HA: moisture sensor ValueError: could not convert string to float: '2.1.1'

[sundberg84]

@mrhutchinsonmn - values in mysensors json looks very strange.

"values": {
"37": "3"
}

Not sure what else. did you try to stop HA and remove the node from mysensors json and preesnt it again?

[mrhutchinsonmn]

Yes, I removed mysensors.json and restarted. I just finished doing a new install of HA in case it was simply a version issue. I have more info now from the logs. What do you make of this output?:```

2020-02-25 11:45:07 DEBUG (MainThread) [homeassistant.components.mysensors.gateway] Node update: node 105 child 255
2020-02-25 11:45:07 DEBUG (MainThread) [mysensors.handler] n:0 c:255 t:3 s:9 p:TSF:MSG:READ,105-105-0,s=255,c=3,t=12,pt=0,l=3,sg=0:1.0
2020-02-25 11:45:07 DEBUG (MainThread) [homeassistant.components.mysensors.gateway] Node update: node 105 child 255
2020-02-25 11:45:07 DEBUG (MainThread) [mysensors.handler] n:0 c:255 t:3 s:9 p:TSF:MSG:READ,105-105-0,s=0,c=0,t=35,pt=0,l=0,sg=0:
2020-02-25 11:45:07 WARNING (MainThread) [mysensors] Not a valid message: Not valid message sub-type: 35 for dictionary value @ data['sub_type']
2020-02-25 11:45:07 DEBUG (MainThread) [mysensors.handler] n:0 c:255 t:3 s:9 p:TSF:MSG:READ,105-105-0,s=255,c=3,t=26,pt=1,l=1,sg=0:2
2020-02-25 11:45:07 DEBUG (MainThread) [mysensors.handler] n:0 c:255 t:3 s:9 p:TSF:MSG:SEND,0-0-105-105,s=255,c=3,t=27,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:1
2020-02-25 11:45:07 DEBUG (MainThread) [mysensors.handler] n:0 c:255 t:3 s:9 p:TSF:MSG:READ,105-105-0,s=0,c=1,t=37,pt=4,l=4,sg=0:1
2020-02-25 11:45:07 WARNING (MainThread) [mysensors] Child 0 is unknown
2020-02-25 11:45:07 DEBUG (SyncWorker_1) [mysensors.persistence] Saving sensors to persistence file /home/raymond/.homeassistant/mysensors1.pickle

[Meach]

I actually have the same problem and do not know where it is coming from.
I tried several time to delete mysensors.json file and restart AH to try to troubleshoot it without success.

This is the errors I get exactly:

2020-02-25 19:07:32 ERROR (MainThread) [homeassistant.components.mysensors.device] Error updating Grow monitor 30 3
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/mysensors/device.py", line 108, in update
    await self._async_update_callback()
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/mysensors/device.py", line 134, in _async_update_callback
    await self.async_update_ha_state(True)
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py", line 284, in async_update_ha_state
    self._async_write_ha_state()
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py", line 330, in _async_write_ha_state
    unit_of_measurement = self.unit_of_measurement
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/mysensors/sensor.py", line 85, in unit_of_measurement
    float(self.gateway.protocol_version) >= 1.5
ValueError: could not convert string to float: '2.3.2'

I checked the file mentioned in the last line here: https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/blob/dev/homeassistant/components/mysensors/sensor.py
I see that V_LEVEL doesn't have a S_MOISTURE corresponding it to (line 32).
Could the error comes from the unit of measurement is not mentioned for S_MOISTURE type of sensors?

[BearWithBeard]

@Meach
I guess there's only one way to find out: Add the S_MOISTURE definition on line 36 in sensors.py manually, restart HA and give it a try.

    "V_LEVEL": {
        "S_SOUND": ["dB", "mdi:volume-high"],
        "S_VIBRATION": ["Hz", None],
        "S_LIGHT_LEVEL": ["lx", "mdi:white-balance-sunny"],
        "S_MOISTURE": ["%", "mdi:water-percent"],
    },

Since the measurement in your sketch seems to be tensiometric, I'm not certain if % is the correct unit to choose here, but I guess in general people would assume that S_MOISTURE is a volumetric measurement representing the percentage of water per volume in the soil. So you might want to change it to [None, "mdi:gauge"] or [kPa, "mdi:gauge"].

