💬 Building a MQTT Gateway

[scottdube]

I am wondering why you cannot built the ethernet gateway and combine the mqtt client sketch into it? I am trying to shift towards mqtt (experiment) while still having sensors available in Vera. I have the MQTT plugin on vera but have not yet figured out how to use the child device to control devices via MQTT. It seems like a waste to control the MQTT device only through Vera and I would never be able to shift away from vera that way. I'm new to this so I am still trying to understand the entire picture.

Thanks!

[mfalkvidd]

@scottdube my guess is that nobody with sufficient knowledge has had enough motivation and time to see if it can be done - especially since other solutions (nodered, myscontroller) already exist.

[scottdube]

@mfalkvidd I am missing something, the reason I want it to do both is that I want the flexibility to use Node Red and my Vera controller. I was thinking that as I built new sensors they would run through node red but be available to vera as well. I'm sure I just don't yet understand how people are designing their hybrid systems yet. My solution was to have the mysensors gateway also put the sensors values out to the mqtt broker and vice versa but there must be another way I am not seeing yet...

Thanks!

[gohan]

maybe it is time to switch away from Vera to something else that still uses zwave?

[scottdube]

@gohan Maybe that is the answer, I'll research that a bit... That was what I was hoping to do over time with my strategy...

[mfalkvidd]

@scottdube you can let Vera connect to Nodered.

See these threads for some ideas on what other people have done
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/3891/2-controllers-and-1-gateway-expected-behavior/5
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/4792/node-red/2
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/9106/new-node-red-contrib-mysensors-out/2

[joaoabs]

I'd like to have a very simple (intra-home) web page in my raspberry PI that would be updated with all of my nodes information and that could also turn on/off nodes with actuators (basically I don't want to have a fancy controller).
If I understood correctly, with this MQTT Ethernet Gateway I could implement this by running Mosquito that would subscribe information from each node, through this MQTT gateway.
Does this mean I can avoid having a controller?
Cheers,

[gohan]

Technically speaking yes but I don't see the point in reinventing the wheel

[รอเรือ]

I rebuilt my serial gateway to a MQTT gateway. FWIW I had to connect 5V to my WizNET (W5100) Ethernet module (3.3V did not work) I couldn't make DHCP work so I used a fixed IP. Finally I had to replace the capacitor over the radio power feed from 4.7 uF capacitor to a 100 uF capacitor (That made a big difference!). Works great now.

[Guillermo Schimmel]

It should have:

void presentation() {
sendSketchInfo("Gateway node", "1.0");
}

In order to show the right topology in some tools, i.e. mycontroller.org

Thanks

[sionut]

Hi, is there any case for this gateway ? I wouldn't want all those wires to lay around in plain view..

[mfalkvidd]

@sionut "this gateway" is a bit ambiguous. The mqtt gateway can be based on different Arduinos and use different expansion boards, which will make a big difference for casing. Which variant are you planning to build?

[sionut]

That's a good question. :) I didn't realize that the arduino board is not specified (neither in this tutorial nor in the ethernet one).
However, I see that the ethernet gateway project (https://www.mysensors.org/build/ethernet_gateway) mentions that any arduino board would be fine. Since I'm only a beginner, I don't know what board would suffice for this kind of project. Could you recommend me the cheapest Arduino board that can do the job ?

[mfalkvidd]

@sionut if you have wifi, I would suggest esp8266 (wemos d1 mini if you want a specific board recommendation). It has built-in wifi so you don’t need an expansion board. Guide: https://www.mysensors.org/build/esp8266_gateway It can be run in mqtt mode if you prefer mqtt over plain tcp.

If you prefer ethernet, the Arduino Uno seems to be the one that matches the W5100 shield.

[sionut]

Great. I have wifi, so I will use the esp8266. I think I will continue with this board here as it's something I can find in a local store nearby.

I just need one more clarification though: in the ESP8266 gateway page I see the following paragraph:

Just connect the radio, install gateway software and you're good to go.

Now, considering that the board already has WIFI, why do I need the radio ?

[mfalkvidd]

@sionut the "normal" use of a MySensors network is to have multiple nodes using a cheap radio (nrf24) and a low-power microcontroller (Arduino Pro Mini is much more power efficient than the esp8266).

The gateway connects the nodes (using nrf24) to your controller. Without a radio, the gateway can't talk to the nodes. See this page in the gatting started guide for a more complete explanation.

However, if you don't need battery-powered nodes you could get a bunch of esp8266 and configure them all as gateways without adding radios to them.

[AlaskaDIY]

Is it feasible to have MySensors talking to an MQTT Broker like Mosquito (running on a rpi) via radio so using say a USB gateway AND also have WiFi modules talking to Mosquito and then having Mosquito talking to HomeAssistant? I see where this is doable via MySensors and radio links OR it can be done using WiFi modules but what if you want both?

[electrik]

Yes that is possible. Mysensors connects through the gateway to MQTT and the WiFi modules to mosquitto directly. You can use the mysensors protocol also over the WiFi modules I believe.
I'm not sure if it is possible with an usb gateway though, but for sure with a WiFi based gateway like ESP 32.
Once you are on mqtt you can connect to and from all devices/controllers that support it.

[gohan]

@alaskadiy I'd make a raspberry gateway with radio directly on the raspberry, much cleaner solution

[AlaskaDIY]

@gohan With a radio directly on the rPi would mosquito talk to both the radio and WiFi? I assume it would, I would think mosquito would just be a service that the radio or WiFi sends/receives data to but have not seen anyone talk about it.

Thanks