Best posts made by nagelc

A family member gave me an old lamp with a fancy glass base. Well, I didn't like the lamp, but the base was nice, so I kept it in my basement for a few years. I found it again the other day and decided it needed to become a new type of lamp. I put a 150 LED strip (WS2812B) inside. I have an STM32 Blue Bill and RFM69HCW to run the light patterns and connect to MySensors.
In Domoticz, I have it set up as a dimmer light, but the node just switches patterns depending on what the dimmer level is.
At first, I wrapped the LED strip carefully around a tube that sits in the center of the glass jar, but it didn't look very good. Somehow just spiraling the strip in the bottom of the lamp has a much better effect.
My wife even liked it, so maybe I will put some finishing touches on it and actually use it as a lamp : )

@berkseo
Hey. Our own berkseo is on Hackaday. Congrats!

https://hackaday.com/2021/03/11/nrf52-weather-station-gives-forecast-with-style/

I've been playing with an Adafruit AudioFX board and cobbled together this annunciator. Eventually it will be a MySensors node to play alarms or other sounds. It is using a cheap portable speaker to play the sounds. I got it to work with my doorbell button node today.

Just got a blue-pill, RFM69 node working. It was a bit of a learning curve moving from Atmega.

• Cheap J-Link: Never got it working. Cheap ST-Link: Worked
• Arduino (and VisualMicro) uploaded blink sketch with ST-Link: no problems
• Uploaded the USB bootloader using the ST-Link: no problems
• Took a while to figure out I didn't have the dfu driver loaded (Windows 10), but after that no problems using the usb
• MySensors security personalizer: no problems.
• Mock MySensors node: no problems. Talked to my gateway. Uses RFM69 encryption.

Seems like this is the Nano of the future, but without needing to level shift for 3.3V. I'm looking forward to making some real blue pill nodes and gateways.

BT832 Thin Node prototype. Inspired by https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/2067/my-slim-2aa-battery-node and @neverdie nrf5 and am612 research. I noticed the BT832 is about the same width as a AA battery holder. I'm using one AA LiFePo4. This is my first sensor with nrf5, bme280, and am612. I also incorporated a jst-sh 6 pin connector for programming. It includes swd, power, and text. All sensors are working. It did not turn out to be very thin. Need to try some smaller PIR lenses and rearrange components for the next iteration.

I am testing a node with a DigiPyro, PYD 1598 motion detector. It is advertised to be low power and runs from 1.8 to 3.6 volts, so should run well with a coin cell. They have to be programmed with several options and I have not found a lot of documentation. I went with what seemed like the most sensitive choices and it seems to work so far. More research needed . ...
https://www.excelitas.com/product/pyd-1588-pyd-1598-low-power-digipyros

I bought a couple of these from DigiKey for around $4 each. Now they are more than $12 each and there is no stock. So, these may not be as good a choice as they seemed at first. We'll see . ...

@mfalkvidd Thanks for doing this kind of work (deleting fake users and stopping spam). I am sure it is not as much fun as answering real questions about MySensors topics. But I learn so much from people in these forums, that I would hate to see it overtaken by trolls and spam.

@Yveaux
Another experiment, using 2mm machined pins and sockets. Since the RFM69HCW and the RFM95's share the same pinout, I could switch radios easily for testing.

Unlike the NRF24, the RFM69 is not 5V tolerant on the data pins. The Uno and Nano both have 5V data pins. The NRF24 can work with them as long as it has the 3.3V supply. Unfortunately, the RFM69 needs the data pins to be 3.3V also.
I have used the RFM69 915Mhz successfully with a 3.3V ProMini (all pins 3.3V). To use with the Uno or Nano, you would need to power from the 3.3V supply and use a 5V to 3.3V level shifter on the NSS, MOSI, and SCK data pins.

I finally got a BT832 (NRF52832 from Fanstel) to talk to my NRF24 gateway. I got the NFR5s a while ago. Made a quick breakout board (quick to design, but slow delivery). In the mean time, I configured a STM32 "Blue Pill" as a Blackmagic Probe to program it. I had to get the latest Sandeep Mistry NRF5 files from github in order for it to support the blackmagic probe, but . . . it worked : ) So far I have just run the MockMySensors and it shows up on Domoticz.

