@Moshe-Livne Yes, I agree. But then this could be applied to a numerous electrical appliances across your home. Almost, all the devices have a unique power signature down to different operating modes.

@mvdarend hey I just stumbled across this post. I would like to draw your attention to something called as Power signature analysis.
There are some automation systems using it, such as neurio.io
I am still intrigued by it. Any electrical engineers here?

@barduino Hey thanks for the links.
I already checked out the serial API which led me to ask this ques.
Btw what are the basic functions of a controller?

• To assign IDs to new nodes
• Get data and set actuators based on user
• Get status of nodes

Anything that I might be missing here?

Thanks again

I checked out many controllers, also the Home-assistant written in python, but due to my requirements I wish to write my own controller in PHP. I wish to write a core api that'll parse nodes, sensors and readings for MySensors. Anybody in future can use it develop their own controllers with a suitable frontend.
I am having trouble in understanding the serial API of mysensors library, its not documented quite well.

2;0;1;0;1;37.0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=2,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1:0
2;2;1;0;16;0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=2,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1:0
2;2;1;0;16;0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=0,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5:38.0
2;0;1;0;1;38.0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=2,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1:0
2;2;1;0;16;0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=0,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5:37.0
2;0;1;0;1;37.0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=2,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1:0
2;2;1;0;16;0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=2,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1:0
2;2;1;0;16;0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=0,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5:38.0
2;0;1;0;1;38.0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=2,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1:0
2;2;1;0;16;0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=0,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5:37.0
2;0;1;0;1;37.0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=2,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1:0
2;2;1;0;16;0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=2,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1:0
2;2;1;0;16;0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=0,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5:38.0
2;0;1;0;1;38.0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=2,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1:0
2;2;1;0;16;0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 1-1-0 s=1,c=1,t=13,pt=2,l=2:6
1;1;1;0;13;6
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=0,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5:37.0
2;0;1;0;1;37.0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=2,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1:0
2;2;1;0;16;0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=2,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1:0
2;2;1;0;16;0

I still need to understand the serial API. Also, can anybody explain what does

0;0;3;0;9;read: 2-2-0 s=0,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5:38.0

Also, what exactly is the way to design a controller.
Eg Presentation->Assign IDs-> etc
Thanks.

@Chester I understand that my question is pretty vague but I want to thank you for still answering my queries.
Yes, I very much agree that a Pi could be used as a mirroring device which could send Serial/MQTT data to the VPS and vice versa..

No, I don't plan to add zwave, due to cost constraints.

I want to add ESP so that I don't have wires dangling from the gateway.

At this point, I have decided the following:

• To have RPi+NRF24L01+ESP8266 as a gateway device
• RPi+NRF24L01 handle all the sensors, routing
• ESP8266 is used to send MQTT/Serial data to the cloud controller like openHAB using WiFi
• User always has an option to use wired connection as RPi has a ethernet port built in
• In case of internet outages, gateway device can make a stack of incoming data from sensors, would send them to the cloud once internet is back.

Please have a look at this and let me know, if I am on the right track.

Also, do you know of any resource which talks about having gateway and controller as a single device?

Thanks once again.

@FotoFieber Okay. Can we not use a WiFI chip like ESP8266 to send data to a MQTT Broker Service and make our VPS hosted controller listen to MQTT Broker Service?

@Chester I wish to host the controller online, so that the user will only need to install a gateway device at premises. Which would in turn send all the commands to the controller just like a normal gateway but in this case the controller would be in the cloud.

@FotoFieber can you please elaborate? I am pretty new to MQTT.
I understand that MQTT uses ethernet port but MQTT is different from HTTP(The one we normally use to send requests to a webserver.)
Eg Scenario: I have openHAB setup on a VPS. How can I use it as a controller through MQTT?

Would it be something like this?
MQTT Broker->MQTT Service->MQTT based server(VPS)

Thanks for replying.
Could you point me towards some tutorials that I could follow? For building my own controller.
I am trying to host my controller(openHAB or Pidome) on a VPS, how to make it communicate with my gateway.

I want to build a system where my gateway could directly send messages to controller, and my controller is over the internet(not local).
Can this be done? If yes, can anyone guide me?
Thanks