PiDome Domotica/Home Automation

[John]

Recently i have build support for MySensors in home automation software i'm writing and in this thread i would like to provide the opportunity to answer questions and post some F.A.Q.

I know PiDome is very new and at least to say also unknown in the Automation scene. The base information about PiDome is already posted at the build section below the Controllers header. So here i will post some information how the support is integrated.

First off you will need to add the gateway device. Open the peripherals page, plugin the Arduino Nano or other used serial device with the Mysensors Gateway code. The device will be added to the list. Click on it and set the Serial information, 115200 Baud, 1 stop bit, no parity, 8 databits and the MySensors peripheral driver (Settings Arduino Nano specific, check your serial device of there are other requirements). If the connection is a one timer press "Set and start" If these settings need to be persistent between reboots and server restarts press "Set, save and start".

To use MySensors nodes within PiDome you will need Device skeletons. These skeletons are created with XML or a graphical editor which creates this xml. This skeleton is used to define a device structure which tells:

• Which groups a device has (At least one is mandatory),
• What kind of controls are used (Toggle, Button, Slider, etc..) in these groups,
• what kind of datatypes they hold (integer, float, string, boolean),
• What kind of options a device has (not used with MySensors) and
• device location type.

To explain the above mapped to MySensors devices with an example:
Let's say you have a sensor node which holds a type S_LIGHT, which is a light actuator (you can toggle this of or on). So you would probably use the variable type V_LIGHT which is light status On or Off (1 or 0). and you have about 5 of these exact same nodes.

Let's translate:
You will need the device editor to create the above sensors node. This means a sensors node is a device in PiDome. To let this device know how your sensor node looks like you will need to define the S_LIGHT sensor type and V_LIGHT variable type.

The sensor types are defined as groups in PiDome. So if you have the device editor opened and add a group you will need to supply a group id and a group name by drag and drop this to the device field. The name can just be like "My light", but the group id MUST be named after the sensor id thus must be the number you used in gw.present(). For example, if used gw.present(0,S_LIGHT); the group id must be 0.

Now it comes to defining a variable type. When you drag and drop the toggle control (which switches between two states) you will be prompted to fill in details. The most important ones are the control id which MUST be the name of the sensor variable type which in this example is V_LIGHT. The name of this control can be something like "Light Switch". The datatype of V_LIGHT explained on the protocol page is 1=On, 0=Off, so you would use the integer datatype. the On label would be "On" with value 1, and off the opposite.

When the device is saved, you have created a skeleton ready to be used. and you can start adding this single skeleton 5 times.
More information about adding devices is posted on the PiDome website at: http://pidome.wordpress.com/2014/08/10/added-partly-mysensors-org-wireless-devices-support-api-1-4-beta/.

The title is a little bit misleading because there now is support for the final 1.4 version.

There is support for Battery level and Inclusion mode triggered by the hardware button.

A final todo:

• Fully test automatic nodes address assignments (i am not able to test this because lack of hardware, it is there though)

MySensors MQTT support: Available using the MQTT gateway

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I will try to be here as much as possible but PiDome is quite a broad project.

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[EDIT] We now have a forum available, so if you have questions which are not related to MySensors these can be posted over there[/EDIT]

[aquapro]

How can I update from early Version of MySensor support to the actual PiDome version with new functions? Download and overwrite? The settings are lost?

[John]

@aquapro

How can I update from early Version of MySensor support to the actual PiDome version with new functions?

Just download the new version from or http://pidome.wordpress.com/downloads/ which would be the most stable version. OR if feeling adventurous from http://builder.pidome.org/job/PiDome Server platform snapshot build/lastSuccessfulBuild/

Download and overwrite?

Yes

The settings are lost?

Currently they are, I hope to have this fixed soon, but not earlier then at the end of tomorrow. I will then release the last version which does not update and should be the minimal version required to have sequential updates with every new download if applicable.

[Francois]

@John I follow the installation instruction I do get info from the Gateway see info below. The sendor ID is 20 this is a temperature sensor however the info from the "Select from device list" say it is V_WATT why is the case?

Then when I go to the the "Device (Add/Remove/Setting)" I click on start the sensor I get "Could not start device: Incorrect device spec loaded: null". What is the issue?

Here is the info from creating the "Custom Device"

[John]

@Fwessels
This 255 message can be discarded and should not have been included and can be discarded.
Just looked into it and this was caused due an error on my side where there was an old issue which came back and will be solved with a new alpha build.

The info it shows is the information received based on gw.present(); could you tell me which present variables you have used? I try to follow the index as shown on the API page (Type and Value http://www.mysensors.org/build/serial_api)

Reason "null" wouls be a driver cache issue, a restart of the server helps to resolve this, the code used for running a mysensors custom created device has not been loaded before and therefore is not cached yet. This will also be solved with the next update.

If a restart did not help it, there is a quick and dirty way to see the XML created which i will then need to resolve this for you. For this the log file is needed while the serveris running in debug mode (enabled via "settings > server settings") The log file is located at logs/system/appLog.txt

To view/follow the log file type "tail -f logs/system/appLog.txt". At the moment you save the device from the editor the XML passes by. Please do a paste bin or message me for other ways to send it.

