Hi,

I am looking to set up a sensor in my garage, which is located inside my apartment building, 5 floors below my controller (Home Assistant, with zwave, zigbee and RFXCOM interfaces, as well as a mysensors gateway, that is not connected yet, but has only a NRF24L01+ radio), which is inside my apartment. I live in the third floor, the garage is in floor -2.

I have been looking at RFM69, as well as RFM95 specs, that refer a 500 m / 2 km line of sight range (https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-rfm69hcw-and-rfm96-rfm95-rfm98-lora-packet-padio-breakouts 1). A mysensors implementation of a presence detector or a remote switch for the garage door would not be hard to do.

My question is: considering that the range I am looking for is much shorter than any of those (about max 30-50 meters in a straight line), but with a lot of concrete walls and iron structures in between the two points, do you think this could be a good solution?

If not, what would you advise for such application?

Thanks for your help!

André

@Sparkman, after a lot of days of despair, I found the problem!

My gateway was built on a 3.3v Arduino Mini Pro. As soon as I set it up on a 5V one (I did not even need a power regulator for the radio, because I used one of those Sparkfun ones with an antenna.

Now it's all kicking ass!

Thanks again, man!

@Sparkman Thanks a lot for all your time and effort!

Cheers!

Yes, I tried that as well. Nothing happened.

In the meantime, the serial monitor from the node shows only this and nothing else:

send: 55-55-0-0 s=255,c=0,t=17,pt=0,l=3,sg=0,st=ok:1.5
send: 55-55-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=6,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,st=ok:0
sensor started, id=55, parent=0, distance=0
send: 55-55-0-0 s=0,c=0,t=4,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,st=ok:
send: 55-55-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=11,pt=0,l=11,sg=0,st=ok:DimmableLED
send: 55-55-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=12,pt=0,l=3,sg=0,st=ok:1.1
send: 55-55-0-0 s=0,c=2,t=3,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,st=ok:

Is it perhaps a problem with the radio? It only sends and does not receive?

I tried different NRF24L01+ chips, but the problem remains...

I even tried to feed the NRF chip through a 3.3v regulator, but nothing happens...

Nothing at all in the node serial monitor...

The log from MYSController shows this:

13/09/2015 19:53:01	TX	55;255;3;0;6;M
13/09/2015 19:53:01	RX	55;255;3;0;6;0
13/09/2015 19:53:04	RX	0;0;3;0;9;read: 55-55-0 s=0,c=0,t=4,pt=0,l=0,sg=0:
13/09/2015 19:53:04	DEBUG	Update child id=0, type=DIMMER
13/09/2015 19:53:04	RX	55;0;0;0;4;
13/09/2015 19:53:04	RX	0;0;3;0;9;read: 55-55-0 s=255,c=3,t=11,pt=0,l=11,sg=0:DimmableLED
13/09/2015 19:53:04	RX	55;255;3;0;11;DimmableLED
13/09/2015 19:53:04	RX	0;0;3;0;9;read: 55-55-0 s=255,c=3,t=12,pt=0,l=3,sg=0:1.1
13/09/2015 19:53:04	RX	55;255;3;0;12;1.1
13/09/2015 19:53:04	RX	0;0;3;0;9;read: 55-55-0 s=0,c=2,t=3,pt=0,l=0,sg=0:
13/09/2015 19:53:04	RX	55;0;2;0;3;
13/09/2015 19:53:12	TX	55;0;1;0;3;50
13/09/2015 19:53:46	RX	0;0;3;0;9;read: 55-55-0 s=255,c=0,t=17,pt=0,l=3,sg=0:1.5
13/09/2015 19:53:46	DEBUG	Update child id=255, type=ARDUINO_NODE
13/09/2015 19:53:46	RX	55;255;0;0;17;1.5
13/09/2015 19:53:46	RX	0;0;3;0;9;read: 55-55-0 s=255,c=3,t=6,pt=1,l=1,sg=0:0
13/09/2015 19:53:46	TX	55;255;3;0;6;M
13/09/2015 19:53:46	RX	55;255;3;0;6;0
13/09/2015 19:53:48	RX	0;0;3;0;9;read: 55-55-0 s=0,c=0,t=4,pt=0,l=0,sg=0:
13/09/2015 19:53:48	DEBUG	Update child id=0, type=DIMMER
13/09/2015 19:53:48	RX	55;0;0;0;4;
13/09/2015 19:53:48	RX	0;0;3;0;9;read: 55-55-0 s=255,c=3,t=11,pt=0,l=11,sg=0:DimmableLED
13/09/2015 19:53:48	RX	55;255;3;0;11;DimmableLED
13/09/2015 19:53:48	RX	0;0;3;0;9;read: 55-55-0 s=255,c=3,t=12,pt=0,l=3,sg=0:1.1
13/09/2015 19:53:48	RX	55;255;3;0;12;1.1
13/09/2015 19:53:48	RX	0;0;3;0;9;read: 55-55-0 s=0,c=2,t=3,pt=0,l=0,sg=0:
13/09/2015 19:53:48	RX	55;0;2;0;3;
13/09/2015 19:53:56	TX	55;0;1;0;3;50
13/09/2015 19:54:16	TX	55;0;1;0;2;50
13/09/2015 19:55:02	TX	55;0;1;0;2;50

Sure. What should I write in the payload section?

I tried this, but nothing happened.

I'm sorry for all the "noobness", I am still trying to learn all this...

Yes, sure. Just did that.

Here's what I have:

What should I do now?

Cheers!

@Sparkman, nothing happens...

No message at all in the serial monitor.

Hi @Sparkman!

No, the sensor does not get any input.

