Sensebender Europe resellers ?

[anonymouslemming]

Hi all,

Are there any resellers of the Sensebender gateway modules in Europe ? I'm trying to build a simple proof of concept system with OpenHAB and one lamp controller, so most of the components (arduino, ethernet, radio) I can get from ebay or aliexpress.

However, I can only find the sensebender modules on openhardware.io and that means paying customs and duties on the import.

Thanks,

[gohan]

For gateway you could use any arduino uno with or without a w5100 network or an esp8266 if you are just doing tests

[hek]

Hi @anonymouslemming,

Nope, sorry. It would take too much time and effort for the MySensors project team to import/stock and ship the modules from EU. We let ITead handle this.

Buying from ITead shouldn't make much difference than when you buy things from Chinese ebay/aliexpress sellers. Here in Sweden the customs normally let the small brown envelopes pass without adding import duties. But things might be different in your country?

[anonymouslemming]

@hek said in Sensebender Europe resellers ?:

ITead

Thanks - I'll look into iTead.

For some reason stuff from the east seems to come past customs here, but stuff from America incurs duties. This is to the UK. Worse than the duties are the £9 handling fees from the courier because of the duties.

[anonymouslemming]

@gohan said in Sensebender Europe resellers ?:

For gateway you could use any arduino uno with or without a w5100 network or an esp8266 if you are just doing tests

ah, I wasn't aware of that. Are there any docs that demonstrate how to build a gateway using that ?

That might work out cheaper in the short term to see if this is a viable solution for what I want to do.

[gloob]

@anonymouslemming said in Sensebender Europe resellers ?:

@gohan said in Sensebender Europe resellers ?:

For gateway you could use any arduino uno with or without a w5100 network or an esp8266 if you are just doing tests

ah, I wasn't aware of that. Are there any docs that demonstrate how to build a gateway using that ?

That might work out cheaper in the short term to see if this is a viable solution for what I want to do.

https://www.mysensors.org/build/ethernet_gateway

[tbowmo]

@anonymouslemming

£9, that's cheap Here in Denmark we pay around 150kr (which is about £17,5 with the current exchange rate) as a fee, just for the courier to handle the duties and paper work.

[gohan]

Everything is expensive in Denmark, I've been there. At least salaries are adequate for those prices

[Nca78]

@tbowmo said in Sensebender Europe resellers ?:

@anonymouslemming

£9, that's cheap Here in Denmark we pay around 150kr (which is about £17,5 with the current exchange rate) as a fee, just for the courier to handle the duties and paper work.

Wow that's insane. I promise I won't complain anymore when DHL adds around 10$ for that (other express services do not).
Sometimes local post adds a fee, but it's like once every 20-30 envelopes, and only 20 000VND = less than 1$

[anonymouslemming]

@Nca78 said in Sensebender Europe resellers ?:

Wow that's insane. I promise I won't complain anymore when DHL adds around 10$ for that (other express services do not).
Sometimes local post adds a fee, but it's like once every 20-30 envelopes, and only 20 000VND = less than 1$

Eh - I'm still going to complain

[anonymouslemming]

@gloob said in Sensebender Europe resellers ?:

https://www.mysensors.org/build/ethernet_gateway

Nice - ta.

Does this sound like the full list of parts for my one lamp test project then:

Gateway

• Arduino
• W5100 module
• NRF24L01+ radio

Sensor

• Arduino
• NRF24L01+ radio
• Relay

Am I correct in saying that all of these items except the relay need 3.3v at most ?

My plan would then be to purchase 2 x Arduino micros so that if all goes well and I graduate to SenseBender for the gateway, I could reuse the second micro in a second sensor.

Any glaring issues with that list / plan?

Thanks in advance!

[gohan]

If you don't need battery powered sensors, you could use the 5V Arduinos.

[anonymouslemming]

@gohan said in Sensebender Europe resellers ?:

If you don't need battery powered sensors, you could use the 5V Arduinos.

That mean adding a regulator to my parts list above, right ?

I'm not considering any sensors at the moment, I just want to be able to trigger the lamp. So cost is the driving factor.

There are just so many parts to consider at https://www.mysensors.org/build/connect_radio#shopping-guide . I'm fairly handy with a soldering iron, and happy to just breadboard it for the initial work, so I wasn't planning on getting any of the solder free options until I started seeing how cheap they are there

[gloob]

If you use arduino nanos you don't need any regulators. they have 3.3V for the NRF24L01+ and 5V for the relay.
You even don't need an ethernet shield if you connect the gateway via USB to your controller (Raspberry pi, ...)

This would be my shoping list:

• 2 x https://de.aliexpress.com/item/Freeshipping-Nano-3-0-controller-compatible-for-arduino-nano-CH340-USB-driver-NO-CABLE/32341832857.html
• 2 x https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1pcs-Wireless-Transceiver-For-Arduino-NRF24L01-2-4GHz-Antenna-Module-For-Microcontroll-DropShipping/32599246022.html
• 1 x https://de.aliexpress.com/item/120pcs-40P-10cm-male-to-male-female-to-male-and-female-to-female-dupont-cable-connector/32798042976.html
• 1 x https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1-Channel-Relay-Module-Interface-Board-Shield-For-Arduino-5V-Low-Level-Trigger-One-PIC-AVR/32800597285.html

8$ for a complete test system.

[gohan]

If you need just a relay, just go with a sonoff. Can't beat that price

[gloob]

But if you want to extend your system, you are more flexible with the MySensors solution in the future.

[gohan]

Of course, but since price was one of the requirements I just added the cheapest solution

[anonymouslemming]

@gloob said in Sensebender Europe resellers ?:

If you use arduino nanos you don't need any regulators. they have 3.3V for the NRF24L01+ and 5V for the relay.
You even don't need an ethernet shield if you connect the gateway via USB to your controller (Raspberry pi, ...)

This would be my shoping list:

• 2 x https://de.aliexpress.com/item/Freeshipping-Nano-3-0-controller-compatible-for-arduino-nano-CH340-USB-driver-NO-CABLE/32341832857.html
• 2 x https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1pcs-Wireless-Transceiver-For-Arduino-NRF24L01-2-4GHz-Antenna-Module-For-Microcontroll-DropShipping/32599246022.html
• 1 x https://de.aliexpress.com/item/120pcs-40P-10cm-male-to-male-female-to-male-and-female-to-female-dupont-cable-connector/32798042976.html
• 1 x https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1-Channel-Relay-Module-Interface-Board-Shield-For-Arduino-5V-Low-Level-Trigger-One-PIC-AVR/32800597285.html

8$ for a complete test system.

That's really helpful - thanks! I'm considering the RFM69 for production build, but I figure the easier to get working (and no antenna needed option) of the NRF24L01 is easiest right now.

Can't beat that price!

[gohan]

I personally wouldn't buy that cheap module as it is most likely a clone since the Nrf24 chip costs over 1$ on its own

[anonymouslemming]

@gohan

@gohan said in Sensebender Europe resellers ?:

Of course, but since price was one of the requirements I just added the cheapest solution

Absolutely fair - I should have said that I'm keen to run the whole thing within my own network. I'd prefer not to use cloud services where I don't need to.

[gohan]

Sonoff switches are just esp8266 that you can reflash with your code