Success at DIY Home Automation_Arduinos & RFM69s

[papa]

    Weather-related items in my openhab-papa.zip config package are still not NOW working reliably.

The following is posted at the OpenHAB wiki related to the weather binding:

"Important changes for Yahoo provider: In January 2016, Yahoo discontinued the service that allows you to use latitude and longitude to locate your weather location. To continue to use the Yahoo weather provider, you must upgrade the weather binding to 1.8.1 or later and supply a woeid (Where On Earth ID) for your location, as shown in the example below. You can find your woeid by copying the numeric digits at the end of the URL for your location at weather.yahoo.com."

Update, Oct. 11, 2016:  The Weather Binding is working for me with OpenHAB 1.8.3.  See this thread for documentation.  Above at the Oct 16, 2015, 4:30pm post, I provide an UPDATED Oct. 11, 2016 set of OpenHAB configuration files (openhab-papa4.zip) to work with the Weather Binding to display weather info on OpenHab's User Interface.

[papa]

    Deleted duplicate post.

[papa]

On my Linux laptop, I received the OpenHAB 1.8.1 updates, but so far I cannot tell if that will cause the weather binding to work.

In the meantime, I'll post the alternative I did get to work via the http binding & Yahoo weather rss:

     ** Go to Yahoo Weather & "Enter city or zip code" in the box provided.
Copy & make note of the several digit number resulting at the end of your browser's address box.


In the My.items config file, find the line that starts "Group Weather_Chart"
      To disable that section for now, change the line to start "/* Group Weather_Chart"
To conclude that disabled section, find the line that starts "DateTime Weather_LastUpdate" & on the following line, type */

      Near the now-disabled section, paste the replacement lines shown below.
After each "w=" replace [Number] with the number you obtained above from Yahoo Weather:
      & If you want Celsius temps, replace each "u=f" with "u=c"

Group Weather_Chart (Weather)
Number Weather_Temperature "Outside Temperature [%.1f °F]" < temperature> (Weather_Chart) { http="<[http://weather.yahooapis.com/forecastrss?w=[Number]&u=f:60000:XSLT(yahoo_weather_temperature.xsl)]" }
Number Weather_Humidity "Outside Humidity [%.1f %%]" <temperature> (Weather) { http="<[http://weather.yahooapis.com/forecastrss?w=2472637&u=f:60000:XSLT(yahoo_weather_humidity.xsl)]" }
Number Weather_Humidex "Humidex [SCALE(humidex.scale):%s]" <comfort_level> (Weather)
Number Weather_Temp_Max "Todays Maximum [%.1f °F]" <temperature> (Weather_Chart) { http="<[http://weather.yahooapis.com/forecastrss?w=[Number]&u=f:60000:XSLT(yahoo_weather_high.xsl)]" }
Number Weather_Temp_Min "Todays Minimum [%.1f °F]" <temperature> (Weather_Chart) { http="<[http://weather.yahooapis.com/forecastrss?w=[Number]&u=f:60000:XSLT(yahoo_weather_low.xsl)]" }
//   Next 2 lines corrected 2/5/2016. Do NOT use the 2 lines just above
Number Weather_Temp_Max "Todays Maximum [%.1f °F]" <temperature> (Weather_Chart) { http="<[http://weather.yahooapis.com/forecastrss?w=[Number]&u=f:60000:XSLT(yahoo_weather_forecast_high.xsl)]" }
Number Weather_Temp_Min "Todays Minimum [%.1f °F]" <temperature> (Weather_Chart) { http="<[http://weather.yahooapis.com/forecastrss?w=[Number]&u=f:60000:XSLT(yahoo_weather_forecast_low.xsl)]" }

Number Weather_Chart_Period "Chart Period"
DateTime Weather_LastUpdate "Last Update [%1$ta %1$tR]" <clock>

Caution: Sometimes the above works well & resembles what you see on the Yahoo Weather page for your location.
      Sometimes, it gives data that's way off (as for me for one location).
If that happens to you, use the method marked with "**" above to get a number for a nearby location & put that number after each "w=". That worked for me.