@NeverDie
There is an article on hackaday about this type of clamp that even has a KiCAD footprint. I bought one of the clips, but haven't tried it out yet.
https://hackaday.io/project/165917-soicbite-programmingdebug-connector-footprint

I also tried this one from Adafruit;
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4048
small, jlink-mini compatible, and polarized.

So far, my preferrred solution is a 6 pin jst-sh connector.
small. 3v3, gnd, swdio, swclk, tx, rx
and polarized.

My old eyes get tired of confirming I have the pins on in the right direction. Polarization is really nice.

@sundberg84
@tbowmo
Domoticz can also push the data to influx DB. See Settings>More Options>Data Push

It's a breakout for a Fanstel BT832 (NRF52832). Two experiments with this board, still a work in progress:

• I wondered if it would be possible to hand solder to the LGA pads on the back of the BT832 using small plated thru holes (6 solder spots middle left in the first picture). Two pads connected. The rest did not. About what I expected.

• Using just the microprocessor of the BT832 to make a LoRa node. (NRF5 radio turned off). So far the Ra-01 is not initializing. Edit (10/8). The RA-01 now initializes. I needed to update the pin assignments in MyBoardNRF5.h.

I've had surprisingly good luck buying cheap parts from Ali-express, but not this time. I bought an NRF52832 iBeacon that supposedly had an SHT30 temperature sensor and KX022 accelerometer. When the parts arrived, neither of those parts were populated. All the beacon has is a push button.

I was able to program it to work with MySensors, however. With only SWIO and SWCLK (no txt out), I took @scalz advice (in another topic) and used a J-Link EDU Mini so I could use the RTT app to get printf style debugging. That worked nicely and I learned a new tool.

Perhaps I can use the iBeacon button for a remote.

Wow. Has it been 5 years?
I haven't really used development because master has been working for me. Just added some new NRF5 nodes a couple of weeks ago.

@Max-Kurilov
Hi Max. I can't help with the Vera, but there is a log parser here: https://www.mysensors.org/build/parser
that might make debugging the MySensors messages a little easier.

What the "right" controller is depends a lot on what you are looking for. When I first found MySensors, Vera was pretty much the standard. The controller world has evolved a lot since then. Probably looking at recent posts in the controller forum will give you a sense of what people are using now. I would be interesting to do a true survey.

@neverdie
It worked! I used pin 26 as in your example and now can get the debug messages. Also thanks for the many other NRF5 routines you had in the example.

@nca78
Thanks for giving me a push. I had used hot air only for removing parts. I got some paste and populated my first board. So easy compared to the soldering iron.

I recently upgraded my NRF24 serial gateway from 1.5 to 2.3.0 and did not have any issues. I upgraded my RFM69 gateway a while ago with no issues. If it is RFM 69, check the frequency because MyConfig.h will have gone back to the default (I use 915 mhx which is not default). Do you get any error messages? Maybe one of the more experienced MySensors users could help with those.

I got one similar to the one on the right from Aliexpress. Search for GY-BME280-3.3:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1PCS-GY-BME280-3-3-precision-altimeter-atmospheric-pressure-BME280-sensor-module-3-3V/32862840576.html?spm=2114.search0604.8.4.353f1390EkGUTe&priceBeautifyAB=0

It is set up for I2C and has no power supply. I run directly from 3v3. It has pullups on the SDA and SCL lines, but other than that, you are essentially going straight to the BME 280. I have only used one so far, but it seems to work with no problems. Worked with the MySensors weather station example sketch right off the bat.

@alowhum I'm using a BMP that I made from a STM32 Blue Pill. The Serial works just fine.
Set a TX pin on your NRF5 in the MyBoardNFR5.h file. Connect it to the RX pin on your BMP. The default pins are TX (PA.2) and RX (PA.3). So if you connect PA.3 on your programmer to the TX pin you select on the NRF5, you should have what you need.
To program, select the lower number serial port.
To see serial output, select the higher number serial port for your serial monitor.

The RFM69H variants can have quite good range. I have a gateway on my second floor wich receives from nodes in the far corner of my basement with no repeaters. That is just using a single wire antenna (https://www.mysensors.org/build/connect_radio). My NRF24 nodes cannot do this.

