My first RFM69 Battery sensor: an ultrasonic sonar to measure the level of my fuel tank (don't laugh, winters can be cold in Burgundy )

Many thanks to @sundberg84 and @mfalkvidd for advice to the Newbie i am and to @Gerator for the RFM69 gateway

I confirm care has to be taken: some brands want to lock you, the worst being Tuya, their devices are programmed in a way for them to work only with their gateway.

I’m very happy with the « silvercrest » gateway ; it works well and there is an « easy » hack to gain control of it there: https://paulbanks.org/projects/lidl-zigbee/#overview

(and here for french speaking people: https://faire-ca-soi-meme.fr/domotique/2021/03/22/hack-detournement-de-la-passerelle-lidl-silvercrest/)

Here is what i have tried:
I try using GPIO 2 and 15 to pilot the RFM69

here an extract of my GatewayESP8266.ino

// Enable debug prints to serial monitor
#define MY_DEBUG

// Use a bit lower baudrate for serial prints on ESP8266 than default in MyConfig.h
#define MY_BAUD_RATE 9600

// Enables and select radio type (if attached)
//#define MY_RADIO_RF24
#define MY_RADIO_RFM69

#define MY_IS_RFM69HW // Omit if your RFM is not "H"
#define MY_RFM69_IRQ_PIN 2
#define MY_RFM69_IRQ_NUM MY_RFM69_IRQ_PIN
#define MY_RFM69_CS_PIN 15 // NSS. Use MY_RFM69_SPI_CS for older versions (before 2.2.0)

../..

void setup()
{
   pinMode(MY_RFM69_IRQ_PIN, OUTPUT);
   pinMode(MY_RFM69_CS_PIN, OUTPUT);

	// Setup locally attached sensors
}

../..

void loop()
{
	// Send locally attached sensors data here
  digitalWrite(MY_RFM69_IRQ_PIN, HIGH);
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(MY_RFM69_IRQ_PIN, LOW);
delay(1000);
}

What's going wrong is i need to unplug the wire to GPIO2 at boot time unless it won't boot
then if i do that and replug the wire after boot, TFM is not initialized properly and
i get this log:

MCO:BGN:INIT GW,CP=RRNGE---,FQ=80,REL=255,VER=2.3.2
114 TSF:LRT:OK
130 TSM:INIT
143 TSF:WUR:MS=0
163 TSM:INIT:TSP OK
184 TSM:INIT:GW MODE
206 TSM:READY:ID=0,PAR=0,DIS=0
238 MCO:REG:NOT NEEDED
scandone
1311 GWT:TIN:CONNECTING...
2339 GWT:TIN:CONNECTING...
scandone
state: 0 -> 2 (b0)
state: 2 -> 3 (0)
state: 3 -> 5 (10)
add 0
aid 2

connected with TPLINK_BUREAU, channel 1
dhcp client start...
cnt 
3168 GWT:TIN:CONNECTING...
ip:192.168.1.50,mask:255.255.255.0,gw:192.168.1.1
4329 GWT:TIN:CONNECTING...
4357 GWT:TIN:IP: 192.168.1.50
4389 MCO:BGN:STP
pm open,type:2 0
14407 MCO:BGN:INIT OK,TSP=1
14436 TSM:READY:NWD REQ
15462 ?TSF:MSG:SEND,0-0-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=20,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:

My knowlegde in electronics is level zero unfortunalty
The adafruit Huzzah documentation states that
GPIO #2, is also used to detect boot-mode. It also is connected to the blue LED that is near the WiFi antenna. It has a pullup resistor connected to it, and you can use it as any output (like #0) and blink the blue LED.

So i thought i could wire directly GPIO2 to DIO0 on the RFM69 like explained https://www.mysensors.org/build/connect_radio but obviously i do something wrong

Please Help

@sundberg84 Thank you
My knowledge being very limited, i understand this might be difficult for my to go on the RFM69 version ?

Hopefully, my nrf24 network based on your designs works well

@mfalkvidd You're right: For production i'm going to build isolation for the sensor not to be in contact

Anyway: The flash point of domestic fuel oil is 55 ° C, which means that fuel oil cannot ignite below this temperature. In addition, in its liquid form, fuel oil is non-flammable at room temperature.