[papa]

  Above at the Oct 16, 2015, 4:30pm post, I provide an UPDATED Oct. 11, 2016 set of OpenHAB configuration files (openhab-papa4.zip) to work with this project.


      ^^^ This REPLACES the weather data changes in the post just above

[papa]

      <<   I tweaked my map of DIY Home Automation signal connections

using OpenHAB, Mosquitto, & Arduino RFM69 Gateway & End Nodes (Click on the picture for a larger view)

Earlier posts document how to achieve the network.

[papa]

After struggling with it for a while, I was able to put more than one item's states on an OpenHAB User Interface display line.

What I used is posted in my thread: Muliple items on a display line, Rules, postUpdate.

[chrisinkc]

I am having a heck of a hard time trying to get the simple garage door opener setup to work using the solid state relay. I can see the red light flash on the SSR so I know my command is getting to it, but there doesn't seem to be enough juice to trigger my 24v garage door opener circuit.

Papa, I read where you ran into this issue and you installed the BC547 transister circuit to help boost the voltage from the D9 pin. I followed your outline and it did help boost the voltage, but only a little. According to my meter, flipping the switch in OpenHab only produces a voltage of around 1.5V. The SSR-10DD needs at least 3.3Volts input. I am using an AC power supply rated at 12V and 1Amp.

Any suggestions? I thought about adding a DC step up circuit in front of the SSR, but isn't that really what the SSR is suppose to be doing? Maybe I need a different SSR that can handle a lower input voltage?
Is my power supply bad?

[papa]

Hmmm, chrisinkc, one needs to provide the right amount of voltage AND current (neither too much or too little). Using this schematic AND only connecting the RFM69 transceiver & the DC to DC SSR to the Arduino, I've been able to power the garage door opener to this day. It was when I had more devices on the Arduino (DHT sensor, etc) that I had to use Arduino's digital output of 3.3 volts to trigger 5 volts to run through the transistor & in turn to switch on the SSR. It was then I was having the issue that the SSR LED would light, but the SSR did not switch on the output circuit.

Do you have other things on that Arduino besides RFM69 & SSR that would use current?  I'm surprised the digital pin supplying the SSR only has 1.5 volts.  Is there something (resistor or ?) between the pin & the SSR + terminal.  I suggest you recheck your wiring against schematics.

This schematic (from my Oct 15, 2015 posts) is how I wired a DHT End Node with RFM69, pushbutton, DHT sensor, & SSR (DC to AC).  To this day, the SSRs on these work just fine.  I don't know but I'm assuming what gave me enough left for the SSR was using the higher voltage socket (5 volts) AND/OR perhaps starting with a less tapped current from that socket.  I was able to do this because I used a Buono Uno Arduino compatible that was switched to (mostly) 3.3v operation, but still had 5 volts through one socket.  Are you using a Buono?  Did you wire the SSR & transsitor like in this schematic?

Are you sure the SSR is ok?  Can you connect a powered DC circuit to the SSR output & trigger it with a couple of AA batteries?

An SSR isn't exactly giving a boost.  It allows a relatively small DC voltage/current to throw a switch to let a larger DC or AC voltage/current to flow.  An SSR is like an electronic switch.

Yes, there are other types of SSRs, including SSRs on a chip package.  They don't need much input power to switch them.  In fact, one must be careful to not supply too much or they burn out.  However, so far I've only seen DC to AC SSRs, not DC to DC as needed for garage door openers.  Also it's a bit tricky to solder to their pins & avoid burning out the internal workings.  There's a DC to AC SSR that I've used & somewhere on this forum computourist mentioned another DC to AC SSR.  Perhaps starting with those, you could find a version for DC to DC.

Maybe you need a separate power supply for triggering the SSR, but I don't believe that should be.

Before we consider another type of SSR or a separate power supply for the SSR, I'll let you respond to what I asked / raised in the early paragraphs of this post.

