So, I've been looking into Eagle and making PCBs for various step-up regulators. This is the progress I've made so far. A panelized 5x5cm board with a couple of different designs for three different ICs (Linear LTC3525, Texas Instruments TPS61097, Texas Instruments TPS61221).

The panelizing / tabs and mouse bites were done using the Gerber Panelizer from This Is Not Rocket Science: http://blog.thisisnotrocketscience.nl/projects/pcb-design-tools/
The tool isn't public yet though. So if you want to test the alpha/beta you have to contact them through twitter ask for a copy. Props to Stijn Kuipers for taking the time to explain things to me. Bottom line: Gerbers are trickier than one might suspect at first glance.

The TPS61097 is perhaps not the best IC around but I have a few samples so I thought I'd make use of them. Can't find that chip cheaply on AliExpress either and other sites (was it Lowpowerlabs?) have long since abandoned the TPS61097 due to some issue or another. So, off to smaller footprints. The TPS61221 which was talked about for the official MySensors battery board (TPS61222 was it?) is SC-70-6 unfortunately but CAN be found for about $1 a piece on AliExpress. A pretty good deal. But for now I have some samples I got from TI. Finally, the LTC3525, favored by a lot of hardware tinkerers, is a tad more expensive, around $2.3 on AliExpress. They all require the same number of external components and can work with the pretty much the same values (2x10uF or 1x10uF/1x1uF, 1x10uH) afaik.

Sent the gerbers to DirtyPCBs yesterday, have been updating the order about six times by now ;-) Hopefully it will get processed before the Chinese New Year.

Since I have the PCBs that Meanpenguin designed I figured I'd make the first booster PCBs fit the AMS1117 pins so it will hang over the main PCB in an unobtrusive manner.

And yes, among other iffy things, the footprint for the inductor varies (a lot). I went with a couple of different footprints that I though would be hand solderable for a typical 3x3mm inductor (i..e with some of the pad exposed). In reality the inductor I ordered for testing has a horseshoe-like footprint similar to the PCB on the bottom left. The capacitor footprint also purposely differ (0603 and 0805), but the capacitors I have ordered are all 0603 so it is hopefully all good. This is my first real run with Eagle (and the Gerber Panelizer) so it has been a real learning experience for me. I hope that I will be able to reflow PCBs in the future and not have to worry about whether or not the tip of the soldering iron has anywhere to go.

Btw. Other components ordered:

• 10x Linear LTC3525DESC6-3.3
• 100x Capacitor KEMET C0603C105K9PACTU CAP CER 1UF 6.3V 10% X5R 0603
• 200x Capacitor TDK C1608X5R1A106K X5R 10uF 10V 10% 0603
• 50x Do3314-103mlc Inductor 3x3mm 10uH

We'll see if AliExpress delivers as promised. The components have all been dispatched at any rate. Prices were pretty good overall, particularly given that I save shipping and taxes compared to Mouser or whatever. First time I order "serious" brand components from Ali though. Fingers crossed!

I'm hoping that in the future we'll have ready booster PCBs on the official MySensors PCB site for all major ICs obviously. Personally I find the lack of proper low quiescent current regulators to be perhaps the most annoying problem right now.

So, in conclusion I assembled the boost modules. I don't have an oscilloscope or any fancy variable load so I can't do much testing. But both the TPS61221 and LTC3525 seem to be working as intended, they power the NRF24 (not sensor in this particular picture below) without any hiccups at any rate.

I tried some ceramic power resistors to put some load on the regulators and got something like ~60-80mA out of one fairly run down AA cell if I'm not mistaken. Basically according to spec.

All I have to do now is design a compact sensor node where 1xAA actually makes sense. Kind of like LowPowerLabs' Moteino. Feels like it's time to take this to the next level. The only thing bugging me is the need to reflow instead of hand solder, and the massive task of sourcing components from AliExpress so I can avoid Mouse/Digikey. Perhaps I should give it a rest for now and see how the official MySensors modules turn out before I decide.

