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    Tag's Mycontroller/Mysensors setup

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    • T Offline
      Tag MOD
      last edited by Tag

      Approx 2 years ago i discovered the Mysensors library and i really liked it from the start.
      Below i will try to explain a little on how i use my controller and what my setup of the sensors network is.

      The setup i am using is all NRF24L01 based, it includes a number of nodes, all with special purposes, from measuring, displaying data to controlling stuff.

      First the most important part, the Mycontroller software. This is basically the heart of my IoT setup. Once i started with Mysensors, it became clear that you need a piece of software that gathers the data and makes nice graphs and such. I have looked at a number of controllers, but each time I ended up with Mysensors since it is very easy to implement, lightweight, looks awesome and works like a charm 🙂

      So making the choice for Mycontroller was easy, and i have build a light weight server around it. I started with a normal PC, but that uses a lot of power and is basically overkill, so i switched to a RaspberryPI (Model B ) and this setup has run for over a year!, then i decided to start testing the OrangePI Zero, it is very cheap, has a quadcore CPU and 512Mb memory. Unfortunately the Mysensors gateway was not compiling on the OPI-0, but with a lot of help from the developers on the mysensors forum we were able to get it up and running. So what does my setup looks like, (today) since stuff will be added over time 🙂

      My Setup:

      The controller:

      • OrangePI Zero (512Mb model)
      • NRF24L01 direct attached to the GPIO header
      • 16GB SD Card
      • Running the Mycontroller software.

      Sensor 1

      • BMP085 barometric pressure sensor
      • Using the temperature sensor from the BMP085 for the inside temperature
      • Outside NTC for temperature

      Sensor 2

      • Rain Meter which measures the amount of water that fell from the sky

      Sensor 3
      Room temp sensor with a display that cycles through Time / Humidity / Temperature / Light level(Lux)

      • DHT22
      • 8 character 7 segment display
      • LDR to measure the light level
      • Gets the time from the server.
      • Various leds to display receive/transmit/error of data

      Sensor 4
      Just a display node, this is an arduino which has a 16x4 display attached and it receives all kind of data from the network. This is very nice since you can get an overview of data without logging on to a system.

      • Arduino nano
      • 16x4 display
      • NRF24L01 radio

      Sensor 5
      Water temperatures from the central heating system, it shows the temp of the water that goes into the system, the temperature of the water that is returned and the hot water usage for showers, dishes and so on.

      • 3x DS18B20

      Sensor 6
      Power usage, this sensor is connected to the P1 port of the smart power meter. it is a digital port that shows the current power usage, and all kinds stuff you want to know.

      • Arduino nano
      • transistor
      • bunch of resistors

      Sensor 7
      433Mhz Gateway that is used by Mycontroller to switch lights on and off based on the outside light level.

      • Arduino nano
      • 433Mhz transmitter

      Sensor 8
      Outside battery operated sensor that was setup to see howlong a sensor is able to survive on just 2 AAA batteries 🙂

      • Arduino ProMini 3.3v with the powersaving mods (no voltage regulator / no led), in sleepmode it uses
        5 microamps, and away 4 milliamps. It sleeps for 5 minutes, wakes up, measures and sends data.
      • LDR
      • DHT22 (temperature and humidity)
      • Buck converter to "push" the voltage to 3.3v
      • Transistor to switch the sensors on on demand.

      This is basically my setup!, still having fun measuring, but more fun also controlling!!

      Update

      • Also running mcagent now to monitor the server itself.
      jkandasaJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • jkandasaJ Offline
        jkandasa @Tag
        last edited by jkandasa

        @tag This is awesome information.

        Sensor 2

        Rain Meter which measures the amount of water that fell from the sky

        I would like to know how to measure rain, what type of meter are you using? Can you explain this with some support images? I would like to implement in my location 😉

        Sensor 8
        Outside battery operated sensor that was setup to see howlong a sensor is able to survive on just 2 AAA batteries 🙂

        How many days once are you changing the battery?

        T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • T Offline
          Tag MOD @jkandasa
          last edited by

          @jkandasa

          Sure no problem, it is very simple, it is basically a tip over bucket I salvaged from an old weather station. It works with a magnet and a reed switch.

          0_1509478939853_rain gauge.jpg

          I am using basically the same:
          All info + sketch can be foud here

          This sensor is not working on batteries, it can be done i guess the arduino needs to wake up on an interrupt.

          Anyway I have build another one that works on batteries, with a DHT22 and an LDR, that one is appox 1 month old and still running fine.

          Since i use an arduino promini at 8Mhz, the voltage cannot drop below 2.8v, it simply will not start anymore so after running it for 3 weeks in 2AAA batteries, i have added a buck converter to boost the voltage to 3.3v.

          0_1509479407263_Screenshot 2017-10-31 at 20.47.20.png

          The peaks are from programming 🙂

          What really helped me was this page.

          I made the mods as described here, led and voltage regulator removal.

          once the arduino is booted, i put it to sleep for 5 minutes, then if it wakes up i pull pin high that triggers a transistor which powers the light sensor and the DHT22.
          Then once all is up, i do the measurements, send over the changes, and back to sleep again. I think that the batteries will last for atleast 9 months to a year (i hope), but time will tell 🙂

          jkandasaJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • jkandasaJ Offline
            jkandasa @Tag
            last edited by

            @tag Thank you so much! This information helps to build my own rain meter. 🙂

            T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • T Offline
              Tag MOD @jkandasa
              last edited by

              @jkandasa

              This is the exact one i am using, but diy building is even better! 🙂

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • skywatchS Offline
                skywatch
                last edited by

                @Tag

                How did you calibrate that rain sensor, or did it come with calibration data already?

                Thanks.

                T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • T Offline
                  Tag MOD @skywatch
                  last edited by

                  @skywatch

                  just take a measuring cup, and pour water into the sensor until it "flips"
                  then measure the amount of water that has left the cup...

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • skywatchS Offline
                    skywatch
                    last edited by skywatch

                    Ah, OK - then I guess a little calculation to divide the ammount of water used by the area of the sensor top and you have a measuerment of rainfall volume/cm2 - but how to tell the mm of rainfall in general?

                    I guess that you could plug the hole in the sensor, fill to a known mm level and see how many 'tips' you get.....That should do it for me.

                    Does it get blocked with dust/moss etc much?

                    Cheers!

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • T Offline
                      Tag MOD
                      last edited by

                      well nothing too serious for me 🙂 I took this example as the base

                      The sensor itself still works perfectly :thumbs_up:

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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