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  3. Step-by-step procedure to connect the NRF24L01+ to the GPIO pins and use the Raspberry as a Serial Gateway (MySensors 1.x)

Step-by-step procedure to connect the NRF24L01+ to the GPIO pins and use the Raspberry as a Serial Gateway (MySensors 1.x)

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nrf24raspberry piraspberryraspberry nrf24l01 gpiogateway
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  • MrRikkieM Offline
    MrRikkieM Offline
    MrRikkie
    wrote on last edited by MrRikkie
    #53

    Hello, If followed the instruction and everything seemed to work without any problem.
    However when I enter the command : sudo cat /dev/ttyMySensorsGateway
    I get the message : cat: /dev/ttyMySensorsGateway: No such file or directory
    Does anybody have any idea how to solve this ?

    mfalkviddM ronnyandreR 2 Replies Last reply
    0
    • MrRikkieM MrRikkie

      Hello, If followed the instruction and everything seemed to work without any problem.
      However when I enter the command : sudo cat /dev/ttyMySensorsGateway
      I get the message : cat: /dev/ttyMySensorsGateway: No such file or directory
      Does anybody have any idea how to solve this ?

      mfalkviddM Offline
      mfalkviddM Offline
      mfalkvidd
      Mod
      wrote on last edited by
      #54

      @MrRikkie what output did you get when you ran sudo /etc/init.d/PiGatewaySerial start ?

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • MrRikkieM Offline
        MrRikkieM Offline
        MrRikkie
        wrote on last edited by
        #55

        @mfalkvidd said:

        sudo /etc/init.d/PiGatewaySerial start

        No output and no error message. Just a new command line.
        pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo /etc/init.d/PiGatewaySerial start
        pi@raspberrypi ~ $

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • Sander TeunissenS Offline
          Sander TeunissenS Offline
          Sander Teunissen
          wrote on last edited by
          #56

          When I

          ls -l ttyMySensorsGateway
          

          I get

          lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Jan  3 20:21 ttyMySensorsGateway -> /dev/pts/0
          

          It's all root. This results in all kinds of acessability issues. I followed all instructions exactly. Anyone any ideas how to change this ?

          Sander.

          martinhjelmareM mfalkviddM 2 Replies Last reply
          0
          • Sander TeunissenS Sander Teunissen

            When I

            ls -l ttyMySensorsGateway
            

            I get

            lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Jan  3 20:21 ttyMySensorsGateway -> /dev/pts/0
            

            It's all root. This results in all kinds of acessability issues. I followed all instructions exactly. Anyone any ideas how to change this ?

            Sander.

            martinhjelmareM Offline
            martinhjelmareM Offline
            martinhjelmare
            Plugin Developer
            wrote on last edited by
            #57

            @Sander-Teunissen

            Try writing a udev rule to set owner of the device (ttyMysensorsGateway) at boot. If you don't need to use the link you could write a rule that names the pts device to the same name every boot, I think. At least for usb devices this works. Haven't tried it in this particular case.

            1 Reply Last reply
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            • Sander TeunissenS Sander Teunissen

              When I

              ls -l ttyMySensorsGateway
              

              I get

              lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Jan  3 20:21 ttyMySensorsGateway -> /dev/pts/0
              

              It's all root. This results in all kinds of acessability issues. I followed all instructions exactly. Anyone any ideas how to change this ?

              Sander.

              mfalkviddM Offline
              mfalkviddM Offline
              mfalkvidd
              Mod
              wrote on last edited by
              #58

              @Sander-Teunissen said:

              When I

              ls -l ttyMySensorsGateway
              

              I get

              lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Jan  3 20:21 ttyMySensorsGateway -> /dev/pts/0
              

              It's all root. This results in all kinds of acessability issues. I followed all instructions exactly. Anyone any ideas how to change this ?

              The permissions for a soft link are not used (and if they were, any user would be allowed to do anything since everything is rwx). The permissions for the target is used instead. So it is the result of

              ls -l /dev/pts/0
              

              you need to worry about.

              1 Reply Last reply
              1
              • ahmedadelhosniA Offline
                ahmedadelhosniA Offline
                ahmedadelhosni
                wrote on last edited by
                #59

                Hello @mfalkvidd , I read the topic again but I am a bit confused. Normally we have a sketch on the Arduino board to enable signing for example or implement our desired code. I don't understand how to edit this before compiling ?

