Can I do all this without a controller?

[brolly759]

Hi everyone. So I have been working with Xbee for a while and looking for a good alternative. I came across this site. I run the serial Gateway code on an Arduino Uno and get this:

0;0;3;0;14;Gateway startup complete.
0;0;3;0;9;read: 255-255-0 s=255,c=3,t=3,pt=0,l=0:
255;255;3;0;3;
0;0;3;0;9;read: 255-255-0 s=255,c=3,t=3,pt=0,l=0:
255;255;3;0;3;

I run the BinarySwitchSleep code on a nano I have and in sleep mode get around 22-24uA. Not bad at all.

My question is this. Why do I need a controller? Can I not identify each node on the Uno and post data in JSON to DWEET/FREEBOARD or some other data collection storage? If so, are there any tutorials on this?

My ultimate goal is to make a web based sensor solution kit for different applications that uses limited hardware. For now I am just making a bathroom sensor.

Oh, last question. Has anyone been able to get the sleep mode lower than 20-24uA?

I was able to get 350nA following these instructions, albeit using an IRQ to wake up and this was ONLY with an Atmel 328P no wireless.
http://www.gammon.com.au/forum/?id=11497

Thanks!

[sundberg84]

I tried this... link and managed to post data to nimbitz without a controller with Json but quit the work since it was to much for me.

You need to rewrite the library which controlls the gateway (ethernet gateway).
I also set all nodes to a solid ID since its the controller normally assigning those.

[brolly759]

So from the sounds of it, I may be better off just learning the RF24 library. The only issue I see is the RF24 library only supports up to 6 devices in a star network, Many to one/ Star network. So 5 end nodes and 1 gateway, which according to the datasheet is a hardware limitation.

It may be easier than going through all this custom libraries here.

Though, mysensors.org did a GREAT job for home owner tinkerers. Just not good for prototyping for business applications. Though what do I know, I barely know programming and arduino lol

[getSurreal]

I was curious about the same thing, but without even having to pass the data onto another device. I'd just like to have an lcd screen on the "gateway" to display temperature data from all the nodes.

Is this possible without major hacking of the api?

[hek]

You don't need a controller. But it will be hard to squeeze in much more into the gateway (running on an ATMega328) and it won't be able to do any SSL encryption (which I imagine most people would want).

So one of the best options is to run a light "controller" (on something that has a lilttle bit more horse power) which just forwards your sensor network data to the web service of preference. I imagine you would need to do some kind of re-mapping before posting the data as well.