How to build up a sensor network

[dzjr]

Hello Everybody here at the Mysensors forum.

I am new to MySensors, but I would like to do a lot with it, to start sprinkling my garden, the hardware I have now installed in general (humidity sensors, water valves, level floats, DS18B20 sensors and so on)

Now I am now about to tie up some software, after some searching and consulting with an ICT colleague I came to Domoticz in combination with MySensors (do not know yet if this is the right solution)

the location of my garden irrigation I split into two parts, a central point where, among other things, the rain well (with pump, floats, part of the valves), and a point around a border.

For the central part I was thinking to apply an Arduino Mega to read the sensors (analogue and digital) and to control valves (via relays), I'm going to build this together in a steel Rittal cabinet.
The point around the border I have an Arduino Uno on the eye (I have already built together), here come 4 valves (via relay), four humidity sensors (analogue in) and two DS18B20 temperature sensors.

For the communication to the Domoticz controller (Raspberry Pi) I was initially thinking to use the two arduinos as Ethernet Gateway (without RF) with the actuators and the sensors processed.
The cabling is already present between all points (ethernet and shielded signal cable).

However, when experimenting with the uno (I started with the smallest) I managed to control the four relays from domoticz, but I did not manage to read the sensors, on this forum I read older post's that it probably will not automatically work to process sensors in a gateway, is that still the case with the current version of the library?

Now, however, I am thinking what would be the best solution in my situation, make a separate gateway (outside?) And then make the arduino node's connection via RF, or it is still possible to use the gateway's together with actuators. and sensors?

In addition to the above two, I also want to make a stove and ventilation control for my barn through MySensors, I wanted to do this via RF.

Incidentally, it does not stay in control of the garden and shed, in my home I also want to measure and control in the future via Domoticz and MySenors (and easyESP).

I hope you can advise me to choose the right and most convenient and reliable solution.

For the record, I am not stuck to the chosen arduinos, although I have the UNO together with the relay etc put together.

Thank you very much for the help and advice!

(PS, i used translate for this post)

[Dbagioni]

Wow thats quite the project.....Im a pretty new guy here also. I tried something similar with my nano(and then uno) gateway and adding some sensors to it....I eventually abandoned it because it was just causing a log jam of data through the gateway and controller(I use OpenHAB), also if the sensor malfunctioned it took down the gateway on several occassions

My reccommendation is to set up a controller and gateway as standalone devices and then tie sensors and actuators in from there. Ive also found that it makes troubleshooting issues because the system is more modular.

Just my advice,, Wish you lots of luck and hope its as good and experience for you as its been for me.

[alowhum]

@dzjr sound like quite a plan.

Why not directly connect the radio to your Raspberry Pi's GPIO pins? It's easy, and will save you an Arduino.

This might be interesting to check for your irrigation needs:
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/9534/irrigation-controller/8

This might be interesting to check for your heater:
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/9421/safe-heating-with-mysensors-how-i-use-it-as-a-smart-thermostat

[dzjr]

@dbagioni

Thank you for replying
I myself was already thinking of creating a separate (ethernet) gateway.

Certainly there is more support for it, and I still need a gateway in the garden / shed.

It is certainly a big project, fortunately I have already installed all the hardware, only a bit of a bit of cabling in the control cabinet, and of course programming the arduino's of course ...

[dzjr]

@alowhum said in How to build up a sensor network:

@dzjr sound like quite a plan.
Why not directly connect the radio to your Raspberry Pi's GPIO pins? It's easy, and will save you an Arduino.
This might be interesting to check for your irrigation needs:
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/9534/irrigation-controller/8
This might be interesting to check for your heater:
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/9421/safe-heating-with-mysensors-how-i-use-it-as-a-smart-thermostat

Thank you for replying
I will read the post's, and of course also use it during programming.

The reason I use separate arduinos is that I want to set up the (rapsberry-Pi) domticz server in the house, in a central cabinet together with an RF-Link and a second MySensors gateway.

Also, a Raspberry-Pi only has a limited number of GPIOs (eg wants to control 16 relays), and no analogue inputs, but I could still read that via an i2c multiplexer.