@Yveaux I'm embarrassed to admit I did buy a RTL-SDR last year on account of the problems I had with 433MHz sensors on the RFLink gateway and wanting to decode wireless m-bus. But I never really learned how to interpret the data from SDR#. I booted it back up just now and am flailing around in the interface :-)

Well, we looked into this for our local Makerspace. Especially if you're in the US, the Shapeoko or the Xcarve can be somewhat price effective, particularly when they have their sales campaigns and include the dewalt router and free shipping or whatever. But I still think the Xcarve is a bit flimsy and mostly propped up by a successful campaign in social media where they gave away machines to well known youtubers.

In the end we opted for building a rack and pinion RawCNC instead.
http://cncmaskiner.org/
http://rawcnc.com/
Unfortunately the guy behind the project keeps changing his mind constantly about how to sell machines, kits, parts and plans so I don't know how practical it is to start a build right now. It all hinges on finding the parts like the aluminum extrusions.

In the end we didn't want a timing belt machine. And we wanted a vfd / spindle solution from the start not having to go through a dewalt / makita router first. These spindles are quiet and you get standard ER collets. But they are also really heavy and might not work on a standard Shapeoko without reinforcements. We opted for a 2.2kW air cooled model.

Here is someone who has custom built an unusually small RawCNC:
https://openbuilds.com/builds/rawcnc-1-5-desktop-edition.5771/

I just wanted to post some pictures of the boards I got two weeks ago. 12 boards all in all from DirtyPCBs. Sure took its time. Processing time was under a week I think, but shipping was characteristically slow. The silk screen turned out a bit wonky since I exported too many layers (duh!) and it is a bit fuzzy in other places but other than that the boards seem fine. Since it was my first ever order of PCBs I took the liberty to add a big silk screen on the back and round the corners, just to test them out. Clearly not an issue for this fab at least.

The boards are 1.2mm btw. Their standard thickness. But a bit thinner than the "usual" PCB. I like it though. Unless there is a reason to go with thicker boards?

Also pretty happy with Domoticz. Also installed Dashticz on one of my two installations (the other being at the local Makerspace). For me, at least historically, I needed something that could run well on a Raspberry. Domoticz is up and running in seconds obviously even on limited hardware. For me at least Domoticz is pretty flexible, with Blockly, LUA, Python and dzVents. I think there is also some sort of add-on for PHP. The interface and the handling of devices is a bit messy but still.

Haven't tried HA but I would certainly consider it.

Supported connection method in boldface (i.e. SERIAL, ETHERNET, MQTT, GPIO). Programming language in [brackets].

..........................................................................................................................

Free / Open source:

1. Ago Control [C++/PYTHON] (SERIAL)
2. Calaos [C++] (SERIAL/ETHERNET)
3. DomotiGa [GAMBAS] (SERIAL/ETHERNET/MQTT)
4. Domoticz [C++] (SERIAL/ETHERNET/MQTT) #RECOMMENDED#
5. EasyIoT [C# = REQUIRES MONO] (GPIO)
6. FHEM [PERL] (SERIAL/ETHERNET)
7. Freedomotic [JAVA] (SERIAL/MQTT)
8. Heimcontrol.js [NODE.JS]
9. Home Assistant [PYTHON] (SERIAL/ETHERNET)
10. Home Genie [C# = REQUIRES MONO] (MQTT)
11. HouseMon [GO] (MQTT)
12. ioBroker [NODE.JS] (MQTT)
13. Jeedom [NODE.JS] (SERIAL/ETHERNET)
14. MajorDoMo [PHP] (MQTT)
15. MisterHouse [PERL] (SERIAL/ETHERNET)
16. MyController.org [JAVA] (SERIAL/ETHERNET/MQTT)
17. OpenRemote [JAVA]
18. PiDome [JAVA] (SERIAL/MQTT/GPIO) #RECOMMENDED#
19. Pimatic [NODE.JS] (SERIAL/GPIO) [link]
20. Pytomation [PYTHON]
21. The Thing System [NODE.JS] (MQTT)
22. homA [NODE.JS]
23. home.pi [NODE.JS] (MQTT)
24. openHAB [JAVA] (MQTT)
25. openLuup [LUA] (ETHERNET)

..........................................................................................................................