There is a short discussion on LowPowerLab that might be useful. It talks about RFM69 range and has some photos of SMA connections for a Moteino using RFM69. See link:

https://lowpowerlab.com/guide/moteino/antenna-options/

Maybe you could look at a few buds with an IR sensor -- a simpler version of this:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3538

Hi. The MySensors site has a whole section on controllers with a matrix that compares the features:

https://www.mysensors.org/controller

Any of them should be able to control that outlet once set up.

You will also need a gateway to connect to the controller if you don't have one already. See this section: https://www.mysensors.org/build/select_gateway

It's s WS2812B LED strip driver using STM32 blue pill and RFM69HCW.
I have made a few revisions previously, but this one fits an off-the-shelf enclosure and uses the pcb and enclosure lid for strain relief on the LED strip connector wires.
I like the concept of using the enclosure slots to hold the pcb. Maybe a slightly smaller enclosure next time.

The new Arduino Nano 33 BLE is going to use the nrf52840. It will be interesting to see how support for the nrf52840 evolves in the Arduino environment.

https://hackaday.com/2019/05/19/new-arduino-nano-line-rolls-out-in-four-flavors-at-maker-faire-bay-area/

@NeverDie
It isn't very scientific, but I think the range is roughly equivalent to a BT832. I can reach my gateway from everywhere in my house except the far corner of the basement, same as the BT. That corner is behind a chimney an lots of plumbing -- RFM69 territory. Maybe the BT832F would work there. Haven't tried those.
After fixing a missing trace on my dev board (my fault, not Oshpark's), and updating my J-link and bmp software. I am able to program these.

I popped the shield off of one just to confirm I ordered the right version. The part numbering vs processor is not very clear on Aliexpress. No surprises there.

I tried this one: https://github.com/replaysMike/Binner
Close to what I want, but I couldn't get the digikey and mouser downloads to work. That would have made it really useful.
Both digikey and mouser have ways to save BOMs, but it is tied to their web site of course.

Please report the results. I thought this dimmer chip looked interesting, but it seems to be optimized for manual control with a pot. Like you, I want something to control with MySensors.

I got tired of twisting DuPont cabels to get from different programmers to different boards.
This is an adapter that lets me connect the programmers I commonly use (Jlink-mini, BMP, STLink clone) with the boards I commonly program with straight through wires. I left a couple unpopulated for future in and out.

This is an exciting development, but still a ways away from being able to use with MySensors.
The Nano BLE board are based on the NRF52840. MySensors supports NRF5 chips, but through an Arduino core by Sandeep Misrtry (https://github.com/sandeepmistry) . That core seems to work with the NRF52840, but only if you restrict yourself to the NRF52832 feature set.

The new Nano BLE boards come with Arduino cores that support the NRF52840. That is the good news, because there has been no good NRF52840 Arduino support till now. The bad news is that the underlying Nano BLE Arduino core is based on MBED which is completely different than Sandeep's core. I expect it is a significant programming effort to add MySensors support.
It's well beyond my programming abilities . . . but certainly there are regulars on this site that could do it with given enough time and incentive.

The NRF51822 uses the same Nordic radio protocol as the NRF24, so you don't have to set up a new gateway. If you build an NRF5 based sensor, it can send signals to your NRF24 gateway.
I have not used the NRF51822, but have used the NRF52832. The sketches worked, although the pinouts are different from the arduino processors, so you may have to tweak those.

If you haven't seen it already, check out these threads:
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/9266/guide-nrf5-nrf51-nrf52-for-beginners/11
https://www.openhardware.io/view/376/MySensors-NRF5-Platform

I recently completed an experiment with 2 nearly identical nodes and had very good results just using @NeverDie MySleepPrepare() without any other real effort to reduce power consumption.
The nodes were NRF52832 and BME280. One with a CR2032 Coin cell and the other with a LiFePo4 (AAA size). The CR2032 lasted a little longer in this application.
I stopped when the CR2032 dropped below 1.8V because that was the low voltage rating for both the processor and the BME, but the node still appeared to be working normally.

Vertical axis is volts. Horizontal axis is days.

I made a simple board to use as a CR2032 battery simulator. It is actually two identical pcb's back to back. I added pins for applying power and another set for measuring current. Now I need a better ammeter. The uA scale works well when sleeping, but the mA scale doesn't seem to pick up the awake current.

