.. ;-(
Sorry for the long post below, but I try to provide all details, as I don't understand what I did wrong..

I tried to understand several contributions including the ones above from dbemowsk (thank you also for your chat messages!) and tomek_olo, as well as the Water Pulse meter sensor , but I still don't succeed having the sensor receiving data from Domoticz.

Here's what I tried to do.
In Sensor, I reused the code from solar powered moisture sensor from other post (and that code is working on another sensor) then I modified it to:

• present an additional child to Domoticz (CHILD_ID_SLEEP 2 with S_INFO) in setup
• send a value (here 11) of V_VAR1 in setup as per the advise from dbemowsk so that domotic recognize that data field
• then in Loop(), I have (apart the code for moisture sensor) a loop for requesting V_VAR1 (copied that from the water pulse meter sensor code)
• outside Loop() (at bottom of script), I created the receive(const MyMessage &message) procedure (in code below, I tried to print to serial several debugging messages...)

Here's below the whole code:

#include <SPI.h>
#define MY_RADIO_NRF24
#define MY_DEBUG
#include <MySensors.h>

#define round(x) ((x)>=0?(long)((x)+0.5):(long)((x)-0.5))
#define N_ELEMENTS(array) (sizeof(array)/sizeof((array)[0]))

#define CHILD_ID_MOISTURE 0
#define CHILD_ID_BATTERY 1
#define CHILD_ID_SLEEP_S 2
// #define SLEEP_TIME_S 100 // Sleep time between reads (in seconds)
#define THRESHOLD 1.1 // Only make a new reading with reverse polarity if the change is larger than 10%.
#define STABILIZATION_TIME 1000 // Let the sensor stabilize before reading default BOD settings.
const int SENSOR_ANALOG_PINS[] = {A4, A5}; // Sensor is connected to these two pins. Avoid A3 if using ATSHA204. A6 and A7 cannot be used because they don't have pullups.

// MySensor gw;
MyMessage msg(CHILD_ID_MOISTURE, V_HUM);
MyMessage voltage_msg(CHILD_ID_BATTERY, V_VOLTAGE);
MyMessage sleep_msg(CHILD_ID_SLEEP_S, V_VAR1);
unsigned long SLEEP_TIME_S = 10;
unsigned long SLEEP_TIME = 10000;
long oldvoltage = 0;
byte direction = 0;
int oldMoistureLevel = -1;
float batteryPcnt;
float batteryVolt;
int LED = 5;
bool pcReceived = false;

void setup()
{
  pinMode(LED, OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(LED, HIGH);
  delay(200);
  digitalWrite(LED, LOW);
  delay(200);
  digitalWrite(LED, HIGH);
  delay(200);
  digitalWrite(LED, LOW);
  SLEEP_TIME=SLEEP_TIME_S*1000;


sendSketchInfo("Plant moisture solar proto", "1.0");
// request(CHILD_ID_SLEEP_S, V_VAR1);
present(CHILD_ID_MOISTURE, S_HUM);
  delay(250);
present(CHILD_ID_BATTERY, S_MULTIMETER);
  for (int i = 0; i < N_ELEMENTS(SENSOR_ANALOG_PINS); i++) {
    pinMode(SENSOR_ANALOG_PINS[i], OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(SENSOR_ANALOG_PINS[i], LOW);
  }
present(CHILD_ID_SLEEP_S, S_INFO);
send(sleep_msg.set(11));
}

void loop()
{
  pcReceived = false;
  int moistureLevel = readMoisture();

  // Send rolling average of 2 samples to get rid of the "ripple" produced by different resistance in the internal pull-up resistors
  // See http://forum.mysensors.org/topic/2147/office-plant-monitoring/55 for more information
  if (oldMoistureLevel == -1) { // First reading, save current value as old
    oldMoistureLevel = moistureLevel;
  }
  if (moistureLevel > (oldMoistureLevel * THRESHOLD) || moistureLevel < (oldMoistureLevel / THRESHOLD)) {
    // The change was large, so it was probably not caused by the difference in internal pull-ups.
    // Measure again, this time with reversed polarity.
    moistureLevel = readMoisture();
  }
send(msg.set((moistureLevel + oldMoistureLevel) / 2.0 / 10.23, 1));
  oldMoistureLevel = moistureLevel;
  
  int sensorValue = analogRead(A0);
  Serial.println(sensorValue);
  float voltage=sensorValue*(3.3/1023);
  Serial.println(voltage);
  batteryPcnt = (sensorValue - 248) * 0.72;
  batteryVolt = voltage;
sendBatteryLevel(batteryPcnt);
  resend((voltage_msg.set(batteryVolt, 3)), 10);

