Sensebender with LED pulse count from openenergymonitor.org

[alexsh1]

Hello,

I am trying to use the LED to count pulse on my electricity meter from openenergymonitor.org :
http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/buildingblocks/opticalpulsesensor

Unfortunately, it does not work straight out of box - I think I need pull-down resistors . Any suggestions please?

[Sparkman]

How do you have it hooked up and post your sketch that you are using to test it.

Cheers
Al

[alexsh1]

Thanks for your reply.
I took the sketch here:
http://www.mysensors.org/build/pulse_power

/**
 * The MySensors Arduino library handles the wireless radio link and protocol
 * between your home built sensors/actuators and HA controller of choice.
 * The sensors forms a self healing radio network with optional repeaters. Each
 * repeater and gateway builds a routing tables in EEPROM which keeps track of the
 * network topology allowing messages to be routed to nodes.
 *
 * Created by Henrik Ekblad <henrik.ekblad@mysensors.org>
 * Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Sensnology AB
 * Full contributor list: https://github.com/mysensors/Arduino/graphs/contributors
 *
 * Documentation: http://www.mysensors.org
 * Support Forum: http://forum.mysensors.org
 *
 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 * modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
 * version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
 *
 *******************************
 *
 * REVISION HISTORY
 * Version 1.0 - Henrik EKblad
 * 
 * DESCRIPTION
 * This sketch provides an example how to implement a distance sensor using HC-SR04 
 * Use this sensor to measure KWH and Watt of your house meeter
 * You need to set the correct pulsefactor of your meeter (blinks per KWH).
 * The sensor starts by fetching current KWH value from gateway.
 * Reports both KWH and Watt back to gateway.
 *
 * Unfortunately millis() won't increment when the Arduino is in 
 * sleepmode. So we cannot make this sensor sleep if we also want 
 * to calculate/report watt-number.
 * http://www.mysensors.org/build/pulse_power
 */

#include <SPI.h>
#include <MySensor.h>  

#define DIGITAL_INPUT_SENSOR 3  // The digital input you attached your light sensor.  (Only 2 and 3 generates interrupt!)
#define PULSE_FACTOR 1000       // Nummber of blinks per KWH of your meeter
#define SLEEP_MODE false        // Watt-value can only be reported when sleep mode is false.
#define MAX_WATT 10000          // Max watt value to report. This filetrs outliers.
#define INTERRUPT DIGITAL_INPUT_SENSOR-2 // Usually the interrupt = pin -2 (on uno/nano anyway)
#define CHILD_ID 4              // Id of the sensor child
unsigned long SEND_FREQUENCY = 20000; // Minimum time between send (in milliseconds). We don't wnat to spam the gateway.
MySensor gw;
double ppwh = ((double)PULSE_FACTOR)/1000; // Pulses per watt hour
boolean pcReceived = false;
volatile unsigned long pulseCount = 0;   
volatile unsigned long lastBlink = 0;
volatile unsigned long watt = 0;
unsigned long oldPulseCount = 0;   
unsigned long oldWatt = 0;
double oldKwh;
unsigned long lastSend;
MyMessage wattMsg(CHILD_ID,V_WATT);
MyMessage kwhMsg(CHILD_ID,V_KWH);
MyMessage pcMsg(CHILD_ID,V_VAR1);


void setup()  
{  
  gw.begin(incomingMessage);

  // Send the sketch version information to the gateway and Controller
  gw.sendSketchInfo("Energy Meter", "1.0");

  // Register this device as power sensor
  gw.present(CHILD_ID, S_POWER);

  // Fetch last known pulse count value from gw
  gw.request(CHILD_ID, V_VAR1);
  
  attachInterrupt(INTERRUPT, onPulse, RISING);
  lastSend=millis();
}


void loop()     
{ 
  gw.process();
  unsigned long now = millis();
  // Only send values at a maximum frequency or woken up from sleep
  bool sendTime = now - lastSend > SEND_FREQUENCY;
  if (pcReceived && (SLEEP_MODE || sendTime)) {
    // New watt value has been calculated  
    if (!SLEEP_MODE && watt != oldWatt) {
      // Check that we dont get unresonable large watt value. 
      // could hapen when long wraps or false interrupt triggered
      if (watt<((unsigned long)MAX_WATT)) {
        gw.send(wattMsg.set(watt));  // Send watt value to gw 
      }  
      Serial.print("Watt:");
      Serial.println(watt);
      oldWatt = watt;
    }
  