I have this exact problem. I have 2 gateways, a moteino USB for RFM69 radios and a nano for an NRF24 radios.
Domoticz running on a raspberry pi.
If I reboot the pi, or power down and restart, the moteino connects back up automatically.
For the nano, I have to unplug and reconnect it after the pi has booted up, or it won't be detected.

@halo6 I use Domoticz instead of Vera, but the general idea should work.
Add another child sensor to your parking sensor that is a binary switch. Maybe S_DOOR, V_TRIPPED or S_BINARY, V_STATUS. That switch gets presented to your controller. Then have the parking sensor listen for a message to that child ID and work normally if on or do nothing (but listen for messages) when off.

In Vera, write a small script that turns on the new parking sensor switch when the garage door is open, and turns it back off again when the garage door is closed.

I set up a moteino dallas temperature sensor and a moteino serial gateway. They worked right away with MySensors 1.5 and Domoticz running on a raspberry pi. I also set up an RFM69HW on a nano and used that as the gateway. Worked fine also. I don't have much experience with them yet, but the moteino sure was easy since the radio is built in. (you can get it without the radio, but not sure what the point of that would be).

@nca78
No. I was mistaken. I have the same issue as you. I used the arduino program with the MySensors NRF5. I would like to get this to work also. Please post if you find a solution.

I think frustration is probably a factor. Some parts of home automation can be quite difficult.
Just look at the "safe-in-wall-ac-to-dc-transformers" thread for an example. You really need to understand this to make a safe in wall switch to control your lights. Another difficult area is presence detection. Motion sensors and door switches can only get you so far.
I suspect many people get past the excitement of building their first sensors and find controlling things more difficult than they want to attempt. Then they end up buying something like a Phillips Hue or giving up all together.

PS: The first circuit board I designed is a temperature sensor with NRF24 from directions on this site. Now running over 2 years on a set of AA batteries. I feel a little proud of that one every time I see it still reporting it's temperature in Domoticz.

They don't exactly share the same footprint. The HCW has 16 pins and the HW only 14. The 3V3 location does not line up, so it seems like you need a different mounting pad for each type. The radios I received in the mail match the pinouts from the data sheets on HopeRF. Is there a way to use these on the same pads that I am not seeing?

@nca78 I posted to the VisualMicro forum. They responded right away. They are going to fix it in the next release. Something to do with internal naming conventions.

I think the NRF5 with integrated radio will be the best solution for most home automation tasks as long as it has enough range to do a typical house without repeaters. But, I am fascinated by the "blue pill" stm32 boards -- very much like an Arduino Nano, but with modern ARM. It's a larger board, I don't know about battery operation yet, but for a powered sensor, it is easy to use, powerful, and cheap.
Thanks to @NeverDie I also have a RA-01 LoRa module on a ESP8266 running as a gateway. So many amazing technologies . . ..

It's hard to fault a ProMini with an NRF2 or RMF69. Those networks will probably always be reporting temperature and motion in my house. But I am always excited to think about the capabilities of these new technologies, particularly more memory. For me, it is a hobby and I can afford to try things just for fun and to learn about them, but even I must settle on a technology so I can get back to making interesting sensors and actuators.

I keep looking for HopeRF to come out with an ARM-RFM combo to compete with NRF5, but they do not seem to be going that direction. Right now, I would bet on NRF5 as the best technology going forward.

Depending on what sensors you are using you may be able to just power your nodes from battery.
I have MySensors nodes that report temperature in different rooms of my house that will run 2 years on a set of 2 AA batteries. You would not need any type of UPS for the nodes in that case.

See this link for info on how to get good battery life from a MySensors node:

https://www.mysensors.org/build/battery

I think you can just set the I2C pins in MyBoardNRF5.h without remapping the pins in MyBoardNRF5.cpp.
Look in MyBoardNRF5.h, under the Wire Interfaces section. Set SDL and SCA to 30 and 31 as appropriate for your board.

@NeverDie , @zboblamont Best laugh I have ever had at a MySensors post : )

I set up an NRF52840 on MySensors by programming it like it was an NRF52382: Arduino IDE, sandeep's libraries, using the MyBoardNRF52 board type. I ran a MockMySensors sketch and it worked.
I haven't played with it beyond that. I'm not sure of that would give you any advantage over just using an NRF52. It wouldn't let you use any of the new pins or other new features of the NFR52840, at least not without some programming.