Commercial Software

1. Homeseer [?] (SERIAL)

..........................................................................................................................

Currently not on the Raspberry. Might work with Windows10 and RPi2 in the future?

1. HoMiDoM [?] (SERIAL)
2. zVirtualScenes
3. Opensourceautomation

..........................................................................................................................

Misc

1. pymysensors - Python code for interacting with the network
2. pymys - Another python solution

..........................................................................................................................

Personally, I'm still looking around for the perfect home automation software. And I have a fairly steep list of requirements, among them being a meaty and stylish Android app and notifications using Pushover (and Pushbullet for images?). It also has to be real AUTOMATION in the sense that you can build long and complicated scenes that can respond to changing condition in and around the house, preferably in some nice graphical interface where you just drag and drop the building blocks (Blockly). Not to mention taking advantage of the state of the art charting libraries that are available these days. I'd also like for it to interact with the Raspberry Pi camera module in an intelligent way, so it probably needs to be able to be able to allow extensive scripting, like being able to run raspivid, raspimjpeg and/or raspistill when motion sensors trigger or whatnot.

Finding the right controller software can be confusing and you seldom see the whole picture right away. Some automation software solutions are easy to install and boot up quickly but may slow down under the load of many sensors and rules. Some others may be a real hassle to install in terms of dependencies and slow to boot but may hold up better in the face of more complex home automation. Some are user-friendly but offer little control while others offer extensive control over interface and function but might drive you mad while you figure them out. It is safe to say that there is no obvious choice as of now and that the market is still far from mature. One should also note that the Raspberry Pi 1 is NOT a very fast platform and will not be ideal for many of the JAVA implementations above, unless the developers have had such platforms in mind when modelling their software (PiDome being the notable exception). Personally I am not very keen on software that will take minutes to boot up and effectively bog down the Pi in the meantime.

As for a faster hardware platform to replace the aging RPi I'm still looking around. The Pi has a support community that none of these other, newer platforms can claim after all. It would have to be a significantly faster system at basically the same price point for another ARM platform to make any sense. It's lucky that the Raspberry Pi 2 was announced at last then. Its IoT support for Windows 10 should provide more possibilities if it runs OK and most of the software above should continue to run on regular Raspbian or whatnot with little or no changes. Whether we ever get any multi-threaded support though for a real performance boost is another issue. Still waiting for the final verdict on the ODROID platforms, particularly the C1, but in my mind, the price including the eMMC module quickly approaches that of some cheaper x86 NUCs or one of those other Atom-powered boxes that keep turning up and are relatively quickly bridging the price gap.

@Mrlynx, @korttoma Yeah I guess that would work, and I might just do that if I have an electrician over for some other business. Having an outlet there might make things easier for future appliances that might want to reside there.

But it so happens I have an outlet just some 3 meters away from the cabinet. Safe from the elements. I thought I might make this a central power access point for the whole front of the house, using some sort of 12V outdoor adapter that in turn runs cables to any number of sensors. Shouldn't really matter how many volts are lost in transfer, and then I could finish off with either connecting the RAW pin OR using one of those neat buck converters that can be found cheaply on Ebay. I have a couple of them already and used them to power a sensor node and at least with a decoupling capacitor on the radio they don't seem to be too bad.

Which exact RFM69 is the footprint for? Cause it says "RFM69HCW" in some places, and "RFM69HW" in others. The footprint looks a lot like HW (https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/563/20328459340_62fa380554_b.jpg).

@jendrush said:

@bjornhallberg At this moment i have gateway on Arduino Uno, and nRF24L01+ LNA+PA is working ok. But when i tried nRF24L01+ LNA+PA with nano it didn't work.

