@nick-willis + @zboblamont I used nrf24's before I discovered mysensors and never had an issue with them. A DC/DC ups is on my todo list, hopefully by months end.

@gundark2 Maybe related to this thread?

https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/10750/mysensors-gateway-and-network-reliability/4

@neverdie Do you know, I was just thinking about this scenario last night when I couldn't sleep.

Is there a reason a mosfet could not be added to the voltage divider (in series with it) and a pin on the arduino or whatever could turn it on for a reading and then off again for normal function?

@nick-willis I have been battling exactly the same problem for a couple of years now and it is the reason I have not built any new nodes for months now.

Whilst things good enough for knowing weather conditions and expreimenting I have not had sufficient confidence to put more critical things into place like intruder alarms, heating, lighting, cirtical equipment alarms etc.

Stability and lack of a clear way to make sure a message is received and acted on are both areas that need urgent attention IMO.

I have had nrf24l01+ gateway with attached to pi 3 directly, with a promini via serial converter and now have a uno connected via USB. All three setups had dropout and occasional hang-ups where http and ssh access ceased mysteriously... Always needing a reboot of the pi to get things going again.

I have tried many different SD cards (including brand new ones) and now boot and run from a SSD. Still get problems.

I have tried different power supplies and power cables and have made small capacitor boards to filter spikes and add reserve capacity. Still get problems.

I have replace the RF modules many times (all 'good' ones according to the threads on here from cdebyte). Still get problems.

I have added ceramic caps to all radio boards (nodes and gateway). Still get problems.

I have soldered a lot of connections instead of using dupont connectors, still get ptoblems.

I have moved the gateway/controller to another room in the house. Still get problems.

I have added watchdogs to the pi and gateway, still get problems.

I wish I could suggest something new but I am out of ideas now.

@neverdie Nice work - I have been follwoing this quietly since it first appeared.

Will you be selling pcbs for this? I'd like to try it next year (sooner if the chip price drops!).

Also of note is the KiCad is FREE !

@yveaux I concur with that. That's why I will wait and see how it goes in MyController V2.0

@yveaux
My setup is pi3B+ (boot from ssd so no SD card) with uno as GW.
GW RF is cdebyte NRF24L01+ pa/lna.
Been through many iterations of power supply, pi, nrfboards, gw (promini and uno) to try and get it stable, without success, but that's another story.
I think the issue is to do with the way mysensors/MyController handle the ack requests.
With a new release of MyController next year (hopefully) then I was waiting to see what happened then.
It is just bizarre that sometimes a light comes on as soon as a button is pressed and sometimes it can take up to 2 minutes. Any commands in between the first are cached somewhere and flood through when the node starts to respond.

I am quite worried about this. You will need a very stable gateway/controller to do this in the first place. Unless there are local overrides for the locks on each door (both sides).

What concerns me is if there is a power outage, how will you open the doors?
If the power is taken out by something catching fire, how will people exit?
Don't forget security either. Message signing is the minimum requirement for this type of setup.

I wonder about this. It's a neat idea by @alowhum but my experiences with 'ack' have been wildly frustrating. Even without 'ack' I sometimes get instant response from node to a command, other times it can take minutes (yes minutes) until the command is actually performed. More retries will cause more traffic on the airwaves and increase the possibility of message collisions meaning even more retries are required. It could be a downward sprial from there.

@zboblamont Have you looked at grafana.com?