[chrisinkc]

I am using a Buono Uno (set to 3.3v) and proto shield. All I have hooked up is the RF chip, the SSR, and a single LED connected to 5v via 100hz resistor to show me that the unit is powered up (its inside an enclosure so I can't see the LEDs on the Buono board). Could the LED be pulling too much current?



I have 2 SSR10-DDs and they both are providing the same results. I'll try hooking up some AA batteries to the SSR to see if they work. They were both purchased at the same time via Ebay.

I am a little confused about your last paragraph.  You state that "However, so far I've only seen DC to AC SSRs, not DC to DC as needed for garage door openers."  In your post dated, Sep 18, 2015 at 12:55pm, you have a schematic with a DC to DC SSR.  See below:




This is the schematic that I followed exactly at first.  When this didn't work,  I added the BC547 circuit and connected the SSR to 5 volts instead of the 3.3 volts.  This improved the voltage output by about .5V.  Still not enough to trigger the SSR.

[papa]

Sorry, I meant that for the SSR on a small chip, I've only seen DC to AC, like this one computourist mentioned on this forum.

I know the schematic you first used works & should work even more with the transistor switching 5 volts.

Again before we consider another type of SSR or a separate power supply for the SSR, let's work through other questions I raised earlier.

Good to know that you are using Buonos.  & that you get same results from two SSRs.

I'd like to know your results from trying to trigger the SSR with a couple AA batteries (in series for about 3 volts)

I wouldn't think an LED & resistor would tax the Buono that much, but you could try disconnecting them from the digital pin or ground.

    Presupposing you've checked the two things just above, the problem might well be among a few more things:

It's been a while since I worked on this, but ... I assume you used the sketch & OpenHAB configs that I posted with the schematic around Sept 18, 2015, right?

     Regarding the following necessary configs, of course you'll use the node id you assigned to your device:

            Item
Switch Act_Node98 <PushBtn> {mqtt=">[mosquitto:home/rfm_gw/sb/node98/dev16:command:ON:ON],>[mosquitto:home/rfm_gw/sb/node98/dev16:command:OFF:OFF]", autoupdate="false"}

          Sitemap
Switch item=Act_Node98 label="Grg_Door_Opener_98"

     AND your SSR DC output wires are connected to your Garage Door Wall Button terminals, right?

         In the sketch (adapted from the DHT End Node), see these lines, especially the delay I put in bold:

case (16): // BA reenabled: Actuator 1 message received
if (mes.cmd == 0) { // cmd == 0 means write
if(mes.intVal == 0 || mes.intVal == 1) {
ACT1State = mes.intVal;
// digitalWrite(ACT1, ACT1State); // original TOGGLE output
digitalWrite(ACT1, 1); // BA: briefly turn output on then off
if (setAck) send16 = true; // original acknowledge message ?
delay(100); // BA
digitalWrite(ACT1, 0); // BA

I adapted the code to pulse the garage door something like pressing the wall button itself.  I believe I had to experiment with the delay so the ON pulse was long enough to trigger my opener.  Maybe your opener needs a different delay to get the right length of pulse.  If that fixes your situation, please let me know what worked for you.

PS, I believe at the Sept. 18, 2015 posts I omitted the Pushbtn.png icon for the sitemap listing.  Put it with the others in /webapps/images folder.
      << Here's that icon.  It shows large here.  OpenHAB will size it correctly.

[chrisinkc]

I got it to work. Turns out that LED was pulling too much current. As soon as I removed it, it worked! Thanks Papa for your help with troubleshooting.

[papa]

You're welcome, chrisinkc, glad it's working. One final question: Is your Garage Door Opener node working with or without the transistor (& 5 volts)?

When I was doing mine without a transistor, I had to strip off everything except the RFM69 & the connections to the SSR.  I have not tried this particular node with a transistor to see if I could add other functions.  By using a transistor to switch 5 volts to to SSR input, I have successfully done several nodes with Buono, RFM69, pushbutton, DHT sensor, AND a DC to AC SSR.