Sending didn't work you mean? Or didn't receiving work either? I've only tested receiving for a few minutes using the debug setting, with the nRF24L01+ LNA+PA and Nano connected to my RPi. Seemed to work ok but it'd be nice to know for sure before investing more time with this particular setup. Also, I don't think I could fit an Uno into my camera housing. I'd have to get a 5V->3.3V converter (one that doesn't ruin radio reception) and take the power directly from the PoE splitter (which currently outputs 5V directly to the RPi TP1/TP2 pins).

Just for fun, here is the setup I have right now, don't laugh ;-)

Anyhow, the Uno allows for 50mA on 3.3V, while the Nano can do 40mA if I'm reading the specs right? Still way off from any 115mA.

Perhaps this discussion should be taken to a more rudimentary level, trying to figure out which automation software we actually want to bet on. And what software will actually run WELL on the resource limited RPi. It would take some convincing before I ever installed java-based solutions for instance, like openHab.

Has anyone actually tried Ago Control? Is it any good? Does it work well with the Pi? The installation is 130MB no less. A ton of dependencies. Makes you wonder about RAM and CPU usage.

It feels like this entire market is a bit premature at the moment.

I don't have the sensebender, but I have a node with a regular 3.3V Pro Mini and a 501 that has been going for a year now. No regulator. Just 2 x 1.5V AA. Don't know how it is still functioning as I also read that I should expect false positives as well as false negatives. The sensor is outdoors so it is hard to say anything about false positives since there are birds and stuff passing by. But I have never ever known it to miss a beat as I walk by (which is something I do 3-4 times a day).

Just connect the 3.3V to the third / "H pin" on the PIR board.
http://forum.mysensors.org/topic/444/battery-powered-motion-sensor/13

@scalz Would also be very interested in buying assembled modules. But why no more RFM69?

@kolaf No, it doesn't sound lazy to me, we're all wrestling with these questions and I don't think any of them have been answered in such a way that they can be dismissed out of hand.

1. I guess two AA 1.5V alkaline batteries would work for the moteino (rechargeable of course self-discharge too fast, and LSD NiMH are a tad expensive). I think it's a fairly cost-effective solution too if the sensor allows it. The regulator seems pretty great, except that it requires 2.7-16V in. Hard to say how long 3V is going to last. Would have been better if it had started at 0.7-0.8 like some other regulators so you could have run it on only one AA battery. Perhaps you could run it on 3xAA? When I see the moteino I can't help but think that we're reinventing the wheel over here. Plus the range on these RFM69HW are phenomenal. Anyway. The anarduinos run on 5V right and are not designed for battery operation?

2. I'd be wary buying cheap AC adapters on Ebay.
   http://www.righto.com/2012/03/inside-cheap-phone-charger-and-why-you.html
   http://www.righto.com/2014/05/a-look-inside-ipad-chargers-pricey.html
   Perhaps you could look into buying some second hand brand adapters on Ebay. I bought two Nokia USB chargers (AC-10E) a while back from Germany and paid maybe 7€ each or so including shipping. They were originally meant to power Raspberries but I've since given up on buying more than one Pi and the one I have is powered by PoE using an aftermarket solution from Tp-Link. But I have a couple of sensors that I will need mains power for, like the powermeter ironically enough. I thought about buying something like this (between 12-24V 10-50W AC DC waterproof adapter) and then use buck converters in each enclosure to bring the power down to 3.3V or whatever. Starting at 12V and good gauge wire I should be able to run pretty long wires from one central transformer. But with all the problems with the NRF24 and bad DC quality I hesitate. I have some cheap ebay buck converters so I can try this before committing further resources though. At any rate, I'd avoid mains if I can. If you can get a year or more on a couple of AA and avoid radio problems, at least for those of us with NRF24, that seems cheaper and better to me. With AC-DC you have the cost of buying the adapters, the nagging feeling that they'll burn your house down, and that they'll interfere with your electronics. Plus the cost of running them. No idea what the efficiency is like here, but it probably varies a lot, around 75% if you're lucky, but that is probably at full load:
   http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html

3. No idea how to solve that gracefully and easily without making some custom board. Latching on some prototype board would be an eyesore on the moteinos etc.

