A little Halloween fun. I've added LED strip lights to an old Halloween plastic ghost and jack-o-lantern and automated switching them off/on using a MySensors node.
Quick Range Check on the WIO-E5-LE. The LE version uses only the low power PA, +14dBm max. Using the default settings except for 915MHz
#define MY_SX126x_FREQUENCY (SX126x_915MHZ)
#define MY_SX126x_LORA_SF LORA_SF7
#define MY_SX126x_LORA_BW LORA_BW_125
#define MY_SX126x_LORA_CR LORA_CR_4_5
I get about 190 meter range, just walking around the neighborhood, line of site except for some trees and power lines.
No tuning on the antenna. Just using a 77.9mm wire.
Not as dramatic as some have achieved with LoRa radio's, but plenty good enough for my house and yard : )
Another thing to check if you updated MySensors after a long time. The update overwrites the MyConfig.h file. If you had any custom settings in that file, you have to go back and reset them. This used to get me because I use 915Mhz with the RFM69 radios. Updates would change it back to the default, and I would have to go change it back.
@OldSurferDude yes, you are correct. this sensor is capable of 50A continuous, which safely I would make it working at 40A max., but for such an important load as in your case I would go for a beefier one, like the ACS75x, 77x, but at this point I would also change the node's form factor for space and insulation reasons.
On my application on the RV I have a max. curr. of 13A running on a AWG14-16 cable (European rules for RVs), so I did not ask myself too many questions beside, of course, safety.
About the signal, it will be a sinusoidal signal swinging around Vcc/2.
Vcc can be easily measured internally on the ATmega328. On all my DC sensors I measure Vcc at every loop, just before measuring the ADCs.
Honestly, when the space is not an issue like in my RV, I would rather use a ring core current transformer, and I would get rid of noise, response time, power dissipation, but over all no need to cut any cable.
Long story short, it has been a nice experiment and I used it for 6 months, and then I switched back to my RF-NANO based RS485-Modbus - Mysensors bridge connected to an off-the shelf power analyzer.
Just for fun I attach a pic of my 12Vdc sensors installed on my RV. Forgive me for the spaghetti wiring on the right side, but this is an area that needs improvement.
