Irrigation Controller (up to 16 valves with Shift Registers)
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It seems that you have not read up on how mysensors works.. The purpose of mysensors is to create wireless sensors. To do this, we normally have a gateway connected to a computer running some kind of controller software.
Then we have sensor nodes that transmit (wireless) sensor data to the gateway which sends this to the controller software.
Again, please read up on how mysensors are designed, find more here https://www.mysensors.org/about
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It seems that you have not read up on how mysensors works.. The purpose of mysensors is to create wireless sensors. To do this, we normally have a gateway connected to a computer running some kind of controller software.
Then we have sensor nodes that transmit (wireless) sensor data to the gateway which sends this to the controller software.
Again, please read up on how mysensors are designed, find more here https://www.mysensors.org/about
@tbowmo
can you tell me if I got this wrongThe "brain" is my pro min
"The radio" is nRF24
the brain (promiin) get and sends info to the (Radio)
the controller (my PC that is running Domoticz)" gets and send info to the radio.
That's how I get it after reading :-( -
But how are the radio connected to your pc then? :) that needs an arduino as well.
To have a functional mysensors network, you usually have 2 (or more) arduino compatible boards. One of thar m running SerialGateway (or another suitable sketch) with NRF24 connected. This connect to the computer running domoticz
Then you have all the sensor nodes, they are also running on arduino compatible hardware (but separate to the gateway hardware), also with radio connected. THIS is running your sensor sketches, and communicates with the gateway arduino via the NRF24 radios.
When the gateway receives messages on the NRF24, it sends these via UART to the computer at which you are running domoticz (or any other suitable controller software).
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It seems that you have not read up on how mysensors works.. The purpose of mysensors is to create wireless sensors. To do this, we normally have a gateway connected to a computer running some kind of controller software.
Then we have sensor nodes that transmit (wireless) sensor data to the gateway which sends this to the controller software.
Again, please read up on how mysensors are designed, find more here https://www.mysensors.org/about
@tbowmo said in Irrigation Controller (up to 16 valves with Shift Registers):
It seems that you have not read up on how mysensors works.. The purpose of mysensors is to create wireless sensors. To do this, we normally have a gateway connected to a computer running some kind of controller software.
Then we have sensor nodes that transmit (wireless) sensor data to the gateway which sends this to the controller software.
Again, please read up on how mysensors are designed, find more here https://www.mysensors.org/about
Hi Thomas,
You have hit on a point that I see over and over here, and that I shared with @tombstone for a long time before I was able to get a successful MySensors node working. (And I've worked with electronics and tech much of my life.)
Understanding the key components and how they fit together is essential for newcomers to MySensors, and is not very complex, but the information is widely scattered and completely missing from the the top level of the website. This discourages newcomers and creates endless questions on the forums as it is quite difficult to get anything working without many hours of reading and experimenting.
There is no obvious place on the website that explains the big picture as well as your last message! Newcomers to MySensors do not benefit from a clear simple picture of sensor nodes, gateways, and controllers and how they fit together.
- The Getting Started page does not mention controllers at all. And it's NOT as easy as 1, 2, 3!
- The Controller page does not describe the basic purpose of a controller, or how it connects to gateways and nodes. It's a useful advanced comparison of controller details, not beginner content.
- The Build page mentions some of the key components but again not how they fit together. (Nor is it about 'building'.)
- The Hardware doesn't really talk about the hardware.
(I'm sure there is much of this elsewhere on the website, but its not easy to find from the obvious links.)
It would be hugely helpful if Getting Started was an actual detailed overview of MySensors diagramming examples of complete end-to-end systems.
- sensor->arduino+radio node---->arduino+radio gateway->controller (Domoticz etc).
- sensor->gateware/node software->ESP8266 wifi->controller (no 'radio')
- etc.
Gateways are difficult to understand at the beginning as there are so many different ones and the Gateway names don't help...some are named by a single transport protocol (i.e. MQTT) some for an interface (Serial) some for a hardware platform (ESP8266), etc. I'm sure this seems obvious to lifelong engineers/developers but not so much for regular hobby geeks like many hobbyists.
I'm impressed with the work that has gone into MySensors and am grateful for all the hard work by the many developers and users who have contributed to it. I don't mean my comments to be a complaint. Presenting technical systems to often less technical newcomer/users is a challenging area. Improving the first impression of the big picture to newcomers would be a huge move forward.