4. It always comes back to these types of cases it seems:
   http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191276960520
   I've also bought a lot of the flanged model that may be more waterproof:
   http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=enclosure+waterproof
   A bit ugly for indoor use though. Tried buying some without flanges, but got flanges anyway. I hope the Ebay ones above live up to the product picture at least. It's not that much to choose from.
   People have been talking a lot about 3D printed cases but I'd be more interested in making wood enclosures of some type. A router and some router bits or whatever you'd need seems cheaper and more fun than 3D printing to me.
   http://lifehacker.com/5640327/how-to-build-a-diy-wooden-hard-drive-enclosure

@axillent Sure, a more powerful solution wouldn't go amiss, but it comes down to cost and power consumption. The RPi SHOULD be enough to power home automation if it was was done right. A lot of the resource consumption for Domoticz (which is still a lot faster than openhab but is nevertheless accused of being slow sometimes) seems to be Apache handling the web interface. Lighttpd might be something I should look into if at all possible. Personally I'd like a really light-weight front-end and then some Android app to control and check the automation server.

But I'm always open to suggestions. The RPi is only great because of its software support / developers, its peripherals and its gpu. There should be a lot faster chips these days, ARM or preferably x86, that could manage the same power consumption as the Pi but with a lot better performance. If you're only looking for CPU cycles. Personally I was hell bent on cramming as much stuff as possible into the Pi, including the camera module. That is basically £6 of electricity, running it 24/7 for a year. Yes, I'm the ultimate cheapskate ;-)

@neverdie Yeah that is a surprisingly good machine as it seems to be built from scratch with no plans or whatnot. It says in the Youtube comments that he spent $4K-4.5K on it though, with 1K of that being for the extra cost of servos as compared to steppers. Nice to have those linear rails and ball screws though.

By comparison the machine we're building is maybe $2K. It will have worse precision (than ball screws) as it is rack and pinion. But a work area of ~100x150cm.

Still very much interested in buying the board with RFM69 footprint! Just saying!

I snapped some pictures just so everyone can see the difference between the nrf24 modules.


Of course, like I said, I don't even know if the "mini" works in a satisfactory manner. I'm gonna get some smaller pitch headers so I can make a prototype. But the PCB antenna actually seems to be the exact same size so I have high hopes for that aspect at least.

@Damme Yeah, that is sort of the Achilles' heel of the MySensors project. Basically no software support. And even if all the above software miraculously started to support MySensors, they'd still be years from completion most likely. I can't claim to have tried them all but none of them seem that promising. Most of them are half-baked and those that show some promise are usually developing too slowly or are under the wrong direction focusing on the wrong things or getting ahead of themselves. A lot of them support various wonky commercial hardware that ordinary people will be less likely to have heard of than MySensors even. Some of them sure have the cart before the horse and I'm always a bit suspicious about where their motivations are coming from, i.e. any money trail to said obscure corporate stuff that most people are very unlikely to own.

If I had any use for Z-Wave I might have considered getting a Vera, but for that price you could get pretty much anything, like a NUC or whatever (some of them are quite energy efficient and getting better every generation). Not that an x86 machine would me much use either compared to a RPi. And besides, all I hear about the Vera is complaints about slow software development. I'd expect more UX perfection from a commercial product. Perhaps I will reconsider if there is a Vera4 or something and UI7 is a resounding success. Else, people might do what they did to Synology, rip their software and let everyone use on their own hardware.

Isn't Google coming out with something soon? Or are they busy with the expensive NEST stuff?

The MPCNC is a smart project but I would assume it would struggle with a bigger motor.

The 2.2kW we are going to use weighs A LOT. Around 5kg at least I'd guess. The 1.5kW is not much better. With a smaller spindle, or router like a Kress things would be different. Still I'm glad to have the extra power, and standard ER20 collets up to 13mm. Plus these chinese spindles are really quiet compared to a regular router. And the speed can be set and spindle can be started from the control panel or from the computer. The downside is the low quality VFD I guess, but if it works it works. And you can always use shielded cables everywhere.