PS Remember to give back to this forum when you learn or achieve something that does not seem to be posted here, even if that is something you learned from a bad experience of what to avoid.

[chrisinkc]

I am using the transistor & 5 volts.

[papa]

My openhab-papa.zip config files contain an approach to address this issue:

            Using only one item to change & report the state of (DHT End Node) node 2's device 16...
if one clicks the node's virtual switch on the browser user interface (UI), the switch toggles (quickly) an ON or OFF state & a LED or relay on the node also toggles.

HOWEVER, IF ON THE NODE ITSELF, someone uses a push button, the UI switch never changes to show the true state of the node.  I was troubled by this last situation that looking at the UI, I could not be sure of device 16's state (LED or relay or ??).

In the thread Match OpenHAB UI Switch to a Node-Generated state, I explored this approach, a delay that results from it, an alternate approach, & how one could shorten the delay.

The above thread is an exercise in noticing a felt shortcoming & a mystery & addressing the issue with more than one approach, including switches, rules, postUpdate, & two binding on one switch item. It was a learning experience for me & I hope for readers.

[papa]

        I believe we all want an awesome or at least a relatively robust DIY Home Automation system.

When we bump into difficulties, have we not implemented things correctly OR are we bumping into limitations of the system? Are there ways to adapt to minimize bottle necks or work around them?

I've started a new thread, DIY Home Automation: Capabilities & Limits, hoping we can address these matters there.

Please join me on that new thread in posting some information about your system, limits you feel you've experienced, & how you've tried to address them.

[papa]

I just saw this thread at OpenHAB Community forum:

        Issue with Openhab 1.8.2 - MQTT not working anymore

Watou, maintainer, acknowledged: Setpoint and Switch widgets do not update in 1.8.2 while they did in 1.8.1

[papa]

I have updated my posts on implementing computourist's Gateway & DHT end node so they use his latest sketch versions.

The posts now refer to Gateway 2.4 & DHT end node 2.2.

The particularly updated posts are Oct 8, 2015 at 7:40pm (Gateway) & Oct 16, 2015 at 8:35am (DHT end node).

Note: The schematics & hardware did NOT change from earlier versions. Only the program sketches changed.

[papa]

Update: My Gateway & Arduinos have been running for at least 7 months. Several report room temp & humidity via DHT sensors. Several (including one installed in a wall switch) toggle lights off & on. Using pseudo random scheduling, rules can control those lights. One node opens / closes the garage door. Another detects whether the garage door is open or closed via a reed switch encased in plastic. OpenHAB runs on a Windows 7 laptop & is set to run on start up. The only problem I had was when Windows Update hung my computer so it did not fully boot up.

I have other things I want to try & will likely post the results on this forum.

[jbird41]

Papa, I am looking to implement a garage door opener, do you have a guide for how yours was done?

[papa]

In this same thread, see page one starting with the Sep 18, 2015 at 12:55pm post.

A schematic is there.

Also there is the program sketch which adapted the (earlier) DHT end node version 2.1 connected to the gateway version 2.4.
The particular change was for device 16 to pulse the relay on AND off to open the door instead of toggling it.

      This is the area where the adaptive changes:

case (16): // BA reenabled: Actuator 1 message received
if (mes.cmd == 0) { // cmd == 0 means write
if(mes.intVal == 0 || mes.intVal == 1) {
ACT1State = mes.intVal;
// digitalWrite(ACT1, ACT1State); // original TOGGLE output
digitalWrite(ACT1, 1); // BA: briefly turn output on then off
if (setAck) send16 = true; // original acknowledge message ?
delay(100); // BA
digitalWrite(ACT1, 0); // BA
if (setAck) send16 = true; // BA moved above here
#ifdef DEBUG
Serial.println("Flashed LED/Relay"); // BA: was "Set LED to "
// Serial.println(ACT1State);
#endif

[papa]

Today I updated the Oct 16, 2015 at 8:52am post about "Installing the needed Mosquitto Broker (MQTT) service on a Windows computer"

[papa]

When I was away from my main OpenHAB setup, Windows locked up after reboot & OpenHAB did not restart. I believe this was because Windows Update components got corrupted. After trying to fix that in other ways, I just restored my Windows 7 laptop to its factory image, ground through over 150 updates, & reinstalled programs including Mosquitto & OpenHAB.

