Hi Folks!

I'm just starting out on my journey, and I'm going to be floating around here, probably asking stupid questions and generally trying to get my head around the whole thing.

So some details of my build:

Controller: MyController
Part of the reason for this choice was because I have a friend that is currently using this controller, and let's face it, sometimes it's nice to have someone to bounce ideas off and to try out different things on a known working system etc.

I'm currently running this on an old laptop that I've built using the Ubuntu server image, and have the controller software running along side the usual SSH etc as well as a LAMP stack for hosting my family intranet. Most of the admin duties are handled by Webmin using the web based GUI.

Gateway: Arduino Mega & W5100 Ethernet Shield
Should be pretty self explanatory, but I opted for the mega due to the extra IO available on it. And using cheaper Chinese clones, the price is down to around $15 per gateway.
I'm not using wireless nodes, and my house isn't huge so should only require 2 gateways inside, along with another outside in the shed (there is an existing wireless bridge to the shed that it sits on)

Topology: Multiple Star Wired
Due to the size and layout of my house, I've opted (but not locked myself into) a dual zone star wired topology. One end of the house has the living area and kitchen. The other end has the bathroom and bedrooms etc.

So Far...

This whole project came about because of 2 things.

1. I wanted a better way of controlling my watering system.

   This was the first step, as it was the least intrusive way to start playing around. I only want to control the sprinklers in my front and back lawn, so 2 zones. So I've got the ethernet gateway running in the shed with a 2 ch relay board hooked up and everything is going great.

2. Light and Fan control in the toilet

   The price of conventional switches to control the off delay on the fan in my toilet was more than I wanted to pay. So I started to look at other options, and ended up here. I'm currently going through a process of converting all the lighting in my house to low wattage LED down lights that are connected to a standard plug-in base, the aim is to create an intermediate connection, using standard AUSTRALIAN 3 pin plugs and sockets.

My Plans

I've had some temp/humidity sensors delivered, so I'm going to have a play with those, and I'm going to have a look at eventually controlling my air conditioning.

Look forward to updating you with more progress soon.

Evening @mfalkvidd

do you have more than one W5100 running at home? All W5100 need to have a unique mac address.

This is the only one currently. I'm aware of the need for unique MAC addresses and have a schema in place to cover this.

Could ypu post the full debug log?

Sure! This is the first 3 bursts that appear, anything after this just increases the TSM:FAIL:CNT=X count

I'm not even getting the ETH:FAIL errors now =(

0 MCO:BGN:INIT GW,CP=RNNGA---,VER=2.2.0
3 TSM:INIT
4 TSF:WUR:MS=0
11 !TSM:INIT:TSP FAIL
13 TSM:FAIL:CNT=1
14 TSM:FAIL:DIS
16 TSF:TDI:TSL
10018 TSM:FAIL:RE-INIT
10020 TSM:INIT
10028 !TSM:INIT:TSP FAIL
10030 TSM:FAIL:CNT=2
10032 TSM:FAIL:DIS
10034 TSF:TDI:TSL
20036 TSM:FAIL:RE-INIT
20038 TSM:INIT
20045 !TSM:INIT:TSP FAIL
20047 TSM:FAIL:CNT=3
20049 TSM:FAIL:DIS
20051 TSF:TDI:TSL

@mfalkvidd

I've got the following:

3v-----------RED------------V+
GND-------BROWN------GND
49----------WHITE--------CE
50----------PURPLE------MISO
51----------BLUE-----------MOSI
52----------GREEN--------SCK
53----------BLACK--------CSN

@mfalkvidd the blue, white and purple are 100% as per my wiring description. Might it have something to do with not having the cap on the power?

I'm at a loss as to what is going wrong here...

The case is a AUD$10 waterproof unit (before i drilled holes in the side of it) from Bunnings: https://goo.gl/kzDaZi

I've also got a bigger (AUD$16) version housing a bigger project: https://goo.gl/zgvd7h

@mfalkvidd

I've got the following:

3v-----------RED------------V+
GND-------BROWN------GND
49----------WHITE--------CE
50----------PURPLE------MISO
51----------BLUE-----------MOSI
52----------GREEN--------SCK
53----------BLACK--------CSN

Evening @mfalkvidd

do you have more than one W5100 running at home? All W5100 need to have a unique mac address.

This is the only one currently. I'm aware of the need for unique MAC addresses and have a schema in place to cover this.

Could ypu post the full debug log?