I don't know the inner workings of the library, but it seems to just keep sleeping. I had some sensors that would go to sleep then immediately wake up on motion detected. I found some threads in the forum that indicted the powering down as devices are put into sleep mode caused a big enough variation in the power line that the motion detector would trip and wake the system again. Using some caps on the PIR power input is probably a better approach, but this was easy and seemed to work.

on Ebay, try restricting your search to your country. You might get lucky. I found an Ebay store, OddWires, in the US that imports some of the more common China parts and sells them for a slight markup. Once in a while he has a part that I am looking for and I can get it with in-country delivery times at only a slightly higher price.
Otherwise, I try to stick to suppliers the I have used before or are in the MySensors store. Digikey and Mouser when I am in a hurry.

Arduino Nano 33 BLE code is coming out. It's going to be based on MBED. Here's a discussion on the Arcuino Blog:
https://blog.arduino.cc/2019/07/31/why-we-chose-to-build-the-arduino-nano-33-ble-core-on-mbed-os/

I think it is interesting that no one has updated Sandeep Mistry's code for the NRF52840. Since it has been so long, I'm guessing this is not an easy task.

When a MySensors node can't find the gateway, it will try to find another one or a repeater. That might be what you are seeing. I used the code listed below in a node I was using just as a beacon to tell if my car was nearby or not. It might be worth a try. It tells the node to just stop looking if it can't find the specified gateway.

Note: If you are using a repeater to get to the gateway, then this is not what you want to do.

/**
 * @def MY_PARENT_NODE_IS_STATIC
 * @brief Enable MY_PARENT_NODE_IS_STATIC to disable fall back if parent node fails
 */
#define MY_PARENT_NODE_IS_STATIC

#define MY_PARENT_NODE_ID 0

@sundberg84 Thanks. Looks like that company has several interesting enclosure shapes. Someday I might get a project complete enough that I will want to put it in an enclosure : )

You can definitely run the RFM69 on 2 x AA batteries without the booster. I think it depends more on the sensors you want to use. Some PIR motion sensors, for example, don't operate well with voltages much below 3V. There are several different kinds of temperature sensors that do operate well at lower voltages.
The Easy PCB seems flexible enough to do it either way. @sundberg84 gives directions for setting up without booster further down in his description at the OpenHardware.io link you posted above.

Check the variable type you are sending with the humidity. The log parser indicates you are sending a V_TEMP for the humidity reading instead of a V_HUM

You can find the log parser here: https://www.mysensors.org/build/parser
Much easier than trying to read the log output directly.

Bali in February for the win!

MySensors smartsleep would be a good way to implement your receive/sleep code. It handles any waiting messages when the node wakes up and before it goes to sleep. Look it up in the API page.

Some thoughts on your other questions. Others may have better answers than me:

Your simplest node would be a 3v3 pro-mini running on 2AA batteries. Check out the low power node discussions on the MySensors web site. This would be the most straight forward if your motor supports it. A 5V pro mini with an NRF24 is also a straight forward option if you have more than 5v available (but consumes more power). The trade off on power source and complexity is a real one, and depends a lot on what you are trying to do. There are lots of discussions in the forums about how to handle mixed 3v3 and 5v components and lithium vs alkaline batteries -- a very common problem.

RFM69 will normally give you better range than NRF24, also at very low power. But they cost a little bit more and are not 5V tolerant. The NRF24 is easier to make work with a 5V pro-mini or nano since only the power needs to be dropped to 3.3v. Again, lots of discussion can be found in the forums. You need a gateway with a compatible radio, so there is a bit of commitment in your radio choice.

I tried with MY_DEBUG_VERBOSE_NRF5_ESB, and it woke from sleep. I have it seeping for one minute.

I posted my code to my github in case you want to take a look:
https://github.com/spike314/BT8_SI_Sketch

I have the nrf5 routines and some battery routines in separate files for convenience, but I think we are using the same code otherwise.