                1 Reply Last reply
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                • mfalkviddM Offline
                  mfalkviddM Offline
                  mfalkvidd
                  Mod
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #60

                  Sorry @ahmedadelhosni, I haven't tried to compile the Raspberry gateway for signing. @Anticimex will probably chide me for that, and rightly so :)
                  It should just be a matter of modifying MyConfig.h to enable signing, as per the instructions in http://forum.mysensors.org/topic/1021/security-introducing-signing-support-to-mysensors but maybe the MySensor files in the Raspberry repo haven't been updated with the signing features.

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • AnticimexA Offline
                    AnticimexA Offline
                    Anticimex
                    Contest Winner
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #61

                    The signing backends are updated for multi arch support thanks to @tbowmo and his SAMD gateway project, but they still assume Arduino compatible api:s for io, so if the raspberry repo/port provide that, it should work. If not, it should just be a matter of adding support for the raspberry spi:s for setting pin direction and states and (if sw backend is to be used) provide a random number generator. The code is C/C++ and hw independent in other aspects.

                    Do you feel secure today? No? Start requiring some signatures and feel better tomorrow ;)

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • AnticimexA Offline
                      AnticimexA Offline
                      Anticimex
                      Contest Winner
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #62

                      If anyone would like to add support for rPi to the signing backends, I suggest using a Linux generic approach using sysfs to handle io. Same for rng (using an appropriate device node, rpi has a hw rng that should be used).
                      If the design is Linux generic and uses proper design to abstract raspberry board specifics, it opens up for reuse by any hw that uses a Linux kernel :)

                      Do you feel secure today? No? Start requiring some signatures and feel better tomorrow ;)

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • haydukeH Offline
                        haydukeH Offline
                        hayduke
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #63

                        I've been struggling with this setup for a few weeks now. I've resisted posting to try and figure it out, but I'm not making any progress. When I first setup the rpi with the nrf24 directly connected, everything worked great. I was running a node with temp and motion pretty reliably. I had some difficulty getting the relay node to work, but I got that working eventually as well, but not reliably. While trying to resolve this, I started getting these errors (log from Domoticz):
                        2016-02-19 10:43:36.007 MySensors: Using serial port: /dev/ttyUSB20
                        2016-02-19 10:43:36.008 Error: MySensors: Error opening serial port!
                        2016-02-19 10:43:37.008 MySensors: retrying in 30 seconds...

                        I see the post above about this being related to using sensors not supported. Since it started with the relay node, I took that out of the setup, but I'm still getting the error.

                        I've rebuilt the entire rpi, mysensors, and domoticz, but I can't get it to work reliably. If I start the gateway manually via a putty session, it will work for a few minutes, but then it stops and goes back to the command prompt in putty and I can see the log in Domoticz start showing the above errors.

                        I have setup the gateway to start automatically, but it doesn't seem to restart correctly after a reboot.

                        I suspect I have a version mismatch in my code somewhere, but I can't seem to find it. My last effort was to remove all code from my computer and start over, ie reinstall Arduino and a fresh download of MySensors code (v1.5).

                        I've also tried changing the permissions on the tty devices, but that didn't seem to help either.

                        I was real excited about this project when I first read about it. When I finally got some parts in, I had some quick success that kept me motivated, but my enthusiasm is waning a bit with my total lack of progress on this issue. :(

                        Thanks in advance for any help.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • mfalkviddM Offline
                          mfalkviddM Offline
                          mfalkvidd
                          Mod
                          wrote on last edited by mfalkvidd
                          #64

                          Which capacitor(s) are you using?
                          Do you use a power amplified version of the nrf24l01+ or the regular version?
                          What is the output of /usr/local/sbin/PiGatewaySerial until the gateway stops working?

                          haydukeH 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • mfalkviddM mfalkvidd

                            Which capacitor(s) are you using?
                            Do you use a power amplified version of the nrf24l01+ or the regular version?
                            What is the output of /usr/local/sbin/PiGatewaySerial until the gateway stops working?

                            haydukeH Offline
                            haydukeH Offline
                            hayduke
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #65

                            @mfalkvidd
                            I have a 4.7uf electrolytic cap soldered directly to the pins on the radio module.
                            Radio is standard, ie antenna via board traces.