if (!pcReceived) {
      //Last sleept time not yet received from controller, request it again
      request(CHILD_ID_SLEEP_S, V_VAR1);
      Serial.print("Requested time sleep from gw VAR1");
      return;
    }


  digitalWrite(LED, HIGH);
  delay(200);
  digitalWrite(LED, LOW);
SLEEP_TIME=SLEEP_TIME_S*1000;  
sleep(SLEEP_TIME);
}

void resend(MyMessage &msg, int repeats)
{
  int repeat = 1;
  int repeatdelay = 0;
  boolean sendOK = false;

  while ((sendOK == false) and (repeat < repeats)) {
    if (send(msg)) {
      sendOK = true;
    } else {
      sendOK = false;
      Serial.print("Error ");
      Serial.println(repeat);
      repeatdelay += 500;
    } repeat++; delay(repeatdelay);
  }
}


int readMoisture() {
  pinMode(SENSOR_ANALOG_PINS[direction], INPUT_PULLUP); // Power on the sensor
  analogRead(SENSOR_ANALOG_PINS[direction]);// Read once to let the ADC capacitor start charging
  sleep(STABILIZATION_TIME);
  int moistureLevel = (1023 - analogRead(SENSOR_ANALOG_PINS[direction]));

  // Turn off the sensor to conserve battery and minimize corrosion
  pinMode(SENSOR_ANALOG_PINS[direction], OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(SENSOR_ANALOG_PINS[direction], LOW);

  direction = (direction + 1) % 2; // Make direction alternate between 0 and 1 to reverse polarity which reduces corrosion
  return moistureLevel;
}

void receive(const MyMessage &message)
{
  if (message.type==V_TEXT) {
    // unsigned long infosleep=message.getULong();
    String infosleepstr=message.getString();
    unsigned long infosleep=infosleepstr.toInt();
    Serial.print("Received time sleep as string from gw:");
    Serial.println(infosleepstr);
    Serial.print("fin de msg");
    SLEEP_TIME_S = infosleep;
    pcReceived = true;
  }
  if (message.type==V_VAR1) {
    unsigned long infosleep=message.getULong();
    //unsigned long infosleep=message.getString();
    
    Serial.print("Received time sleep as VAR1 ULOng from gw:");
    Serial.println(infosleep);
    Serial.print("fin de msg");
    SLEEP_TIME_S = infosleep;
    pcReceived = true;
  }  
}

In Domoticz, in hardware I can see this:

The sensor is the "proto" one (ID 1) where I can see the various children (Humidity=0 is normal as I did not attach the soil sensor and voltage is weird as it's not connected either).
In devices view, I have:

where I can see the text sensor of S_INFO which is set to "5" thanks to a user variable (see LUA script below).

I created a user variable "SondeSleep" with a LUA script (type "variables") to update the text sensor whenever the suer variable changes:

commandArray = {}
if ( uservariablechanged['SondeSleep']) then
print ("nouvelle valeur Level1 de SondeSleep:" .. uservariables['SondeSleep']);
ttidx=otherdevices_idx['SondeSolProto_Text_Sensor'];
commandArray['UpdateDevice']=ttidx..'|1|' .. uservariables['SondeSleep'] 
end
return commandArray 

This script seems working since it replicates properly the vriable value to the text_sensor. I'm just confused by the command

commandArray['UpdateDevice']=ttidx..'|1|' .. uservariables['SondeSleep']

where I couldn't understand the meaning of the value between the || (here |1|).

The Domoticz website refers to LUA and JSON page, but I coudn't find the explanation. In 1 script of this post, I saw a 0, in another a 1.. I tried with both and also wit 2 (just in case it refers to Child ID ..) but no better result.
Could someone clarifies the meaning ?

When I run the sensor, I can only see (in serial monitor) the message "Requested time sleep from gw VAR1" from the "request" loop. and in Domoticz log, I can see that the sensor updates the humidity and voltage values, but that's all.

I'm also surprised I do'nt see any value in S_INFO child, but maybe it's normal.
I had tried to use V_TEXT instead of V_VAR1 everhwhere, but same result. There's definitely something I misunderstood somewehere.

Anyone could help me ?
ricorico94

[gohan]

Have you tried with a variable that is Integer instead of text or other? I am just guessing, as I haven't tried what you are doing yet.

[ricorico94]

well, one of my issues is that I don't understand how the V_VAR1 is managed by Domoticz. The website states that V_VARx exist for any kind of sensor, but in such case I don't understand how to define its value in Domoticz as V_VAR1 appears nowhere. So I used an integer user variable, then transtype to text and in my receive(à procedure, I was trying to transtype again to integer (or unsigned long)..
It's also why I had tried to replace all my V_VAR1 by V_TEXT, to be more homogenous.