Tim
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@tbowmo said in Irrigation Controller (up to 16 valves with Shift Registers):
It seems that you have not read up on how mysensors works.. The purpose of mysensors is to create wireless sensors. To do this, we normally have a gateway connected to a computer running some kind of controller software.
Then we have sensor nodes that transmit (wireless) sensor data to the gateway which sends this to the controller software.
Again, please read up on how mysensors are designed, find more here https://www.mysensors.org/about
Hi Thomas,
You have hit on a point that I see over and over here, and that I shared with @tombstone for a long time before I was able to get a successful MySensors node working. (And I've worked with electronics and tech much of my life.)
Understanding the key components and how they fit together is essential for newcomers to MySensors, and is not very complex, but the information is widely scattered and completely missing from the the top level of the website. This discourages newcomers and creates endless questions on the forums as it is quite difficult to get anything working without many hours of reading and experimenting.
There is no obvious place on the website that explains the big picture as well as your last message! Newcomers to MySensors do not benefit from a clear simple picture of sensor nodes, gateways, and controllers and how they fit together.
- The Getting Started page does not mention controllers at all. And it's NOT as easy as 1, 2, 3!
- The Controller page does not describe the basic purpose of a controller, or how it connects to gateways and nodes. It's a useful advanced comparison of controller details, not beginner content.
- The Build page mentions some of the key components but again not how they fit together. (Nor is it about 'building'.)
- The Hardware doesn't really talk about the hardware.
(I'm sure there is much of this elsewhere on the website, but its not easy to find from the obvious links.)
It would be hugely helpful if Getting Started was an actual detailed overview of MySensors diagramming examples of complete end-to-end systems.
- sensor->arduino+radio node---->arduino+radio gateway->controller (Domoticz etc).
- sensor->gateware/node software->ESP8266 wifi->controller (no 'radio')
- etc.
Gateways are difficult to understand at the beginning as there are so many different ones and the Gateway names don't help...some are named by a single transport protocol (i.e. MQTT) some for an interface (Serial) some for a hardware platform (ESP8266), etc. I'm sure this seems obvious to lifelong engineers/developers but not so much for regular hobby geeks like many hobbyists.
I'm impressed with the work that has gone into MySensors and am grateful for all the hard work by the many developers and users who have contributed to it. I don't mean my comments to be a complaint. Presenting technical systems to often less technical newcomer/users is a challenging area. Improving the first impression of the big picture to newcomers would be a huge move forward.
Tim
@Grubstake
I was think of writing a post or making a video (like Pete) for the beginner's. Just an add-on of his work. Not saying his video are not good just saying I like to make more.... Aftrr I know how everything works. Not off on a good start but I get there. -
@tbowmo said in Irrigation Controller (up to 16 valves with Shift Registers):
It seems that you have not read up on how mysensors works.. The purpose of mysensors is to create wireless sensors. To do this, we normally have a gateway connected to a computer running some kind of controller software.
Then we have sensor nodes that transmit (wireless) sensor data to the gateway which sends this to the controller software.
Again, please read up on how mysensors are designed, find more here https://www.mysensors.org/about
Hi Thomas,
You have hit on a point that I see over and over here, and that I shared with @tombstone for a long time before I was able to get a successful MySensors node working. (And I've worked with electronics and tech much of my life.)
Understanding the key components and how they fit together is essential for newcomers to MySensors, and is not very complex, but the information is widely scattered and completely missing from the the top level of the website. This discourages newcomers and creates endless questions on the forums as it is quite difficult to get anything working without many hours of reading and experimenting.
There is no obvious place on the website that explains the big picture as well as your last message! Newcomers to MySensors do not benefit from a clear simple picture of sensor nodes, gateways, and controllers and how they fit together.
- The Getting Started page does not mention controllers at all. And it's NOT as easy as 1, 2, 3!
- The Controller page does not describe the basic purpose of a controller, or how it connects to gateways and nodes. It's a useful advanced comparison of controller details, not beginner content.
- The Build page mentions some of the key components but again not how they fit together. (Nor is it about 'building'.)
- The Hardware doesn't really talk about the hardware.
(I'm sure there is much of this elsewhere on the website, but its not easy to find from the obvious links.)
It would be hugely helpful if Getting Started was an actual detailed overview of MySensors diagramming examples of complete end-to-end systems.