I guess this means i finally managed to get it working:

4131 MCO:BGN:STP
4133 MCO:BGN:INIT OK,TSP=1
4135 TSM:READY:NWD REQ
4139 ?TSF:MSG:SEND,0-0-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=20,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
pm open,type:2 0
30149 TSF:MSG:READ,5-5-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0:
30155 TSF:MSG:BC
30157 TSF:MSG:FPAR REQ,ID=5
30159 TSF:PNG:SEND,TO=0
30161 TSF:CKU:OK
30163 TSF:MSG:GWL OK
30641 TSF:MSG:SEND,0-0-5-5,s=255,c=3,t=8,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:0
32650 TSF:MSG:READ,5-5-0,s=255,c=3,t=24,pt=1,l=1,sg=0:1
32655 TSF:MSG:PINGED,ID=5,HP=1

Thanks to @sundberg84

My Nrf24 gateaway is know quasi professionnal !

Can't wait to test the RFM69 version

@NeverDie avoid tuya devices: they are intendly made to work only with the tuya app.
people try to work this around , for instance in ZHA quirks, but this is a nightmare of reverse engineering

@mfalkvidd

Hello, certainly yes; anyhow, my setup is quite experimental yet:

• my antenna setup is quite bad, i loose radio messages or don't receive Ack from the gateway (my bad, i have 868 MHz RFM69 and ordered antennas for 433 MHz)
• i can confirm it works with NSS on pin GPIO#15 and IRQ_PIN on GPIO#0 orGPIO#2
• i have not resolved yet the problem of GPIO#0 and GPIO#2 being used by ESP8266 to detect boot-mode so you have to connect the pin after booting which is very annoying
  There are articles like this one https://www.instructables.com/id/ESP8266-Using-GPIO0-GPIO2-as-inputs/ but i'm quite newbie in electronics...

I will post more details when my config is better.

more info here https://www.mysensors.org/build/select_gateway

You need to connect a MySensors Gateaway to your home assistant home automation controler.

usually you can build a gateaway based on an arduino uno and connect it through serial port USB to the machine running your home assistant.

alternatively you can build an ethernet gateaway (for instance with an ethernet enabled arduino) and communicate with your home assistant through tcp/ip

Maybe try E01-ML01DP5 Long Range SPI nRF24L01P 2.4Ghz 100mW SMA Antenna IoT Wireless Transceiver

After several years of usage, i can tell i sometimes need to reboot a node after several weeks or months… hard to tell why because i don’t have logs and when node is restarted usely everything works well.

On some nodes i have setup a routine to reboot once a day; difficult to have clues if this is far better or not.

Sometimes, you can have the case where your node finds an unusual « parent id » because the regular parent is not responding so
if you are confident with your topology gateaway and repeaters then you can #define the prefered parent id of each node
especially if some repeaters have a better antenna than others

@mariusl i use the pcb from @sundberg84 EasyPCB RFM69 version and it works very well

Maybe try E01-ML01DP5 Long Range SPI nRF24L01P 2.4Ghz 100mW SMA Antenna IoT Wireless Transceiver Transmitter Receiver RF Module

In my experience with an antenna it provided far better results.

Anymay, i have swiched my sensors to RFM69, which works better, if not perfect

@NeverDie avoid tuya devices: they are intendly made to work only with the tuya app.
people try to work this around , for instance in ZHA quirks, but this is a nightmare of reverse engineering

I confirm care has to be taken: some brands want to lock you, the worst being Tuya, their devices are programmed in a way for them to work only with their gateway.

I’m very happy with the « silvercrest » gateway ; it works well and there is an « easy » hack to gain control of it there: https://paulbanks.org/projects/lidl-zigbee/#overview

(and here for french speaking people: https://faire-ca-soi-meme.fr/domotique/2021/03/22/hack-detournement-de-la-passerelle-lidl-silvercrest/)

@sundberg84

For those who use this wonderfull PCB, it is possible to use it with a regulated 5V input or with a lithium 3.7V battery :: with the following two actions:

• as a booster use a "1.8V 3V 3.7V 5V to 3.3V Boost & Buck Low Noise Regulated Charge Pump 2 in 1 DC/DC Converter"
  This will convert anything between 1.8 - 5V to 3.3V

  • works with regulated 5V down to 3.3V
  • works with lithium battery that start at 3.7V above 3.3, and then after sometime the battery goes down less than 3.3 and is boosted to 3.3

• connect the "BAT" jumper so that input goes through you DC/DC converter

@hlehoux BTW, in my case this seems to be related to the battery being very low.