Vera3 UI5 MySensors Plugin not working after migration to 1.4

[samppa]

I painstakingly updated everyhting to 1.4 and now the plugin fails.
I managed to include only one node, but even that is not able to report measurements. Sensor says that transmission fails. On UI5 the MySensors plugin does not react to inclusion button anymore.
I have unistalled all extra apps from vera without success and power cycled the vera3 that has severe difficulties to mount the serial USB and every tie forgets the serial port config (super annoying).

Is there some debug log for the plugin that I could check. The LuaUpnp.log is cryptic for me since I do not know what is normal and what not.

Please help..

[hek]

@samppa

Guess you've gone through the troubleshot section?

http://www.mysensors.org/build/debug

[samppa]

@hek
The debugging section does not have relevant help.. It used to work fine so I do not get what got broken.

And the gateway works when flashed on PC, so I suspect somehow the plugin is hung, but not sure how to debug that..
During the migration I removed the entire plugin device and recreated it with the create device. So I had to start from scratch to include and rename all the sensors, but after the first inclusion I got stuck as the inclusion button is not reactive..

[hek]

@samppa

If you connect serial gateway to your computer and look at the Serial monitor in Arduino IDE. Can you see messages coming in from your sensors?

[samppa]

I tried and indeed the serial gateway said only that "0;0;3;0;14;Gateway startup complete"

[samppa]

Replacing the gateway with another arduino seems to have fixed the inclusion. At least now it reacts although not able to find any devices.

Also I noticed that even though most of the sensor sendings fail still some go through ok but very rarely:
sensor started, id 1
send: 1-1-0-0 s=255,c=0,t=17,pt=0,l=3,st=ok:1.4
send: 1-1-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=6,pt=1,l=1,st=fail:0
send: 1-1-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=11,pt=0,l=0,st=fail:
send: 1-1-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=12,pt=0,l=3,st=fail:1.5
send: 1-1-0-0 s=0,c=0,t=7,pt=0,l=3,st=fail:1.4
send: 1-1-0-0 s=1,c=0,t=6,pt=0,l=3,st=fail:1.4
send: 1-1-0-0 s=0,c=1,t=0,pt=7,l=5,st=ok:25.0
send: 1-1-0-0 s=1,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5,st=ok:50.8
send: 1-1-0-0 s=2,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5,st=ok:25.3
send: 1-1-0-0 s=0,c=1,t=0,pt=7,l=5,st=fail:24.9
send: 1-1-0-0 s=0,c=1,t=0,pt=7,l=5,st=fail:25.0
send: 1-1-0-0 s=0,c=1,t=0,pt=7,l=5,st=fail:24.9
send: 1-1-0-0 s=0,c=1,t=0,pt=7,l=5,st=fail:25.0
send: 1-1-0-0 s=0,c=1,t=0,pt=7,l=5,st=fail:24.9
send: 1-1-0-0 s=0,c=1,t=0,pt=7,l=5,st=fail:25.0
send: 1-1-0-0 s=1,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5,st=fail:50.7

Still those ok sends do not update the UI5.

Has the radio power been lowered between 1.3 and 1.4?

I even now have a repeated node between the sensor and gateway, but that does not seem to make any difference..

[hek]

@samppa said:

Has the radio power been lowered between 1.3 and 1.4?

No.

Please describe your setup. Radio model?, capacitors mounted?, cable length between radio/arduino?

[samppa]

@hek
Tough questions for newbie.. The radio is from the buying guide, no capacitors and 10cm dupont cables.

[hek]

@samppa

Try adding capacitor as suggested. The latest discussions on the forum recommends a larger one than the one we link on buying guide (I will update the links soon).

Here are some assorted electrolytic with different capacitance.

[samppa]

@hek
Why it is needed for 1.4 as earlier everything worked well in 1.3 without it?
I do not have any readily available and I was hoping to get back up again without waiting for the delivery.

[hek]

@samppa

This version transmits bursts of messages which probably requires more power for a short period.
Try lowering transmit power in MyConfig.h while waiting for the capacitors.

[samppa]

@hek
You mean
#define RF24_PA_LEVEL RF24_PA_LOW
?

[Homer]

@hek said:

@samppa

Try adding capacitor as suggested. The latest discussions on the forum recommends a larger one than the one we link on buying guide (I will update the links soon).

Which capacitor is suggested now?

[hek]

@samppa
Yes

@Homer
Read this thread: http://forum.mysensors.org/topic/171/efficiency-of-voltage-boosters

[samppa]

@samppa said:
#define RF24_PA_LEVEL RF24_PA_LOW

Did not help.. ;-(
Perhaps I have to wait for the capacitors..
Somehow the first message (with version) seems to go through more often than the rest..

[hek]

@samppa

Don't you have some old electronics you could butcher and desolder a couple of capacitors from? Or a nearby shop? Waiting 2 weeks for the Chinese/Finnish post isn't that fun.

[samppa]

@hek
Yes I could do that. What size? Anything goes, right? Thee discussion in the post you liked was rather long without definitive conclusion..

[samppa]

@samppa
Just to confirm; the capacitor should be put to sensor node or serial gateway? Or both and all nodes?
And in parallel with the radio on the power lines?

[hek]

@samppa

I use it on all nodes. Mount it as close as possible to the radio between VCC/GND.