- sensor->arduino+radio node---->arduino+radio gateway->controller (Domoticz etc).
- sensor->gateware/node software->ESP8266 wifi->controller (no 'radio')
- etc.
Gateways are difficult to understand at the beginning as there are so many different ones and the Gateway names don't help...some are named by a single transport protocol (i.e. MQTT) some for an interface (Serial) some for a hardware platform (ESP8266), etc. I'm sure this seems obvious to lifelong engineers/developers but not so much for regular hobby geeks like many hobbyists.
I'm impressed with the work that has gone into MySensors and am grateful for all the hard work by the many developers and users who have contributed to it. I don't mean my comments to be a complaint. Presenting technical systems to often less technical newcomer/users is a challenging area. Improving the first impression of the big picture to newcomers would be a huge move forward.
Tim
@Grubstake I think you missed the page https://www.mysensors.org/about/network
IMHO mysensors made it "easy" to create a sensors network but it can't teach you the basics of arduino programming, I have already told many newbies that first they need to learn with the tutorials and simple exercises otherwise they would have no idea where to look for problems that they will face. Learning how to debug it's as hard as learning to program and in a complex environment like a sensors network it is very easy to get lost. -
@tbowmo said in Irrigation Controller (up to 16 valves with Shift Registers):
It seems that you have not read up on how mysensors works.. The purpose of mysensors is to create wireless sensors. To do this, we normally have a gateway connected to a computer running some kind of controller software.
Then we have sensor nodes that transmit (wireless) sensor data to the gateway which sends this to the controller software.
Again, please read up on how mysensors are designed, find more here https://www.mysensors.org/about
Hi Thomas,
You have hit on a point that I see over and over here, and that I shared with @tombstone for a long time before I was able to get a successful MySensors node working. (And I've worked with electronics and tech much of my life.)
Understanding the key components and how they fit together is essential for newcomers to MySensors, and is not very complex, but the information is widely scattered and completely missing from the the top level of the website. This discourages newcomers and creates endless questions on the forums as it is quite difficult to get anything working without many hours of reading and experimenting.
There is no obvious place on the website that explains the big picture as well as your last message! Newcomers to MySensors do not benefit from a clear simple picture of sensor nodes, gateways, and controllers and how they fit together.
- The Getting Started page does not mention controllers at all. And it's NOT as easy as 1, 2, 3!
- The Controller page does not describe the basic purpose of a controller, or how it connects to gateways and nodes. It's a useful advanced comparison of controller details, not beginner content.
- The Build page mentions some of the key components but again not how they fit together. (Nor is it about 'building'.)
- The Hardware doesn't really talk about the hardware.
(I'm sure there is much of this elsewhere on the website, but its not easy to find from the obvious links.)
It would be hugely helpful if Getting Started was an actual detailed overview of MySensors diagramming examples of complete end-to-end systems.
- sensor->arduino+radio node---->arduino+radio gateway->controller (Domoticz etc).
- sensor->gateware/node software->ESP8266 wifi->controller (no 'radio')
- etc.
Gateways are difficult to understand at the beginning as there are so many different ones and the Gateway names don't help...some are named by a single transport protocol (i.e. MQTT) some for an interface (Serial) some for a hardware platform (ESP8266), etc. I'm sure this seems obvious to lifelong engineers/developers but not so much for regular hobby geeks like many hobbyists.
I'm impressed with the work that has gone into MySensors and am grateful for all the hard work by the many developers and users who have contributed to it. I don't mean my comments to be a complaint. Presenting technical systems to often less technical newcomer/users is a challenging area. Improving the first impression of the big picture to newcomers would be a huge move forward.
Tim
@Grubstake still may have a pont if there's been overs. Not saying we right or your right. But learning is a difficult thing. So is teaching. That's good that we have lots of open source site and when we get stuck members step ins and give a hand.
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Thanks guys now I understand, felling stupid but it was like a mind blank as was thinking it worked another way.
Can some one point me to the a link (error sending switch command check device/hardware) this comes up when turning on lights on the irrigation controller.
I find this but it didn't makes sense. https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/2553/error-sending-switch-command-check-device-hardware
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@tbowmo If I can give an opinion, if we want to reach the newcomers, we must start to think on a integrated solution for burning mcus without programming knowledge. I'm also a software architect and my father caught me on electronics, but this is a public project and will also reach people without knowledge.