[Francois]

@John I rebooted the Pi server and now I don't get any data from the gateway. Attached is the appLog.txt
appLog.txt

I just unplug the usb and plug it back now I get this error.

appLog.txt

[John]

@Fwessels
sorry for the late response, got sick yesterday.

In the first appLog i'm seeing :
Error handling: 20;0;1;0;0;19.0, error: Group 'S_DOOR' does not exist
Error handling: 20;1;1;0;0;20.3, error: Group 'S_MOTION' does not exist

There is data coming through and is expecting S_DOOR and S_MOTION groups in the added device as is defined also on the API page.

The error try to add a non existing device is part of the non cached created device. I'm almost done with an update and will come back to you soon.

[John]

@Fwessels

I uploaded a new version of the server could you check if the updated version suits your needs and solves the above issues? Unfortunately it requires a clean installation. So the server has to be removed and re-added again. Also the browser cache needs to be cleaned. The software relies heavy on this. But, future updates will not require a clean database, so updates will not destroy any data anymore.

The new version is available here: http://pidome.org/downloads

A lot has changed and one of them are the group id's:
I've mentioned before to use the S_ sensor types, this has been changed to use the sensor id. When i take a look to the applog you posted you will be needing two groups one with id "0" and one with id "1". The controls id stay the same.

The device list should now also display a new sensor node correctly for both AUTO mode sensors (address 255, add one at a time please) and fixed address sensors, if you use both, first add the fixed address ones.

Be aware, you will see the MySensors MQTT version in the custom devices list, please do not use this (yet), it is not finished yet.

It also is possible to starte the server with "./server.sh trace &" to get a bunchload of more information in the log file. Use with care and only when facing an issue. the trace option can be turned off via the "Settings > server settings" page. this trace option is only available during server start.

[Francois]

@John I download the Alpha version as I get an error "This Webpage is not available" for the dev version. I did a clean install and clear browser cache. So now the sensor is reporting the right info on "Select From device list" See below:

However I still getting a error in app log the sensor is still report the wrong info.

Attached is the AppLog file.appLog.txt

Also every time I reboot the server I lose the USB configuration and I have to reconfigure USB port?

[John]

@Fwessels

Did you use the group id's "0" and group id "1" for the device "device study" with address 20? If not this can be changed via the custom devices editor, when changed it will be applied. Also when you add the USB device did you use the "set, save and start" button?

If you would start the server with "./server.sh trace &" it will show the device XML's, loading options used, found usb ports url's used etc..

[Francois]

@John I change it to Groud Id "0" and Id 1 for temp.I also reboot the device and I am not getting any info in the device log about the sensor why is this the case? But I do get data from the gateway.

Yes I did "set,save and start" button

If I start the server with "./server.sh trace &" i just get this on the command line "[1] 3201"
here is the app logs:appLog.txt

[John]

The "[1] 3201" means the command executes is detached from the console and used pid "3417" because of the "&" sign. It does not mean it ain't started.

Looking at the log file seeing:

2014-09-06 09:07:23,229 [main] INFO org.pidome.misc.utils.TimeUtils - Setting timezone data: Europe/Amsterdam, 51.950000, 4.449999
2014-09-06 09:07:27,403 [main] INFO org.pidome.misc.utils.TimeUtils - Setting timezone data: Europe/Amsterdam, 51.950000, 4.449999

and other double lines and ports which are busy and bindings that fail that the server has been started twice within 4 seconds. They should both be stopped. and the server started only once.

[Francois]

@John I did again a clean installation and now I am not getting the error any more. I am not getting the data displaying in the graph. What will the issue here.

Here is the custom setting I have 2 temp senor on this unit:

Temp2:

Data from the "Cotrol Views"

here is the AppLog:appLog.7z

[John]

@Fwessels
The group id's are correct. The control id's should be the var namings:

0 = V_TEMP
1 = V_HUM

You can edit the custom device, after edit the change should be exposed immediately and data should also be displayed after first report after the change.

[Francois]

@John I just don't get this to work. I also download the latest version and did and clean installation and still I am getting group "S_Door" does not exits

I have the setting as per what you tell me. I now are giving up as it cannot be that difficult to get it to work or I am just missing something.
I have the same sensor working on OpenHab the only difference is that on OpenHab I am using the MQTT ethernet gateway.

[John]

@Fwessels
Just send you a chat message because i got interested in the XML structure the device editor then would be creating.

[John]

Thanks to @Fwessels the issue has been found :). More then many thanks to him.

It was related to the build environment which supplied the alpha downloads. It "chose" the wrong source code to build which caused mixed results. This has been solved.

[Francois]

Great news I now have PIdome running with Hum sensor and Dallas temp sensor.

[Francois]

@john this morning I have a funny issue as I add the new door sensor to PiDome all the Custom device disappear. Even it I add i new custom device it is not showing up in the list. I reboot the PI and it is still doing the same thing what can the issue be?

[John]

@Fwessels
Could you provide me the appLog file? This i have not seen before.