                            I just did another batch of testing to try and answer your last question.
                            I started the gateway manually, ie sudo /usr/local/sbin/PiGatewaySerial
                            I plugged in a temp sensor (dallas 18b20, 3.3v apm, via 3.3v FTDI) into the computer so I could monitor the serial port.

                            The first time I turned on the temp sensor, the gateway closed after 5 "read:"'s. I tried it again and the gateway stopped (meaning I was back at the prompt in putty) after 2 reads.
                            I decided to reboot the rpi. When it came back up, I had the Domoticz log open and I could see the gateway start before I could reopen a putty session. It appears the auto start worked correctly, and so far, it's still up.
                            I've been sending temp data successfully for ~10 minutes now.

                            ...time passes...
                            I typed out the above, but didn't hit submit as I wanted to go put the relay node back together and test it.

                            After gathering up those parts, I check the Domoticz log and it's still reading temp. While it IS working, the temps are displaying wrong in Domoticz. My sensor is sending F, but domoticz thinks it's C and it converts.

                            I'm mentioning this because, when I open the serial monitor to confirm the node was sending F values, it of course resets the node. This killed the gateway. I got the following in my domoticz log:
                            2016-02-19 15:00:30.362 (MySensorsSerial) Temp (Temp)
                            2016-02-19 15:00:38.371 (MySensorsSerial) Temp (Temp)
                            2016-02-19 15:00:46.380 (MySensorsSerial) Temp (Temp)
                            2016-02-19 15:00:50.384 (MySensorsSerial) Temp (Temp)
                            2016-02-19 15:00:54.389 (MySensorsSerial) Temp (Temp)
                            2016-02-19 15:00:58.393 (MySensorsSerial) Temp (Temp)
                            2016-02-19 15:01:02.398 (MySensorsSerial) Temp (Temp)
                            2016-02-19 15:01:06.403 Error: Serial Port closed!... Error: End of file
                            2016-02-19 15:01:06.864 MySensors: retrying in 30 seconds...
                            2016-02-19 15:01:35.867 MySensors: Using serial port: /dev/ttyUSB20
                            2016-02-19 15:01:35.868 Error: MySensors: Error opening serial port!
                            2016-02-19 15:01:36.869 MySensors: retrying in 30 seconds...
                            2016-02-19 15:02:05.871 MySensors: Using serial port: /dev/ttyUSB20
                            2016-02-19 15:02:05.872 Error: MySensors: Error opening serial port!
                            2016-02-19 15:02:06.872 MySensors: retrying in 30 seconds...
                            2016-02-19 15:02:20.010 Active notification subsystems: (0/10)
                            2016-02-19 15:02:35.875 MySensors: Using serial port: /dev/ttyUSB20
                            2016-02-19 15:02:35.875 Error: MySensors: Error opening serial port!
                            2016-02-19 15:02:36.875 MySensors: retrying in 30 seconds...

                            I ran sudo cat /dev/ttyMySensorsGateway and get 'No such file' message. I interpret this to mean the gateway has stopped running, right?

                            Next I manually started the gateway again. It immediately starts reading the temp sensor again. After the next 30 second timer expires, Domoticz picks it right back up too.

                            I think I figured something out... If I restart a node with the gateway running, it kills the gateway and my above symptoms start. I'm able to repeat this without failure.

                            I'm going to do some more testing, but it seems that when the node sends the s=255 message, the gateway is dieing.
                            I want to see what happens if I turn on another node while the first is alraedy running. Perhaps I have to have all my nodes on before I start the gateway?

                            I am very encouraged as I at least finally feel like I'm moving forward. Was getting frustrated for awhile there. :)
                            Thanks again for the write to help me get started.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • haydukeH Offline
                              haydukeH Offline
                              hayduke
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #66

                              Did some more testing. Now I know why it seemed related to the relay node.
                              The relay node needs the gateway to be listening when it wakes up. If it fails when it presents, ie the gateway is down, it doesn't try again.