NodeManager is a great jump on that direction and now we miss a small utility for computers.
And signing+encryption is a problem here. -
@tbowmo If I can give an opinion, if we want to reach the newcomers, we must start to think on a integrated solution for burning mcus without programming knowledge. I'm also a software architect and my father caught me on electronics, but this is a public project and will also reach people without knowledge.
NodeManager is a great jump on that direction and now we miss a small utility for computers.
And signing+encryption is a problem here.@Sergio-Rius why is signing and encryption a problem? We have a simplified option that enables both using a single define. It can't be made simpler than that without making it enabled by default and then with a common PSK which is pointless. Although still only available in beta it will soon be released.
If you find that too complex, I am all ears for improvement suggestions.Do you feel secure today? No? Start requiring some signatures and feel better tomorrow ;)
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@Sergio-Rius why is signing and encryption a problem? We have a simplified option that enables both using a single define. It can't be made simpler than that without making it enabled by default and then with a common PSK which is pointless. Although still only available in beta it will soon be released.
If you find that too complex, I am all ears for improvement suggestions.@Anticimex Sorry, but I don't follow the development code on a day basis, I was not aware of this feature.
Anyways, a common psk will be like grease. Any psk would be better than no-one. :)Let me explain: I was thinking on a small Pc program that you can select options (NodeManager) and then burn the chip by a click of a button. But also crossed my mind the possibility that a user, with a running secure network, wanted to get a sensebender gateway already programmed. It would be no use.
I was thinking on a way of "programming the crypto chip" separately from the cpu program. I don't know if it clearer now or I made it worse.
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@Anticimex Sorry, but I don't follow the development code on a day basis, I was not aware of this feature.
Anyways, a common psk will be like grease. Any psk would be better than no-one. :)Let me explain: I was thinking on a small Pc program that you can select options (NodeManager) and then burn the chip by a click of a button. But also crossed my mind the possibility that a user, with a running secure network, wanted to get a sensebender gateway already programmed. It would be no use.
I was thinking on a way of "programming the crypto chip" separately from the cpu program. I don't know if it clearer now or I made it worse.
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@Anticimex Sorry, but I don't follow the development code on a day basis, I was not aware of this feature.
Anyways, a common psk will be like grease. Any psk would be better than no-one. :)Let me explain: I was thinking on a small Pc program that you can select options (NodeManager) and then burn the chip by a click of a button. But also crossed my mind the possibility that a user, with a running secure network, wanted to get a sensebender gateway already programmed. It would be no use.
I was thinking on a way of "programming the crypto chip" separately from the cpu program. I don't know if it clearer now or I made it worse.
@Sergio-Rius I am still a bit confused.
A default PSK would be the same for everyone so how is that better than no one?
Also, nrf24 radios have problem with full size payloads so enabling signing by default would give some users radio problems by default as well. It is not a problem with signing, it is a problem with the radio. -
@Anticimex Sorry, but I don't follow the development code on a day basis, I was not aware of this feature.
Anyways, a common psk will be like grease. Any psk would be better than no-one. :)Let me explain: I was thinking on a small Pc program that you can select options (NodeManager) and then burn the chip by a click of a button. But also crossed my mind the possibility that a user, with a running secure network, wanted to get a sensebender gateway already programmed. It would be no use.
I was thinking on a way of "programming the crypto chip" separately from the cpu program. I don't know if it clearer now or I made it worse.
@Sergio-Rius the crypto chip (I prefer the term authentication chip as it does not do cryptography) is connected to the MCU so you need a program on the MCU to program the chip in one way or another. Lest you program the chip before soldering it to the board. And I think the personalization procedure (improved in beta) is documented and simplified enough so that having a separate pc program and do off board programming of the chip would be a far more complicated procedure for "non programmers".
Do you feel secure today? No? Start requiring some signatures and feel better tomorrow ;)
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@Sergio-Rius the crypto chip (I prefer the term authentication chip as it does not do cryptography) is connected to the MCU so you need a program on the MCU to program the chip in one way or another. Lest you program the chip before soldering it to the board. And I think the personalization procedure (improved in beta) is documented and simplified enough so that having a separate pc program and do off board programming of the chip would be a far more complicated procedure for "non programmers".
@Anticimex I'd add that encryption and signing are more advanced features and should be dealt once newbies get used to the mysensors framework and after they get used to how to debug, otherwise it would also add too much complexity
