I finally got this to work. Unlike what the description here says, this is how to update the value:
In Home Assistant, go to Developer->Service->YAML mode:
service: text.set_value
data:
value: "967067"
target:
entity_id: text.water_meter_100_2
(change 967067 with the value you want to add to the current counter)
The service "notify.mysensors" seems to be deprecated by Home Assistant.
I deployed 5 sensebender nodes just after release in 2015, all with 2 AA batteries from ikea.1 died within a couple of years, because it was placed outdoors. But the rest kept going, and all have been going until this year. So 8 years of battery time on one set of batteries..
I think that is excellent battery life..
I saw this page and thought I give it a go. So I bought two OrangePi Zero 2. There's a lot of potential (WiFi) as a dedicated gateway. Currently the price is about US$20 on AliExpress (caveat emptor) There are a few flavors of Linux for it. I've dabbled with Armbian, Ubuntu and Debian
Another upside is that it doesn't draw a lot of current ~0.5A, though I haven't been successful in getting the radio to run (the reason for me being here) This is also a downside as I suspect the power supply needs to be very close to 5V. Thinking it was a power hog like the RPi, I used a 5V-3A supply. This supply operates on the principle that the load will pull down the voltage. There are dire warnings on the orangepi page about using cheap SD cards, but failed to mention that power supplies have to be matched, too.
It has a different CPU than the Orange Pi Zero non-2, the board that is used here.
Use the serial interface to configure the board. You're going to be doing all your configuration in a terminal, anyway, so you don't need a monitor or a keyboard. https://www.instructables.com/Setup-Orange-Pi-Using-Serial-Port/
The big downside is that the SPI interface is not supported. My research indicates that in order to get it to work one must jump through some serious hoops and being low on the learning curve, those hoops are probably out of my reach. https://forum.armbian.com/topic/21688-tips-on-configuring-double-spi-through-two-chipselects-on-orange-pi-zero-2/
The armbian OS has another big downside, WiFi is not supported. Putting a TP-Link nano router configured as a client works, but it's another $30! Why did they even release the OS?
So! Was anyone successful in getting the Orange Pi Zero 2 configured as a gateway?
...
compiled: Jan 27 202312:42:11
01/27/2023 12:42:11
RTC lost confidence in the DateTime!
RTC is the same as compile time! (not expected but all is fine)
01/27/2023 12:42:11
19.25C
01/27/2023 12:42:14
19.25C
-------- power loss -----
RTC communications error = 4
01/01/2000 00:00:00
0.00C
RTC communications error = 5
01/01/2000 00:00:00
0.00C..
------------- return power supply +5v ----
RTC lost confidence in the DateTime!
01/01/2000 00:00:12
19.50C
RTC lost confidence in the DateTime!
01/01/2000 00:00:15
19.50C
...
https://forum.arduino.cc/t/librairie-makuna-freez/1081415/34