    // Pulse cout has changed
    if (pulseCount != oldPulseCount) {
      gw.send(pcMsg.set(pulseCount));  // Send pulse count value to gw 
      double kwh = ((double)pulseCount/((double)PULSE_FACTOR));     
      oldPulseCount = pulseCount;
      if (kwh != oldKwh) {
        gw.send(kwhMsg.set(kwh, 4));  // Send kwh value to gw 
        oldKwh = kwh;
      }
    }    
    lastSend = now;
  } else if (sendTime && !pcReceived) {
    // No count received. Try requesting it again
    gw.request(CHILD_ID, V_VAR1);
    lastSend=now;
  }
  
  if (SLEEP_MODE) {
    gw.sleep(SEND_FREQUENCY);
  }
}

void incomingMessage(const MyMessage &message) {
  if (message.type==V_VAR1) {  
    pulseCount = oldPulseCount = message.getLong();
    Serial.print("Received last pulse count from gw:");
    Serial.println(pulseCount);
    pcReceived = true;
  }
}

void onPulse()     
{ 
  if (!SLEEP_MODE) {
    unsigned long newBlink = micros();  
    unsigned long interval = newBlink-lastBlink;
    if (interval<10000L) { // Sometimes we get interrupt on RISING
      return;
    }
    watt = (3600000000.0 /interval) / ppwh;
    lastBlink = newBlink;
  } 
  pulseCount++;
}

The LED has the following diagram:

LED (RJ45) Sensebender
Pin 2 = VCC -> VCC
Pin 5 = GND -> GND
Pin 6 = IRQ1​ -> D3

[Sparkman]

@alexsh1 I would measure the output of the sensor to ensure it goes high when it detects a pulse and put some println's in the code to see if the interrupt gets triggered at all.

Cheers
Al

[alexsh1]

Thanks.
The pulse sensor has got a separate green LED to indicate when a pulse is received - it is not blinking in my case. PrintIn does not show much unfortunately though the sensor is powered up with 3.3V. I need to figure out the pull-up/down resistor value.

[Sparkman]

@alexsh1 Not sure if you need an extra resistor. I would expect there is some internal circuitry in the sensor already. Have you looked at the schematics of the emonPi, etc. on the OpenEnergyMonitor website to see if they have any additional components on their input for the sensor? I would expect the led to flash if you have Vcc and Gnd connected so perhaps something else is wrong. Are you powering with 3.3v or 5v?

Cheers
Al

[alexsh1]

@Sparkman Yes, I did look at the openenergymonitor wiki - does not say much.
http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/buildingblocks/opticalpulsesensor

However, managed to find on the their web-site the following:

LED Pulse counting

No pull down resistor is required as the pulse / light sensor output is logic level 0 when the pulse is low. However, if you build a pulse counting module with pull down resistors of ~10k it still works with the light sensor, more info to come on this.

As this is sensebender (powered by two AA batteries), voltage is around 3.1V currently. Are you thinking this is an issue? Will check all the connections to make sure I do not have a bad connection or something.

[Sparkman]

@alexsh1 The 3.1v might be a problem. I would power from 3.3v and see if the green led starts blinking. Doesn't sound like you need any pullup/down resistors.

Cheers
Al

[alexsh1]

@Sparkman Tried 3.3V and still does not work

[alexsh1]

@Sparkman I narrowed down the problem. The sketch and the sensor do not work with the sensebender. I used Arduino Nano instead and it worked though the gateway stopped receiving the signal after 10-20 mins, but that is a different problem. Now I think there is an issue with interruption with the sensebender.

Did anyone compiled energy pulse sensor on the sensebender please?

[Sparkman]

@alexsh1 Good to hear you are making progress. With the nano, was it powered by 3.3v or 5v? From what I understand, the interrupt pins on the Nano and SenseBender should work the same, but maybe @tbowmo can confirm.

Cheers
Al

[alexsh1]

it was powered with 5V, but works fine with 3V.
I have to figure out if the interrupt pins are the same as nano

I have it fully up and running under the nano

[alexsh1]

The interrupt pins are the same as Nano - I have to understand what was wrong in the first place.

[tbowmo]

@Sparkman

You are right. The pin names on the sensebender, corresponds to the pin names on the arduinos, so the interrupt on D3 is the same as on the arduino.