Another way to get multiple frequencies is to use network based gateways. Check out these projects:

https://www.openhardware.io/view/457/Easy-Peasy-Amplified-MySensors-Serial-Gateway
https://www.openhardware.io/view/394/Minimalist-LoRa-Ra-01-Shield-for-WeMos-D1-Mini
https://www.openhardware.io/view/390/Minimalist-RFM69HCW-Shield-for-Wemos-D1-Mini

I have serial gateways for NRF24 and RFM 69, but added a LoRa RA-01 Wemos-D1-Mini with no issues.

I use the RA-01 with MySensors RFM95 drivers. Works just fine.
I have not tried to change the frequency though. I have only used 433Mhz.

This seems to be a fairly common problem with PIR motion sensors.
One trick is to add a short sleep statement before your final one to let all the voltages settle:

// Short sleep to let voltages settle  (change duration as needed)
sleep(500);

  // Sleep until interrupt comes in on motion sensor. Send update every ten seconds for testing.
  sleep(digitalPinToInterrupt(DIGITAL_INPUT_SENSOR), CHANGE, 10000);
code_text

Check out Felix's switchmote series at LowPowerLab:
https://lowpowerlab.com/shop/product/128
I have this switchmote that has been bulletproof. It only has one relay and it is Moteino (RFM69) based.
He has a 2 relay version of the PSU:
https://lowpowerlab.com/shop/product/127
Even if it is not what you are looking for, it it a nice design to study.

The Hammond 1551V series are good for a coin cell based temperature / humidity sensor:

https://www.newark.com/hammond/1551v1gy/enclosure-small-abs-grey/dp/84AC4152?st=1551v

It has just enough room for a NRF5 module, temp/humidity sensor module, and a coin cell battery.
And, it is not too ugly for sticking on a wall in your house.

If you want a little more space for your circuit board, you can go with the 1551v3gy.

Thanks @mfalkvidd I'll check these out.
I'm seeing an upgrade to 1MBS in my future, but I have a lot on nodes that would need to be updated. I'll probably put that off as long as I can : )

Yes. sleep() gives a return code you can use. See the discussion in the API page here:
https://www.mysensors.org/download/sensor_api_20#sleeping

I realize I hadn't paid that much attention to the rated shelf life of the batteries. More than a year on a battery seemed good enough. But now I need to shop around. Maybe a less cheap coin cell would actually be cheaper in the long run.
My Subaru remote key fob battery goes dead frustratingly often. I was blaming the fob, but maybe that is unfair. Going to buy a better quality coin cell next time.

Ah ha. It worked. Updated the 250KBS callouts per the pull request.
NRF5 communicates normally.

Thanks!

@acb Nice! I have serious board envy. I really like that clip on programmer too.

How is the ATC working out? I think it is a neat feature, but am reluctant to mess with the core MySensors libraries.

It turns out I WAS missing something basic. The wall outlet I was plugged into was experiencing intermittent problems (loose connection) So the reason it worked on the PC and not on the charger was because the PC has batteries. Duh . ....
I did improve my power set up considerably and learned a lot from the suggestions in this thread in the process of troubleshooting.

@dab0g Wow! I did not expect anyone to answer. This is really great. I have a remote control lamp and a thermostat that use the STM32 and it would great to be able to program them OTA. I'll check it out.

For me, sometimes Domoticz does not show a switch until it gets a value, even though the switch was presented. I add a small routine to Loop() with a flag so it only runs the first time after startup. Then i send the default value for each switch, Usually Off. It is not very elegant, but seems to work.
If (startup) {
Send initial value for each switch/relay
startup=false;
}

I have tried this antenna with the RFM69:

YAGEO ANT1204F005R0915A
http://www.newark.com/yageo/ant1204f005r0915a/antenna-chip-915mhz-50-ohm-1204/dp/38X6113?ost=ANT1204F005R0915A&selectedCategoryId=&categoryNameResp=All%2BCategories&searchView=table&iscrfnonsku=false

Very compact. I use 915 MHz, but there are variants for 433 and 870 MHz. I have only tried 3 of them. 2 worked well and have enough range to get from the far corner of my basement to my gateway on the second floor. My NRF24 radios cannot do this reliably.
One did not seem to work at all, so I replaced it with a wound wire instead. My board is not designed for them and I am just soldering to a thru-hole round pad that is on a trace to the RFM96 antenna. That might have been part of the problem with the third one.