It's weird though that the logs from both of you complain about the MySensors version string, which of course, isn't a valid float and can't be converted with float(varString).

[BearWithBeard]

Out of curiosity, I just setup a node with the sketch that @mrhutchinsonmn posted in the first post, but uploaded dummy data instead of measuring actual values (shouldn't be a problem, I just don't have a soil moisture sensor at hand). I also tried the latest version of the SoilMoistSensor.ino sketch.

Unfortunately, I was unable to reproduce the issue. Serial output is fine, the HA log shows no errors, the sensor value is displayed in the GUI. So I doubt that the change mentioned above will have any effect. It's most likely just used to display a default unit and icon in the GUI. If there's no matching sensor type, as is the case with S_MOISTURE, it will default to a unit-less display. At least that's my understanding.

I used MySensors 2.3.2 and Home Assistant 0.105.5 (in Docker).

[mrhutchinsonmn]

That particular error went away with a new HA install 0.103.6. However, I continue to get data type and child unknown errors:

020-02-26 07:47:33 WARNING (MainThread) [mysensors] Not a valid message: Not valid message sub-type: 35 for dictionary value @ data['sub_type']
2020-02-26 07:47:34 WARNING (MainThread) [mysensors] Child 0 is unknown
2020-02-26 07:48:05 WARNING (MainThread) [mysensors] Child 0 is unknown
2020-02-26 07:48:36 WARNING (MainThread) [mysensors] Child 0 is unknown
2020-02-26 07:49:07 WARNING (MainThread) [mysensors] Child 0 is unknown
2020-02-26 07:49:30 WARNING (MainThread) [mysensors] Not a valid message: Not valid message sub-type: 21 for dictionary value @ data['sub_type']
2020-02-26 07:49:38 WARNING (MainThread) [mysensors] Child 0 is unknown
2020-02-26 07:50:09 WARNING (MainThread) [mysensors] Child 0 is unknown

Corresponding serial monitor info:

5235 TSF:MSG:SEND,105-105-0-0,s=0,c=1,t=37,pt=4,l=4,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:-2
5244 MCO:SLP:MS=30000,SMS=0,I1=255,M1=255,I2=255,M2=255
5250 TSF:TDI:TSL
5252 MCO:SLP:WUP=-1
5253 TSF:TRI:TSB
10	0	10	10	0	10	0	0	0	0		4
0	0	0	0	0	-10	0	0	0	0		-1
resistance bias =5
sensor bias compensated value = 1

5307 TSF:MSG:SEND,105-105-0-0,s=0,c=1,t=37,pt=4,l=4,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:1
5316 MCO:SLP:MS=30000,SMS=0,I1=255,M1=255,I2=255,M2=255
5321 TSF:TDI:TSL

[BearWithBeard]

@mrhutchinsonmn

How have you configured MySensors in Home Assistant? I get the "not a valid message" error when I switch back to the old 1.4 protocol, which is still the default in HA.

So I suspect that you are using the old protcol version. Please have a look at your configuration.yaml and see if you specified the current version with version: '2.0' or even 2.3. It should look something like this:

mysensors:
  gateways:
    - device: mqtt
      persistence_file: '/config/mysensors.json'
      topic_in_prefix: 'mysensors-out'
      topic_out_prefix: 'mysensors-in'
  optimistic: false
  persistence: true
  retain: true
  version: '2.0'

@Meach's issue might be down to an old HA version then, if an update fixed this particular error.

[Meach]

I found a solution for my problem. In configuration.yaml I changed:

version: '2.3.2'

to

version: '2.3'

Now the errors don't show up anymore and my node is working :)

[mrhutchinsonmn]

Yes!! That worked for me!
Thank you!

[moli]

Worked for me too!! Using RPi Gateway.
Thank you