I have created a gateway transport for the SmartThings hub. It works for me but it's definitely a work in progress. There are two pieces to this:

• The MySensors gateway transport for SmartThings here.
• The SmartThings gateway device handler located here.

This is an Ethernet gateway transport that is designed to run on a Raspberry Pi 3 gateway. I have no plans right now to adapt to other platforms but feel free to contribute and add that support for other gateway devices.

SmartThings has an API that is called via an http POST method. Right now this is a one way transport and that's from MySensors to SmartThings. It doesn't handle an http request from SmartThings to the MySensors gateway. I have gotten http requests to work from SmartThings to an esp8266 and an arduino with a W5100 though, so I know it can be done. You have to host a webserver and I think it's not working on the pi because the ethernetclient.cpp/ethernetserver.cpp is custom for MySensors on linux.

You also have to install a SmartThings device handler for the MySensors gateway on SmartThings. The above repo contains the device handler and an example motion sensor device handler.

I learned a ton about the way that MySensors is working and also the way that SmartThings works. I'm happy to answer questions and share any of that knowledge as I'm able to.

@alex28 I think these are fair criticisms. I've spent a ton of time with mysensors and have backed away because of some of these same things. I love the idea and appreciate the effort that's went into the platform. You have to tinker a lot and you spend more time figuring out problems with the platform than you do actually building sensors. Spending time troubleshooting only to find out others have spent time on the same thing or info is outdated takes the fun out of the process for me.

However, having said that I keep coming back because I love the idea of this platform. Lots of really great ideas and great makers contributing here.

@Psilin sounds good to me.

@pptacek Great, thank you.

I think all the replies highlight the challenges / difficulties with what happens. You read the thread and there are at least 3 or 4 different thoughts on each element (GW HW configuration, PCB recommendations, node recommendations, controllers, mqtt vs not, etc.) If you're coming to this for the first time you just see a bunch of what people have done and so you have to blindly pick a direction. Which then can lead you down a rabbit hole.

All of that discussion is great and this is what should happen in a forum is to share experiences. The problem, again, is that there is no baseline to start from that gives you the initial nearly guaranteed path to success when you're starting out. It that existed then you could tweak and adjust, try more advanced configurations, and experiment from a working baseline. Right now when you ask a question like what GW hardware should I use, you get multiple answers back and there is no consensus or "standard" to refer to. This thread has gotten way OT IMO because it's evolved into "here's what worked for me."

For me personally if I had the working baseline then I could add features on as I had the need or wanted to experiment. The challenge is you are experimenting from the start and then you get frustrated because you run into barriers all the time. There is no baseline and there are so many variants that it's a little chaotic. My suggestion is to come up with the baseline (hardware for GW, type of transport, ONE suggested controller) The KISS approach (Keep It Simple, Stupid) , publish it, and then clearly document other avenues as variants or advanced config. That at to me doesn't seem all that big of an update. The information is there as far as building and config just organize it and be more clear on the best path to success.

Again, MySensors is a great platform. I want to use it and promote it, just need to have that clear pathway.

@scalz not sure how to take the comment. I've posted and contributed (even developing a library) so it's not like I haven't participated. I bought parts from the links and still had issues with radios. Whether help was asked for or not that doesn't make the constructive feedback invalid. Feedback is a gift and in this case it should be taken that way. These are suggestions to make MySenors accessible to more people.

Yeah there is a good chance I would buy it. When I started my journey into home iot devices I was buying $45 light switches so if it was a good product I would.
I've looked at the MySensors gw but several of the comments mentioned issues so l steered clear. It's not the cost. What's being suggested here is not a huge criticism it's just asking to have a clear path to a high probability of success. Which is mainly cleaning up the documentation. If I had a solid working setup I'd help do it but I don't. I love the platform and the idea is really great, it's just too scattered and needs to be more focused. Don't try to be all things to all people.

@pptacek said in Started with MySensors and about to give up (some feedback):

jModule2

Do you have details on these sticks? What is jmodule2?

@monte this is exactly the point. There is no mention or way to know you're choosing the hardest possible combo of hardware until you've spent hours fiddling with it. You'll find more posts about counterfeit radios rather than what a good radio is. There is saying that they don't teach treasury agents what every counterfeit bill looks like because there are too many and it's always changing. They teach them what a real bill looks like so they will know a fake when they see it. Same thing here. Just post the place to buy a good radio. Don't post a guide on rpi gw if it's the hardest and least used option, leave that to the forum.

I would rather spend my time building and using the sensors rather than troubleshooting and figuring out problems, which it seems like that's what I do a lot of. It could very well be the choices of hardware I'm making I'll completely admit that but I don't know because there are so many paths you can take. OTA updates are something I'd like to incorporate but there is no clear path to success there for me. I feel like that will lead to frustration based on what I've read in the forum. Again because there are too many options without the clear path laid out.

I keep coming back because I really see the potential and there really is no other platform like MySensors. If I had that strong reliable baseline to build from I'd have some pretty cool ideas and sensors to contribute.
Instead I'm building sensors with Wi-Fi connections all over the place when a single gw connecting to the internet or a controller would be a much better solution.

@alex28 I agree exactly with what you've said. I've spent hours with MySensors and the website and community kept me here for a long time. Would love to just see the quickest path to success. I would have never messed around with a rpi to do this if I would have known the troubles I would run into.

@BearWithBeard I think the frustration is more that the information is out of date in many areas or leaves it open to people repeating the same thing that others have already solved. The antenna is always a problem. Maybe a prominent guide/recommendation on how to avoid buying counterfeits. A better FAQ on the common errors with communication messages and top solutions. Much of the information is there, I think it could be curated better. However it's hard to find sometimes in the forum because information is conflicting because people have different experiences because of different setup.

A one recommended path for beginners would be much more helpful. Meaning use specific hardware: gateway, antennae, nodes and whatever else and you're likely to have success. Part of the frustration is using something you have on hand only to find out after you built things out it has some other known problem or limitation that if known up front you would have avoided. The battery nodes for some reason took me a while to figure out. Then I bought 3.3v pro minis to only realize as I built some of the simpler sensors out they needed to be 5v (like motion) and they either run on more batteries or had to be plugged in, which defeated my purpose for a remote sensor. I'm sure you'll say but all that info is there. It is in some cases but you spend hours trying to find it in the forum.

I too have a software engineering background so I'm not a technical novice. I enjoy this as a hobby but because of ease of use I've started to not use the platform. If there were a known path to success that was documented that way I'd come back in a minute. I have no doubt there is a setup and hardware config (including where to buy from) that works nearly all the time it just isn't clear to me what that is.

Please take as constructive. I'd love to see MySensors adopted by even more people because I think it really is a platform that could be good for way more people.

@alex28 I think these are fair criticisms. I've spent a ton of time with mysensors and have backed away because of some of these same things. I love the idea and appreciate the effort that's went into the platform. You have to tinker a lot and you spend more time figuring out problems with the platform than you do actually building sensors. Spending time troubleshooting only to find out others have spent time on the same thing or info is outdated takes the fun out of the process for me.

However, having said that I keep coming back because I love the idea of this platform. Lots of really great ideas and great makers contributing here.

@electrik Thank you