None nnn Node in Home Assistant

[KevinT]

I ran into a problem while testing out an nRF52832 board with home assistant. Sometimes, when a new node connected, it would show in Home Assistsant as None nnn (where nnn is the node number) with only a battery sensor and no other sensors. Looking in the mysensors.json file, I found the sensors were defined but the sketch_name was "null".

    "211": {
        "sensor_id": 211,
        "children": {
            "0": {
                "id": 0,
                "type": 6,
                "description": "Temperature",
                "values": {
                    "0": "22.99"
                }
            },
            "1": {
                "id": 1,
                "type": 8,
                "description": "Pressure",
                "values": {
                    "43": "kPa",
                    "4": "101.86"
                }
            }
        },
        "type": 17,
        "sketch_name": null,
        "sketch_version": "1.0",
        "battery_level": 0,
        "protocol_version": "2.3.2",
        "heartbeat": 0
    }

The sketch name is set by sendSketchInfo(), which made me think that this message was getting lost sometimes, perhaps the transport message system was still processing previous messages.
I added a 10ms wait, and the problem was solved, the nodes now consistently register with home assistant.

void presentation()  {
  // Send the sketch name & version information to the gateway and Controller
  wait(10);		// allow transport to setup, sometimes sketch info is being lost
  sendSketchInfo("BMP280 Sensor", "1.0");

  present(CHILD_ID_TEMP, S_TEMP, "Temperature");
  present(CHILD_ID_PRES, S_BARO, "Pressure");
}

I just thought I would share this, in case others run into the same problem.

[OldSurferDude]

Yeah, you need the sketch name.

I found that wait() was required pretty much after every send. I don't why exactly, I suspect the the send commands were overrunning the previous send command.

[KevinT]

Good to know. I'll have to check and see if all my sensor measurements are getting through to ha. Out of curiosity, what hardware are you using for your gateway and controller?

[OldSurferDude]

Home Assistant is my controller. It runs in a virtualbox under linux on a refurbished PC. On that same computer I run an MQTT broker (not using HA's)

My gateway, which uses MQTT for transport, runs on an RPi zero 2W running Raspberry Pi OS. It also controls my irrigation relays.

I also have a serial gateway which has no radio network which is its own node for "pushing" the buttons on a remote control. This gateway essentially gives a PC digital IO.

[nagelc]

@OldSurferDude said:

Yeah, you need the sketch name.

I found that wait() was required pretty much after every send. I don't why exactly, I suspect the the send commands were overrunning the previous send command.

I second this. Waiting after send can help some odd behavior.

I have also had nodes the performed well with debug turned on, then not work when it is off. The debug prints are slow in processor time and I think they act like a wait. If this happens, check where you have debug messages and try some waits there, especially if it is after a send.