Best posts made by napo7

I was about to make tests with the 2 same modules, powered by a single CR2032 coin , a boost converter (MAX1724) for one node, and nothing for the other.
Since those readings, I'm not sure that the boost converter is needed anymore.

Just to prove myself and my friends that it is useless, I'll do the test, with each node waking up the same amount of times and two fresh cells (I'll have to reduce the sleeping time for the test to be quick enough...).

I'll post the results on the forum, as soon as the batteries will die, in a few month

Hi there !
I know this thread is almost one year old, but I haven't found any recent thread about broadcast messages.

Is there a way to broadcast messages ?
My switchs are meant to drive groups of light.
Instead of sending multiple messages, each switch could broadcast a message which each light could intercept, check if the "group id" is the correct one, and turn on

Yes , or perhaps V_DEFAULT_ACTION ?

Hi @tekka,

Any news about RFM69 for MYSBootloader ?

I've had another look in the code, too much complicated for my skills !

You're not totally right :
RFM69 can be used with a raspberry pi, you must use a usb (serial) gateway.
That's what I'm doing, and I've got very good results : My house is made of outside concrete walls; with my gateway in the middle of my house, I can walk outside 60-70 meters before starting to loose some packets.
And that's only with a dirty cheap 8cm wire antenna. I'm sure that a better antenna (see GPA-Ground Plane Antenna on internet) will allow some meters better...

Some people are talking about +1Km ranges with propers antenna.

I didn't go the NRF24 way because I wanted to use sensors outside the house, and without repeaters that wasn't possible.
PS : I use 868Mhz RFM modules : using 433 could also rise the range.

I bought a batch of 50 pcs directly to HopeRf, they proposed me a 2.30$, plus 30$ of shipping.
This makes a good price if you buy a big quantity

I think that HiLink also sells directly power modules ?

I've found a neat project for such uses :
It's called "DietPi" : it's a debian based distribution available for Raspberry pi, Orange PI and many others.
Many advantages :

• It's really lightweight.
• By default, logs are not written on SD card but in a RAM FS.
• Dropbear as SSH server instead of (more) heavy openSSH.
• and at last, but not least : ability to set root filesystem as READ ONLY. This is a BIG pros because the extFS is really more robust when not mounted RW.
  This way, you can still put your databases on another partition which would be more tolerant to power failures....

That's great for "IOT" which need to be powered-off without needing to shutdown linux. I use it for some "connected speakers" : I plug them, they start, I listen to music, and when I'm done, I unplug them ! Never fail !!

BUT, IMO for a home automation server, the best and only option is an UPS (uninterruptible power supply) : either an AC one, or a powerbank-like battery : some of them are able to charge and deliver their juice without failing.

That's not a software interrupt. In facts, the atmega supports interrupt on all pins, and also waking-up the device from any pin change, but the sleep function only support "external interrupts" which can only be triggered on pin 2 and 3.

I saw that the HW version is more powerfull so I went to it. I use 868mhz, i think it's a bit less polluted than 433.

You're not !
I'm also exclusively on linux, and I use MySensors !
I was using Arduino IDE, and now I'm using atom.io, but both are working on linux !

I address this issue with keeping AUTO ID.

When I need to change a node ID, I use an USBASP programmer which can directly dump and write the EEPROM memory.
When I dump the EEPROM I get a binary file which is a 1:1 copy of the EEPROM memory.

I then use a hex editor to change the node ID and then write back the EEPROM file to the node.

This way, I can keep AUTO ID feature, the controller always give me new ID when needed, and I can easily replace a failing node with the same board, just changing his ID after uploading his firmware !

I did the same on my nodes : The main idea is to get a consistent 3.3V to supply the atmega and radio module, whatever battery voltage you have. So, If you decide to power it with a 3V lithium battery, it will still be giving the radio and CPU 3.3V , and even when the lithium battery will start failing, it will continue to work down to 1V !
I can even use a single AA battery to power my nodes. I use a MAX1724 step-up converter, which start working from 0.8V ! At this voltage, any AA battery is almost 100% empty

I've added some pictures, and an ebay link for the board only (not 10 boards, only one !)