I plan to put a pad for these on my next circuit board design. If you don't have a separate trace for installing an antenna, I don't think you will be able to connect these to the radio unfortunately.

I wish I had a way to measure the range easily. I'm sure it is not as good as the wire, but it works for my purposes and is very low profile.

@neverdie said in Which are the preferred LoRa modules now?:

SX1262

Are these RFM95 compatible (software wise), or do they need a different library?

@mfalkvidd Exactly. Thanks for clarifying.

Great. I have some on order. Can't wait go start playing around with them.

Does anyone use software to help manage hobbyist projects?

I usually have 3 or 4 future projects in early stages, a couple that I am building and programming, and one or two old ones that need a refresh. These are simple things like MySensors nodes.
Between arduino sketches, Domoticz scripts, KiCAD files, BOMs, data sheets, and notes, I end up with a lot of files connected to each project. I just use spreadsheets, Git, and file folders to keep track, but whatever system I come up with devolves into a chaos of files and folders after a while.

At work we use a derivative of PTC Windchill, which would be crazy for home use. Seems like there should be something similar, but simple for hobbyist projects.

Is anyone using a lightweight program to track inventory, BOMs, and organize small projects better. I didn't really find anything on Google

Yes. This looks good. Dropped it in the parser here: https://www.mysensors.org/build/parser
Looks like V_VAR1 is being sent with value 55.
I think the code I posted above should get it from the incoming message and assign to target. If not, then I am not sure what is the problem. Perhaps someone that has worked more with V_VAR can respond?

@mfalkvidd Thanks. The verbose settings show it using the sandeepmistry library.
Wire.h works fine when I include it in my sketch. There is something about the way it is called in the Sparkfun library that fails to compile. I'll keep poking at it.

Duh . . . Found the problem!
I had left WIRE_INTERFACES_COUNT defined as 0 in MyBoardNRF5.h
It has to be #defined to 1 or more, or the sandeepmistry library doesn't extern Wire.
I looked at the SDA and SCL pin definitions in MyBoardNRF5.h, but missed setting the define for how many I2C interfaces were to be used.
Change #define WIRE_INTERFACES_COUNT 1. Now it compiles as expected.

Just saw this in my Hackaday Feed:

https://hackaday.com/2020/01/08/commercial-circuit-simulator-goes-free/

I'm not sure it fits the "beginner" category, but cost is no longer a barrier to entry.

Yes it is possible, using the SWDIO and SWDCLK pads.
I programmed one to operate with MySensors using a black magic probe, but the J-Link also supports SWD programming.
The tricky part is connecting to the pads. I just soldered on some wires -- not a very elegant solution, but it worked.

You can get a reasonably priced J-Link EDU from Adafruit:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3571

@alowhum Reset seems unlikely. Maybe SWIM. You could try it.
If you can follow the trace back to the microprocessor, then you could figure out which pin it is. Then you could change to that pin in the BMP files, recompile, reload . . .. . Not sure it's worth all that experimentation when you can just use an FTDI as @NeverDie does.

@mfalkvidd Neat! It's so obvious once you see it. This is something I need. I have a box full of dupont cables, but it always seems I can't find the right length gender combination.

I also have a wide variety of USB cables hanging on hooks. Something like this with wider slots would be a better solution.

Gonna have to get that 3d printer on day.

@BearWithBeard
Wow. Thanks. So many times, I have wanted a function like this, but I did not know it existed. I'm going to have to go back to the documentation and see what other good tricks I have missed.

@magkudjee
MySensors will support 2 interrupts using sleep. I do not think it will support 3.
Use this format for the sleep call:
sleep(interrupt1, mode1, interrupt2, mode2, ms=0);
In your case: sleep(BUTTON1_PIN, CHANGE, BUTTON2_PIN, CHANGE, 0);

I don't know how to handle the 3rd interrupt.

Check the MySensors API document here: https://www.mysensors.org/download/sensor_api_20#sleeping

I have domoticz and on a rpi with 3 serial gateways. It used to destroy SD cards pretty regularly.

I went with this power supply from Adafruit (It is actually 5.25V) and a UPS.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1994

Also, I use log2ram.

