1.4 Beta

[warawara]

I'm trying to create my own controller in Node-Red.

My setup is as followed:
Motion Sensor arduino with standard example sketch <--> SerialGateway arduino with standard example sketch <--> USB <--> Node-Red (installed on Raspberry PI)

My SerialGateway receives the request for a node ID (255;255;3;0;3;)
I then return a serial command: 255;255;3;0;4;1

You can see my Node-Red output below:

For some reason my SerialGateway is not broadcasting my command. It's only repeating the above commands sevral times;

Am i using the correct protocol values or is there something else I should do?

[hek]

@warawara

Did you remember sending a newline?

[warawara]

@hek
Yes I did.

My Node-Red is configured to send a newline after every command.

But just to make sure I also tried adding it to the string.

Same result.

[warawara]

@hek

I assume sending de command in ascii is good or do I need to send a binary buffer?

[hek]

@warawara

If it's working from your gateway Serial Monitor in IDE you must be doing something wrong in your program.

[warawara]

@hek
Not working in IDE.

[warawara]

@hek

Got it working, but my solution is not very satisfying.

I swapt the sketches on my 2 arduino's.

Original arduino setup was:
SerialGatway - Arduino pro mini 3.3v (including Decoupling-Capacitor)
Motion Sensor - Arduino Uno (including Decoupling-Capacitor)

Now the sketches are switched and it works.

Eventually I will be working with only Arduino pro mini's but still the original setup should have worked.

[Damme]

@warawara did you try clearing using clear eeprom? That helped me some times. Dont really know why some nodes just wont want to recieve packages..

[warawara]

@Damme
Thanks for the tip.

I will try that in the future. But I don't think it was a problem of not receiving on the sensor part. I think it was a problem with not sending on the Serial Gateway part.

But I got it working now!

[RJ_Make]

Ok, So I took the plunge and upgraded to 1.4.b1, and everything went "OK" with one glaring exception...... All temperatures display in Celsius. No matter what I do, I can't seem to get it to display in Fahrenheit..

Any Idea's?

[Bandra]

@hek
I'd like to ask for a small change to be made to the sleep function.

When we call gw.sleep(x) or gw.sleep(x,y,z) then the arduino disables the interrupt timer (to save power) that triggers the counter that drives millis(). So the value returned from millis() stalls when we sleep.

This is ok on our battery powered devices, since it's saving power, but makes it hard to determine how long it's been since we sent values to the gateway.

For example, if I use this code:

if ((unsigned long)(millis() - timeOfLastSensorSend) >= MIN_SAMPLING_INTERVAL) {
    // read sensors and send to gateway
    timeOfLastSensorSend = millis();
}
gw.sleep(SLEEP_TIME);

Then it doesn't work because millis() does not increment while the the sketch is asleep.

I have a thought on how we can solve this but I have a to get to a work meeting.

[Bandra]

Ok, back from meeting.

So, for sketches that don't need to sleep on interrupt, then things are ok because I can code around it like this:

if ((unsigned long)(millis() - timeOfLastSensorSend) >= MIN_SAMPLING_INTERVAL) {
    // read sensors and send to gateway
    timeOfLastSensorSend = millis();
}
gw.sleep(SLEEP_TIME);
timeOfLastSensorSend -= SLEEP_TIME;

My rationale here is that if millis doesn't increment then I should make my variable decrement by the same amount. Same effect.

However, the catch is when sleeping with interrupt. My thinking was to modify MySensors.cpp to change the return value of sleep. Something like this:

unsigned long MySensor::internalSleep(unsigned long ms) {
    unsigned long origMs = ms;
    while (continueTimer && ms >= 8000) { LowPower.powerDown(SLEEP_8S, ADC_OFF, BOD_OFF); ms -= 8000; }
    if (continueTimer && ms >= 4000)    { LowPower.powerDown(SLEEP_4S, ADC_OFF, BOD_OFF); ms -= 4000; }
    ...
    if (continueTimer && ms >= 16)      { LowPower.powerDown(SLEEP_15Ms, ADC_OFF, BOD_OFF); ms -= 15; }
    return (origMs - ms);
}

unsigned long MySensor::sleep(unsigned long ms) {
    // Let serial prints finish (debug, log etc)
    Serial.flush();
    RF24::powerDown();
    continueTimer = true;
    return internalSleep(ms);
}

unsigned long MySensor::sleep(int interrupt, int mode, unsigned long  ms) {
    // Let serial prints finish (debug, log etc)
    unsigned long sleptFor = 0;
    Serial.flush();
    RF24::powerDown();
    attachInterrupt(interrupt, wakeUp, mode); //Interrupt on pin 3 for any change in solar power
    if (ms>0) {
            continueTimer = true;
            sleptFor = sleep(ms);
    } else {
            Serial.flush();
            LowPower.powerDown(SLEEP_FOREVER, ADC_OFF, BOD_OFF);
    }
    detachInterrupt(interrupt);
    return sleptFor;
}

