💬 RFM69 Raspberry PI Zero(W) Shield(HAT)

[openhardware.io]

https://www.openhardware.io/view/487/RFM69-Raspberry-PI-ZeroW-ShieldHAT

[gohan]

Are you planning to use the pi zero bt to talk to the switches and then send data over rfm69?

[mtiutiu]

@gohan

Something like that. For now I'm doing some research to explore and know better the capabilities for such a setup. I had to learn BLE also (obviously) and now I'm playing with BLE Central(raspberry pi zero w board) to receive notifications from the BLE enabled Livolo switch.

But I'm also thinking to link everything over WiFi and MQTT as the high level "transport" because I will need a BLE central node for each room where a Livolo BLE switch resides. So I will see which fits and works best in the end: MySensors radio "transport" over RFM69W vs WiFi and MQTT...

As far as I know MySensors doesn't support a Linux node only a gateway...Initially I was thinking to use each Linux BLE central node as a MySensors node which has BLE Livolo switches attached as "sensors" but I'm not sure about that yet or if it will make sense ...

[gohan]

Can I ask why you choose to go with the ble switches instead of all other available and tested solutions?

[mtiutiu]

@gohan

That's because of the issues that I had with the supply from the Livolo switches which is designed for low currents(several milliamps and even less). I had no luck with other solutions because of the high current consumption(more than 20mA) - and yes for the Livolo supply this is high. And because of that the stand-by power supply from Livolo crashed(burned) several times and I had to repair it(thanks to @tonnerre33 for his support on this part).

I know that other users managed to make this work with nrf24l01 radios and MySensors support but for me it didn't worked well and it wasn't stable - and trust me I studied the Livolo supply from outside to inside and I know its limitations and why it was designed the way it was designed.

[gohan]

There are also wifi switches... I still don't understand what is with the livolo supply that you want to use

[mtiutiu]

@gohan

In my country there's only one wire in the wall(the live wire) so that's why the Livolo story... And I don't have the luxury of changing the electrical wiring in my house...dig holes or other changes...

[NeverDie]

@mtiutiu
Be aware that at least some of the Pi's (I don't know which) are known to cause a lot of RF noise to the RFM69. That shows up as an impairment in receiving from more distant nodes. Just FYI. Not sure if it is true of the Pi Zero's or not. I guess you'll find out. ESP8266's don't seem to have the issue.

[mtiutiu]

@NeverDie
Thanks. I will keep that in mind. Well I will test and see...

[alexsh1]

@mtiutiu Hi. Any news on this project please? Where do you stand?

[mtiutiu]

@alexsh1

I'm sorry but I think I'll abandon this one because I don't have any time left to deal with it.

[mfalkvidd]

@mtiutiu no shame in pulling the brake when you need to. Thanks for replying.

[alexsh1]

@mtiutiu Pity, this has been a nice project.

[NeverDie]

If you want to simply buy a solution, there's this: https://lowpowerlab.com/guide/mightyhat/ It also gives you a power on-ff switch for the Pi, as well as a UPS, so it's more than a single point solution. I don't own one, so I can't really comment beyond just pointing out its existence.

[gohan]

@neverdie that's quite some money...