@magpern said in MyQTherm - replace IQTherm heating thermostat:
I actually am thinking somewhat in the line of discontinuing mysensors network. It is to much, hacks and tricks, and I forget everything in between sessions.
I gave up more than once, also over period of years. Recently I came back again and decided to focus on the heart of the issue, getting my radios working and once you get over that, it starts to get fun again.
I can respect if you already moved on to something else. I even cheated on MySensors and installed some 433 mhz devices too , just to get something working. You have to keep your interest in HA alive in the meantime. But the reward is great when you get MySensors working.
There are "easier" solutions like Tasmota, 433mhz, etc. but not as customizable as MySensors. MySensors is for when you outgrow those other solutions and need something more custom.
@Sunseeker According to the Connecting the Radio page, D2 is the default pin for the CE signal for the NRF24. If you'd like to use this pin for I2C, you can free it up by assigning a different pin for the CE signal by adding this line to your sketch:
#define MY_RF24_CE_PIN pin
IIRC, all available pins should work for this purpose (D0, D3, D4). Just pick one and if it doesn't work, use one of the other pins. Please make sure to add that line before #include <MySensors.h>.
@TheoL Not only did I put in delays, too, but I put in delays that were based upon the ID (which was stored in NVRAM)! This helped.
caveat: This is probably not accurate be helps to explain the challenges with a large network.
My initial experience with Arduino/nRF24 was using the libraries from TMRh20. Those libraries allowed a node to be a repeater, but only for 6 nodes. The primary node 0, master, only allowed 6 nodes to connect to it. The nodes connected to it also allowed 6 nodes. Subsequent nodes had to go through one of these repeating nodes. But the depth was only 4 deep. The master assigned node IDs if the node didn't already have one; similar to a MAC address.
The master also kept track of the addresses (ARP table?). Addresses were 4 octets (base in the form of D/C/B/A. A node connected directly to the master had an address of 0/0/0/a (where 0/0/0/0 was reserved for the master). A node connected through another node had an address of 0/0/b/a, and so forth.
But what happens is that a parent node has to mange the data from all its child nodes and their child nodes and their child nodes. Thus a node would get so bogged down dealing with this traffic that it din't do its sensor task very well.
It is my belief that MySensors either uses TMRh20's libraries or has developed some aspects based on his initial work. I see that that TMRh20 has a version 2 and I have not experimented with it. I did find that MySensors worked better than version 1.
Thus, my curiosity.
I am also duly impressed at the magnitude of hardware. Currently a nano like device from Aliexperss is US$2-3, nRF24 ~ US$1, power supply ~ US$1.50, power cord ?, case?, sensors!? While the hardware cost is daunting, even with a PCB it's a lot of work building those up. So, yeah, I'm impressed!
-OSD
Very useful topic for me, thanks. Even though it's been a long time, the information was useful to me. And especially the information on the link you sent.
Hello,
I'm thinking about upgrading this board to include pinout for LIS3DH breakout board, like this one :
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/LIS3DH-Three-Converters-Motion-Accelerometer-Triaxial-Acceleration-Temperature-Sensor-Module-Development-Board-Replace-ADXL345/32840326778.html
and ditch the ADXL shield as it's not a good solution, it has either the ADXL345 which uses too much power, or the ADXL362 which is ultra low power but lacks advanced functionality like tap/double tap detection.
I would like to have feedback of users on this (do it sound useful ?), and also know if anyone uses the SMD footprints on the board, for leds and for reserve capacitors, as it could be a cleaner board without those footprints.
I would make the following changes :
put footprint for LIS3DH accelerometer along the "NModule connector" as it has too many pins to put elsewhere
keep only one I2C footprint on the side, for "GY-49" MAX44009 light sensor breakout board: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/GY-49-MAX44009-Ambient-Light-Sensor-Module-for-Arduino-with-4P-Pin-Header-Module/32828654450.html
temperature/humidity would be via the existing "SMD" footprint, it's not through hole but very easy to solder as it's 2.54mm pad spacing
remove SMD footprints for LED, add footprint for through hole reserve capacitor, keep SMD footprints for reserve capacitors only if I have space for them
shield would be a bit extended to go over the 2 M2 holes in the "power" part of the NModule, so it could be fitted with spacers and nylon screws and have stable/reliable mechanical connection between NModule and Shield. Basically this would be the footprint of the shield :
So in the end it would make one shield to have Temperature/Humidity/Light/Acceleration or Temperature/Humidity/Light/Door.