[dbemowsk]

@ricorico94 If you are asking about V_VarX, I won't be much help. Back when I used Domoticz, V_VarX was not supported yet. I would be curious to see what the answer is though.

[ricorico94]

HI again,
I noticed that I never see any "read" line in the serial monitor (except at the very beginning when I restart the sensor". Is it normal ?
Here are snapshots of a couple messages (among the thousands appearing on Serial monitor)
Seen right after restart of sensor:

0 MCO:BGN:INIT NODE,CP=RNNNA--,VER=2.1.1
4 TSM:INIT
4 TSF:WUR:MS=0
12 TSM:INIT:TSP OK
14 TSF:SID:OK,ID=1
16 TSM:FPAR
51 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
585 TSF:MSG:READ,0-0-1,s=255,c=3,t=8,pt=1,l=1,sg=0:0
591 TSF:MSG:FPAR OK,ID=0,D=1
2060 TSM:FPAR:OK
2060 TSM:ID
2062 TSM:ID:OK
2064 TSM:UPL
2068 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=3,t=24,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:1
2074 TSF:MSG:READ,0-0-1,s=255,c=3,t=25,pt=1,l=1,sg=0:1
2080 TSF:MSG:PONG RECV,HP=1
2084 TSM:UPL:OK
2086 TSM:READY:ID=1,PAR=0,DIS=1
2091 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=3,t=15,pt=6,l=2,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:0100
2099 TSF:MSG:READ,0-0-1,s=255,c=3,t=15,pt=6,l=2,sg=0:0100
2107 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=0,t=17,pt=0,l=5,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:2.1.1
2121 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=3,t=6,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:0
2570 TSF:MSG:READ,0-0-1,s=255,c=3,t=6,pt=0,l=1,sg=0:M
2576 MCO:REG:REQ
2580 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=3,t=26,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:2
2588 TSF:MSG:READ,0-0-1,s=255,c=3,t=27,pt=1,l=1,sg=0:1
2594 MCO:PIM:NODE REG=1
2596 MCO:BGN:STP
3201 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=3,t=11,pt=0,l=25,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:Plant moisture solar prot
3213 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=3,t=12,pt=0,l=3,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:1.0
3223 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=0,c=0,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
3481 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=1,c=0,t=30,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
3491 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=2,c=0,t=36,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
3502 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=2,c=1,t=24,pt=2,l=2,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:11
3508 MCO:BGN:INIT OK,TSP=1
3512 MCO:SLP:MS=1000,SMS=0,I1=255,M1=255,I2=255,M2=255
3518 MCO:SLP:TPD
3520 MCO:SLP:WUP=-1
3524 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=0,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:0.0
242
0.78
3534 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=3,t=0,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:252
3545 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=1,c=1,t=38,pt=7,l=5,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:0.781
3555 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=2,c=2,t=24,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
Requested time sleep from gw VAR13565 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=2,c=2,t=47,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
Requested time sleep from gw TEXT3573 MCO:SLP:MS=1000,SMS=0,I1=255,M1=255,I2=255,M2=255

and then messages which keeps repeating (no read message):

10414 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=2,c=2,t=24,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
Requested time sleep from gw VAR110424 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=2,c=2,t=47,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
Requested time sleep from gw TEXT10432 MCO:SLP:MS=1000,SMS=0,I1=255,M1=255,I2=255,M2=255
10438 MCO:SLP:TPD
10440 MCO:SLP:WUP=-1
10448 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=0,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:0.0
189
0.61
10461 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=3,t=0,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:214
10471 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=1,c=1,t=38,pt=7,l=5,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:0.610
10479 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=2,c=2,t=24,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
Requested time sleep from gw VAR110489 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=2,c=2,t=47,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
Requested time sleep from gw TEXT10498 MCO:SLP:MS=1000,SMS=0,I1=255,M1=255,I2=255,M2=255

Any idea of what might happen ? (or not happen..)
NB: in snapshots above, I'm requesting both V_VAR1 and V_TEXT vaues with these commands looping:

if (!pcReceived) {
      //Last sleept time not yet received from controller, request it again
      request(CHILD_ID_SLEEP_S, V_VAR1);
      Serial.print("Requested time sleep from gw VAR1");
      request(CHILD_ID_SLEEP_S, V_TEXT);
      Serial.print("Requested time sleep from gw TEXT");
      return;
    }```

ricorico94