That has finally made my rpi domoticz setup reliable. I have been running about a year without problems. I still back up often. : )

Hi @electrik

You can program these ibeacons to work with MySensors.
I reprogrammed one by soldering some wires to a jlink adapter. Not elegant, but it worked.
Some type of push pin setup would be good if you are going to actually use these modules.

The version I got had only a button on the board, and no way to easily add any other sensors, so they weren't very useful. It would be interesting to try the ones with the temperature and acceleromator.

Another buck regulator that might work:
https://lowpowerlab.com/shop/product/133

Felix used it for a doorbell project and I have used for a thermostat. In those cases, we had to rectify first to get DC, but wouldn't need to since you already have DC.

Oops. I wasn't very clear.
My split coil has a cable with an audio plug on the end. Like this one:
https://www.electrodragon.com/product/yhdc-non-invasive-ac-current-sensor-100a30a/
So I used an audio jack on the board to plug the split coil into. That makes it easy to swap different rating coils. The picture above is 100A, but I'm using the 30A coil for the car charger.
Then the coil goes around one of the power wires going out to the charger.
A real car : )

With respect to initial erase of NRF52, I have been using @BearWithBeard Black Magic Probe instructions successfully for years. But, my latest set of Minew boards doesn't respond.
I found that there is a new lock procedure from Nordic:

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/nordic/nordic-blog/b/blog/posts/working-with-the-nrf52-series-improved-approtect

I have tried upgrading my gdb and also J-Link EDU and nrfjprog tool chains and have not successfully connected to the new boards yet.

Has anyone had success with unlocking one of these new boards?

@jasxvii
Yes. Makes sense. I the code in the original article was from an earlier version of MySensors.

@electrik

It's actually at this link posted earlier in the thread: What did you build today (Pictures) ?:
I mostly use it with BME280 modules for temperature and humidity, but I have tried some other I2C modules in it.
I'm still experimenting with the motion detector. That will probably get it's own board at some point. It doesn't really fit the enclosure I designed this board for.

After correcting a wiring error (duh!) I was able to erase using my J-Link Mini EDU.
I used Nordic's nrfjprog:
nrfjprog --family NRF52 --recover
nrfjprog --family NRF52 --recover

I had to run it twice to get the unlock. I think this makes sense after reading the devzone article.
Once unlocked, I could use my black magic probe for programming. I expect the blackmagic folks haven't had time to adapt to the new lock scheme yet.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with the SEEED LORA-E5 Module, or the STM32WLE5JC.

It is an interesting looking module:

https://www.seeedstudio.com/LoRa-E5-Wireless-Module-Tape-Reel-p-5302.html

It has STM32WLE5JC, ARM Cortex-M4 and SX126x embedded and is aimed at IOT. Arduino has a Generic STM32WLE5JC board type. Seems like this combo might not be too difficult to slot into MySensors using the RFM95 libraries.

It would be nice to have a sub-gHZ radio and processor in the same module,

@NeverDie Interesting chip for a sensor node. All the other NRF52s have way more capability than we are likely to use in a low power sensor node. The 52805 seems to have just enough. Hope you are able to make some progress.

@mfalkvidd

I have a multi-transport gateway running on an STM32F411 black pill using the KooLru code with arduino. It pretty much just worked.
I don't know about sleep however. I've mostly used the blue pills and black pills for powered things like gateways.

There is also this: https://github.com/mysensors-rus/STM32_Mysensors_bootloader

and this: https://www.seeedstudio.com/LoRa-E5-Wireless-Module-p-4745.html?queryID=5241719889282ea5031374c599ebc867&objectID=4745&indexName=bazaar_retailer_products

Which makes me think a MCU/LoRA with potential for OTA updates is not far out of reach.

But it would take a better coder than me : )

@ejlane
Yeah. I did this a while ago and I will have to dig into my notes to figure it out. I don't recall how I combined the STM code with tekka's multiple transport (which i think was in the development branch already), but it was not much more than cut and paste. I have an NRF24 and an RFM69 running on one and an RFM95 on another. I can figure out the details when I get back home in May.

Check out the Hammond 1551V1gY (vented) or 1151SNAP1GY (unvented).
They look like they are about the same size. I've been using the vented ones for temp/humidity sensors. Not as ugly as most project boxes.