This is all I get in the serial monitor:

send: 55-55-0-0 s=255,c=0,t=17,pt=0,l=3,sg=0,st=ok:1.5
send: 55-55-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=6,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,st=ok:0
sensor started, id=55, parent=0, distance=0
send: 55-55-0-0 s=0,c=0,t=4,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,st=ok:
send: 55-55-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=11,pt=0,l=11,sg=0,st=ok:DimmableLED
send: 55-55-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=12,pt=0,l=3,sg=0,st=ok:1.1
send: 55-55-0-0 s=0,c=2,t=3,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,st=ok:

Thanks for the ultra-fast reply!

Hi!

I am kind of new here, but I have been trying to build a simple white led dimmer to control with Domoticz.

So far, I have accomplished to get the radio working, then I built the hardware and finally I tested the dimmer with a simple arduino skecth:

 void setup()
 {
   pinMode( 9, OUTPUT);
   pinMode(10, OUTPUT);
 }
 
 byte b = 0;

 void loop()
 {
   analogWrite(9, b);
   analogWrite(10, b);
   delay(100);
   ++b;
 }

And it worked!

Also, I managed to get the node recognized in Domoticz (after some struggle), but I cannot seem to get Domoticz to actually dim the LED!

FYI: I used this sketch:

/**
 * The MySensors Arduino library handles the wireless radio link and protocol
 * between your home built sensors/actuators and HA controller of choice.
 * The sensors forms a self healing radio network with optional repeaters. Each
 * repeater and gateway builds a routing tables in EEPROM which keeps track of the
 * network topology allowing messages to be routed to nodes.
 *
 * Created by Henrik Ekblad <henrik.ekblad@mysensors.org>
 * Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Sensnology AB
 * Full contributor list: https://github.com/mysensors/Arduino/graphs/contributors
 *
 * Documentation: http://www.mysensors.org
 * Support Forum: http://forum.mysensors.org
 *
 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 * modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
 * version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
 *
 *******************************
 *
 * REVISION HISTORY
 * Version 1.0 - February 15, 2014 - Bruce Lacey
 * Version 1.1 - August 13, 2014 - Converted to 1.4 (hek) 
 *
 * DESCRIPTION
 * This sketch provides a Dimmable LED Light using PWM and based Henrik Ekblad 
 * <henrik.ekblad@gmail.com> Vera Arduino Sensor project.  
 * Developed by Bruce Lacey, inspired by Hek's MySensor's example sketches.
 * 
 * The circuit uses a MOSFET for Pulse-Wave-Modulation to dim the attached LED or LED strip.  
 * The MOSFET Gate pin is connected to Arduino pin 3 (LED_PIN), the MOSFET Drain pin is connected
 * to the LED negative terminal and the MOSFET Source pin is connected to ground.  
 *
 * This sketch is extensible to support more than one MOSFET/PWM dimmer per circuit.
 * http://www.mysensors.org/build/dimmer
 */

#define SN "DimmableLED"
#define SV "1.1"

#include <MySensor.h> 
#include <SPI.h>

#define LED_PIN 3      // Arduino pin attached to MOSFET Gate pin
#define FADE_DELAY 10  // Delay in ms for each percentage fade up/down (10ms = 1s full-range dim)

MySensor gw;

static int currentLevel = 0;  // Current dim level...
MyMessage dimmerMsg(0, V_DIMMER);
MyMessage lightMsg(0, V_LIGHT);


/***
 * Dimmable LED initialization method
 */
void setup()  
{ 
  Serial.println( SN ); 
  gw.begin( incomingMessage );
  
  // Register the LED Dimmable Light with the gateway
  gw.present( 0, S_DIMMER );
  
  gw.sendSketchInfo(SN, SV);
  // Pull the gateway's current dim level - restore light level upon sendor node power-up
  gw.request( 0, V_DIMMER );
}

/***
 *  Dimmable LED main processing loop 
 */
void loop() 
{
  gw.process();
}



void incomingMessage(const MyMessage &message) {
  if (message.type == V_LIGHT || message.type == V_DIMMER) {
    
    //  Retrieve the power or dim level from the incoming request message
    int requestedLevel = atoi( message.data );
    
    // Adjust incoming level if this is a V_LIGHT variable update [0 == off, 1 == on]
    requestedLevel *= ( message.type == V_LIGHT ? 100 : 1 );
    
    // Clip incoming level to valid range of 0 to 100
    requestedLevel = requestedLevel > 100 ? 100 : requestedLevel;
    requestedLevel = requestedLevel < 0   ? 0   : requestedLevel;
    
    Serial.print( "Changing level to " );
    Serial.print( requestedLevel );
    Serial.print( ", from " ); 
    Serial.println( currentLevel );

    fadeToLevel( requestedLevel );
    
    // Inform the gateway of the current DimmableLED's SwitchPower1 and LoadLevelStatus value...
    gw.send(lightMsg.set(currentLevel > 0 ? 1 : 0));

    // hek comment: Is this really nessesary?
    gw.send( dimmerMsg.set(currentLevel) );

    
    }
}

/***
 *  This method provides a graceful fade up/down effect
 */
void fadeToLevel( int toLevel ) {

  int delta = ( toLevel - currentLevel ) < 0 ? -1 : 1;
  
  while ( currentLevel != toLevel ) {
    currentLevel += delta;
    analogWrite( LED_PIN, (int)(currentLevel / 100. * 255) );
    delay( FADE_DELAY );
  }
}

Can somebody help me please?

I am using a 3.3v Arduino Mini Pro clone, a IRF540 MOSFET and a 12v power supply.

Thanks for your help!

PS: amazing project!