So rather than return a boolean on sleep(x,y,z), return the amount of time it slept for before it was interrupted. The check of the boolean is replaced with a check if return code > 0.

Hopefully my ramblings make some kind of sense.

[hek]

@ServiceXp

The sensor fetches the unit setting from Vera at startup. Something probably fails during this data exchange. You'll have to look at the debug logs to see what happens.

This behavior might change in 1.4 with sensors just reporting SI-units and controller makes the necessary conversion/scaling.

[RJ_Make]

@hek
This is the first time I've ssh into vera, so I have no idea what I'm looking for.. I have 2 Everspring ST-814's that display correctly, and of course 2 MySensor sensor which did in 1.3, but not in 1.4b1.

I found this, but not sure if this is what you need.

02 08/22/14 7:47:04.914 luup_log:87: Arduino: Incoming internal command '0;0;3;9;read: 2-2-0 s=1,c=1,t=0,pt=7,l=5:22.6' discarded for child: nil <0x2f8b3680>
50 08/22/14 7:47:04.916 luup_log:87: Arduino: Set variable: 2;1;1;0;0;22.6 <0x2f8b3680>
50 08/22/14 7:47:04.916 luup_log:87: Arduino: Setting variable 'CurrentTemperature' to value '22.6' <0x2f8b3680>
50 08/22/14 7:47:04.916 luup_log:87: Arduino: urn:upnp-org:serviceId:TemperatureSensor1,CurrentTemperature, 22.6, 92 <0x2f8b3680>
06 08/22/14 7:47:04.917 Device_Variable::m_szValue_set device: 92 service: urn:upnp-org:serviceId:TemperatureSensor1 variable: CurrentTemperature was: 22.5 now: 22.6 #hooks: 3 upnp: 0 v:0xda4620/NONE duplicate:0 <0x2f8b3680>
01 08/22/14 7:47:04.918 LuaInterface::CallFunction_Variable func: w_switch Device_Variable 92 urn:upnp-org:serviceId:TemperatureSensor1:CurrentTemperature failed [string "..."]:14: bad argument #1 to 'sub' (string expected, got nil) <0x2f8b3680>
01 08/22/14 7:47:04.919 LuaInterface::CallFunction_Variable func: w_switch Device_Variable 92 urn:upnp-org:serviceId:TemperatureSensor1:CurrentTemperature failed [string "..."]:14: bad argument #1 to 'sub' (string expected, got nil) <0x2f8b3680>

[hek]

@ServiceXp

The node will be transferring celsius data until it manage to receive settings from controller (this is done in the background) by setup().
Attach your failing sensor to the computer. Upload sketch with debug enabled. And look at the Serial monitor. Restart a sensor a few times .

[RJ_Make]

@hek

Thanks, I'll do that when I get home later. Just so I'm clear..

To enable debugging: I Remove the "//" before the #define DEBUG ** in and ONLY in** the /libraries/MySensors/Config.h file ? Then upload the sketch again to the sensors? (I don't have to upload the gateway sketch also do I?)

[hek]

@ServiceXp

Yes correct!

[RJ_Make]

@hek

I can only find MyConfig.h file, and DEBUG was already without the "//".

So I noticed something VERY strange. It seems when I have the sensors connected to the computer, they start reading in Fahrenheit, and once I pull the USB cable it reverts back to Celsius with-in 30-60 seconds..

[RJ_Make]

Yep, I have no idea how to debug this. The debug window reads in Fahrenheit, (and in Vera), but 30-60 seconds after I disconnect the usb cable from my computer (at which point I can't use the serial com window) it reverts back to Celsius.

I've deleted one of the sensor nodes and child from Vera, cleared the eEPROM and re-install sketch and re-incuded back into Vera...

I just don't understand why it works while connected to my computer...

[hek]

@ServiceXp

No, this seems strange. The unit settings should get stored in eeprom.