[samppa]

@hek
Ok that made the radio to work.
But still the reported values are not shown in UI5.
Somehow the Humidity sensor has CurrentTemperature variable, so it seems something is mixed up..
I have one DHT22 and one Dallas temperature sensor in one node. The devices are found during inclusion and added, but no data is shown. The only thing shown is the last update time that seems to be correct..

[samppa]

@hek
Here is how it looks on Sensor:
sensor started, id 1
send: 1-1-0-0 s=255,c=0,t=17,pt=0,l=3,st=ok:1.4
send: 1-1-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=6,pt=1,l=1,st=ok:0
read: 0-0-1 s=255,c=3,t=6,pt=0,l=2:M
send: 1-1-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=11,pt=0,l=0,st=ok:
send: 1-1-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=12,pt=0,l=3,st=ok:1.4
send: 1-1-0-0 s=0,c=0,t=7,pt=0,l=3,st=ok:1.4
send: 1-1-0-0 s=1,c=0,t=6,pt=0,l=3,st=ok:1.4
send: 1-1-0-0 s=2,c=0,t=6,pt=0,l=3,st=ok:1.4
send: 1-1-0-0 s=0,c=1,t=0,pt=7,l=5,st=ok:77.9
send: 1-1-0-0 s=1,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5,st=ok:43.1
send: 1-1-0-0 s=2,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5,st=ok:78.1
send: 1-1-0-0 s=1,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5,st=ok:43.0
send: 1-1-0-0 s=1,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5,st=ok:42.7

So the transmission seems to be ok..

[samppa]

The mixup with temp and humidity was my typo in code. It would be great if the gateway or sensor would warn if a wrong type of value is sent compared to the presented sensor type.

@samppa said:

Here is how it looks on Sensor:
sensor started, id 1
send: 1-1-0-0 s=255,c=0,t=17,pt=0,l=3,st=ok:1.4
send: 1-1-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=6,pt=1,l=1,st=ok:0
read: 0-0-1 s=255,c=3,t=6,pt=0,l=2:M
send: 1-1-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=11,pt=0,l=0,st=ok:
send: 1-1-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=12,pt=0,l=3,st=ok:1.4
send: 1-1-0-0 s=0,c=0,t=7,pt=0,l=3,st=ok:1.4
send: 1-1-0-0 s=1,c=0,t=6,pt=0,l=3,st=ok:1.4
send: 1-1-0-0 s=2,c=0,t=6,pt=0,l=3,st=ok:1.4
send: 1-1-0-0 s=0,c=1,t=0,pt=7,l=5,st=ok:77.9

That temeprature is in Farenheit. Somehow the GW responds false when calling:

    metric = gw.getConfig().isMetric;

Now everything else except the metric works with this node..

[hek]

It would be great if the gateway or sensor would warn if a wrong type of value is sent compared to the presented sensor type.

It has no knowledge of this today. We're having discussions about the future elsewhere on this forum.

@samppa said:

Now everything else except the metric works with this node..

Did you see this update?

http://forum.mysensors.org/topic/326/mysensors-1-4-released/34

[samppa]

btw: thanks for the great help and outstanding forum!

@hek said:

Did you see this update?

http://forum.mysensors.org/topic/326/mysensors-1-4-released/34

It had no reference to isMetric is it broken or am I misusing it somehow?
In the migration guide it said:
metric = gw.isMetricSystem();
change to
metric = gw.getConfig().isMetric;
But I get false even though the seting is metric (and not Imperial) in Vera Plugin 1.4. Weird..

[hek]

There was another problem lurking in the code related to controller-configuration that was fixed a few hours ago. Did you get this change when you updated?

[samppa]

@hek

I think the 1.4 version I downloaded and updated was a bit older. So perhaps I need to update again.. grr.

What would be the easiest update mechanism? Is the OTA update working already?

[hek]

@samppa

You only update the sketch which has problems with Metric setting.

[samppa]

Ok now all seems to work, but the UI does not get updated well. For relays the lamp does not always get lit and the button on/off is not highlighted properly. Pushing the button works, but with delay and the lamp graphic sometimes does not follow properly.. Odd behavior that was not there in 1.3, I think, and the feeling of reliability suffers a lot.

[tbully]

For what it's worth, a lot of what you've been complaining about can be caused by poor power to either the gateway or the sensor.

Take it from me. I had this issue a few weeks ago and had a skull that was too thick to admit it until I was frustrated and tried another power source.

Then, just last night, I was up until 1:30AM fighting "strange issues" and again it turned out to be power related. (And again, I ignored the possibility for hours! Ugh!)

Good luck, Samppa.

[samppa]

@tbully
Yes, the capacitors helped a lot. The power source culprit is weird since I use many different USB sources (PC USB being one) and with 1.3 I had absolutely no trouble at all. So to my mind the 1.4 is inferior design since it requires additional soldering of capacitors and the increases complexity. It was so easy plug n play before.

I wonder if anyone has got the 1.4 working without the capacitors..

[tbully]

@samppa - Interesting. I've actually found the 1.4 protocol to be more reliable. (I'm using high-frequency pulse detection for water flow and also valve control) I'm having the sensors send my gateway several times per minute and it never fails.

I've found that powering the Arduino/Radio combination with USB (PC, hub, etc) to not be ideal and always opted for a "wall wart" or my own supply and 5V external regulator. I've always used caps on the 3.3V Radio Supply so I don't have much to compare it with. I'm contemplating going to an ethernet gateway so I can power it with an external source as well. (it's currently being powered by a USB hub connected to Vera)

Just personal experience - it sounds like you've had good luck in the past.

Cheers!