                              I did have the relay sketch working at some point, so I don't think it's that sketch. I'm thinking I have a problem with the gateway. I work as a developer, so I've been trying to acquaint myself with the code. I mostly use SQL and VB.net in my day job. I loved C++ in college, but it's been almost that long since I used it. :)

                              Does anyone have any ideas what might be causing this? I'm going to go reread the section on the mysensors protocol and see I can spot anything wrong in those presentation messages.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • T Offline
                                T Offline
                                tommyken
                                wrote on last edited by tommyken
                                #67
                                This post is deleted!
                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • JustinianJ Offline
                                  JustinianJ Offline
                                  Justinian
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #68

                                  Hi there
                                  I did everything according to the instructions. Installing went without complications. However, when trying to verify the gateway problems arise.

                                  After typing

                                  sudo /usr/local/sbin/PiGatewaySerial
                                  

                                  I receive the message: command not found.
                                  Also, no /dev/ttyMySensorsGateway file has been created.

                                  When I am entering

                                  sudo /etc/init.d/PiGatewaySerial start
                                  

                                  nothing happens. I only get a new command line.

                                  I can start the gateway, however, when I am entering

                                  sudo ./PiGatewaySerial
                                  

                                  in the Raspberry folder.

                                  I already tried to uninstall and re-install everything, without success. Has anybody any suggestions how to solve this issue?

                                  mfalkviddM 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • JustinianJ Justinian

                                    Hi there
                                    I did everything according to the instructions. Installing went without complications. However, when trying to verify the gateway problems arise.

                                    After typing

                                    sudo /usr/local/sbin/PiGatewaySerial
                                    

                                    I receive the message: command not found.
                                    Also, no /dev/ttyMySensorsGateway file has been created.

                                    When I am entering

                                    sudo /etc/init.d/PiGatewaySerial start
                                    

                                    nothing happens. I only get a new command line.

                                    I can start the gateway, however, when I am entering

                                    sudo ./PiGatewaySerial
                                    

                                    in the Raspberry folder.

                                    I already tried to uninstall and re-install everything, without success. Has anybody any suggestions how to solve this issue?

                                    mfalkviddM Offline
                                    mfalkviddM Offline
                                    mfalkvidd
                                    Mod
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #69

                                    @Justinian looks like you forgot to run "sudo make install" after "make all"

                                    haydukeH JustinianJ 2 Replies Last reply
                                    0
                                    • mfalkviddM mfalkvidd

                                      @Justinian looks like you forgot to run "sudo make install" after "make all"

                                      haydukeH Offline
                                      haydukeH Offline
                                      hayduke
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #70

                                      @mfalkvidd said:

                                      @Justinian looks like you forgot to run "sudo make install" after "make all"

                                      I took a little break from this project, but I worked on it again this weekend. I decided to start from scratch and rebuild the gateway completely. I put a fresh Domoticz image onto the SD card, updated and upgraded, cloned, compiled, and installed the RF24 and Raspberry code.

                                      Now I have the exact same symptom as Justinian :(

                                      Since this used to work for me at some point, next I will try using an older Dmoticz image. I read somewhere that people had better success by NOT using apt-get update. Perhaps it's a problem with Jessie vs Wheezy? Domoticz switched kernels during on of the version upgrades.

                                      Winter is over, so I can live without getting my furnace controls working right now. I know relays have an issue, but now I'm just needing to monitor the temperature in an egg incubator.

                                      I'm surprised that using a rpi with this radio module directly attached is not a more popular platform. Is it just not a reliable platform? With the rpi3 out now, there shouldn't be a CPU load issue trying to act as an HA controller even with a large installation. I've got lots of ideas I want to implement if I can ever get a stable backend.

                                      strangerS 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • mfalkviddM mfalkvidd

                                        @Justinian looks like you forgot to run "sudo make install" after "make all"

                                        JustinianJ Offline
                                        JustinianJ Offline
                                        Justinian
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #71

                                        @mfalkvidd thanks for your help. Unfortunately, this didn't resolve the issue. I repeated the installation, this time deliberately executing sudo make install, but the problem remained.
                                        @hayduke Maybe this indeed is an issue with Raspbian Jessie as I am on Jessie.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • martinhjelmareM Offline
                                          martinhjelmareM Offline
                                          martinhjelmare
                                          Plugin Developer
                                          wrote on last edited by martinhjelmare
                                          #72

                                          Jessie uses a different init system than Wheezy. Systemd should be able to handle most old init scripts, but this case might be an exception.

                                          Has anyone successfully installed this on Jessie?

                                          A unit file for systemd would be a good addition, in any case, in my opinion.

                                          GertSandersG 1 Reply Last reply
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