Sure! This is the first 3 bursts that appear, anything after this just increases the TSM:FAIL:CNT=X count

I'm not even getting the ETH:FAIL errors now =(

0 MCO:BGN:INIT GW,CP=RNNGA---,VER=2.2.0
3 TSM:INIT
4 TSF:WUR:MS=0
11 !TSM:INIT:TSP FAIL
13 TSM:FAIL:CNT=1
14 TSM:FAIL:DIS
16 TSF:TDI:TSL
10018 TSM:FAIL:RE-INIT
10020 TSM:INIT
10028 !TSM:INIT:TSP FAIL
10030 TSM:FAIL:CNT=2
10032 TSM:FAIL:DIS
10034 TSF:TDI:TSL
20036 TSM:FAIL:RE-INIT
20038 TSM:INIT
20045 !TSM:INIT:TSP FAIL
20047 TSM:FAIL:CNT=3
20049 TSM:FAIL:DIS
20051 TSF:TDI:TSL

Hi Folks,

After my last little brain implosion, I've decided to go back to basics.

I've completely rebuilt my gatewayNode from the ground up, and included the current sketch below.

When I run the serial monitor on the bench, i get a slow "eth failed" message, which I expect (sadly I don't have Ethernet connection at my outdoor workspace) and when I plug it into the router (both USB to power the unit and eth) I get an "eth failed" message approx 4 times a second, but I can PING the address.

I can't add the gateway to MyController, it just times out.

I am powering the radio directly from the 3v pin on the mega, (no cap as I don't have any here) and there is nothing other than the LED indicators plugged into it.

I'm just trying to work out where I should START looking, before i go back to pulling my hair out!

Any advice greatly appreciated!

/**
 * NRF24/Ethernet Gateway Node - v0.1
 */

// Enable debug prints to serial monitor
#define MY_DEBUG

// Pin Confuguration for Arduino Mega
#define MY_RF24_CE_PIN 49
#define MY_RF24_CS_PIN 53

// Radio type
#define MY_RADIO_NRF24

// Ethernet module type
#define MY_GATEWAY_W5100

// MAC Address
#define MY_MAC_ADDRESS 0xDE, 0xAD, 0xBE, 0xEF, 0xFE, 0xED

// Enable MY_IP_ADDRESS here if you want a static ip address (no DHCP)
#define MY_IP_ADDRESS 10,0,0,201
#define MY_IP_GATEWAY_ADDRESS 10,0,0,1 
#define MY_IP_SUBNET_ADDRESS 255,255,255,0

// Listening Port
#define MY_PORT 5003

// MyController IP Address
#define MY_CONTROLLER_IP_ADDRESS 10,0,0,200

// Enable inclusion mode
#define MY_INCLUSION_MODE_FEATURE
// Enable Inclusion mode button on gateway
//#define MY_INCLUSION_BUTTON_FEATURE
// Set inclusion mode duration (in seconds)
#define MY_INCLUSION_MODE_DURATION 60
// Digital pin used for inclusion mode button
//#define MY_INCLUSION_MODE_BUTTON_PIN  3

// Set blinking period
#define MY_DEFAULT_LED_BLINK_PERIOD 300

// Flash leds on rx/tx/err
#define MY_DEFAULT_ERR_LED_PIN 22  // Error led pin
#define MY_DEFAULT_RX_LED_PIN  26  // Receive led pin
#define MY_DEFAULT_TX_LED_PIN  24  // Transmit led pin

#include <Ethernet.h>
#include <MySensors.h>

void setup()
{
	// Setup locally attached sensors
}

void presentation()
{
	// Present locally attached sensors here
}

void loop()
{
	// Send locally attached sensors data here
}

@bjacobse I liked the look of espEasy, but I had a lot of trouble getting it to connect to my wifi after adding my network settings. (I had to download the latest dev build) I'll have a go at the code you linked though, as I kinda like the idea of keeping mycontroller, and the relay actuator example looks too simple to be true!

@theol I've changed my setup that many times, i don't even know what it looks like anymore!

I've ordered some radios and am going to try setting the mega up as a radio node and see if that works, otherwise I think it's time to buy an off the shelf controller...

@mfalkvidd I've just ordered the radios from ebay and this will be my final attempt to get this working! I was trying to avoid using any 2.4ghz radios as that band is already heavily congested around my home.

Hi folks,

I'm having trouble getting this hunk of junk working, and I'm about ready to go out and buy a commercial controller because I've invested way too much time and effort into this already.

I have had my irrigation controller working on a mega/uno with a w5100 ethernet shield, and thats all good except I have no wired network available where the unit is located, so I wanted to move to a wifi enabled platform.

I've tried with a sparkfun esp8266 shield, but that's not compatible with MySensors, so I bought a wemos D1 (R1) and while I can get it to connect to the network and make it available in MyController (static IP only) i can not get my relays to switch on/off.

I've tried using the alternate GPIO numbers (which doesn't help me as they aren't consecutive as required by the relay example, and I'm not sure how I'd setup multiple relays)

I'm hoping someone can offer me some advice that might help me get this Wemos D1 working with AT LEAST 2 relays, but ideally 4.

Cheers

Zach (The Frustrated Aussie Guy)

@yveaux well that's just not going to work for me, I'm trying to cut down on the amount of power supplies and random junk I have spread all over the place.