My instructions starting here with the Oct 16, 2015 at 8:52am post still worked with a few updates & corrections that I posted there.

So OpenHAB & Mosquitto are working & communicating with the Arduinos.

To be prepared for future possible problems, I'm saving a working image of a currently updated Windows 7 including OpenHAB & Mosquitto.

Now to move on to updating my Arduinos to latest computourist-derived code & trying other functions.

[papa]

Issue: Switches & icons (mqtt items)
not updating on the Classic UI (Windows OpenHAB 1.8.2),
unless the page is refreshed.

At openHAB Community, I found messages (including from Kai) that this is a problem (perhaps caused by trying to improve other things).

Present solution seems to be going back to OpenHAB 1.8.1. That is working for me.

Suggestion: For issues like this, I recommend keeping a copy of earlier OpenHAB install files (including addons).

[papa]

        Explanatory Note about LED resistors: 

computourist schematics used 1 kilo ohm resistor with LEDs. I prefer 100ohm which lets the LED be somewhat brighter without burning out. For dimmer LED & to reserve more current to other node parts, use higher than 100 ohms. May 19, 2016, computourist said: With 100 ohms, current will be around 15 mAmps, well within specs.

[papa]

I created another new thread, Garage & Door End Nodes. It describes two garage nodes & a dead-bolt detector node that can be programmed with this sketch.

This updates documentation in this Success... thread starting Sep 18, 2015 at 12:55pm.

One node has only one function: Open/Close the garage door (vehicle entrance) using a DC-DC solid state relay (SSR).
   In previous attempts the Arduino was only able to power the solid state relay directly via a digital pin.
      Adding other sensors seemed to cause problems due to current limits.
In other nodes, I did not use an Arduino digital pin to directly power an SSR. I used the digital pin to trigger FIVE volts to power the SSR via a transistor.
      I have not yet tried that transistor method with this node so other functions might be added.

The other garage node has a DHT11 temp/humidity sensor, a normally open reed switch AND another switch.
     The reed switch detects if the vehicle entrance door is open or closed.
The other switch lets the node detect if the garage's people entrance door is dead bolted or not.

The third node only has a "switch" that detects if a door is dead bolted or not.

These nodes are programmed with the latest version of my multi-choice node sketch.

[papa]

I created another new thread, Node Senses Temps in Enclosed or Liquid Areas. It describes a "Freezer" Node that senses temp & humidity outside a freezer (or other enclosure or liquid) AND senses temps inside a freezer (or other enclosure or liquid).

A variation on this node uses TWO waterproof temperature sensors, one of which replaces the DHT11 temp & humidity sensor used in the first variation.

Both variations can be programmed with a new version of my multi-choice sketch.

[papa]

I created another new thread, Battery-Powered Node for Mailbox, etc.   It gives my take on building & programming a battery-powered node that senses & publishes when a mailbox door (or something else) opens & closes.  One programs it with a new "Mb" version of my multi-choice sketch.

[papa]

In the new thread Wireless Programming, greginkansas, jimkernsjr, & I (so far) are exploring how to wirelessly program an Anarduino miniwireless as is possible with Moteinos. It entails burning a new bootloader to the miniwireless. So far in the thread, I document how I successfully burned a bootloader that will work with wireless programming.  Two methods are documented there: an Easy, Quicker Way (once set up) & a Hard, Slower Way. (If burn problems occur with the Easy Way, the slower Hard way may have a better chance.)

We welcome your contributions.

[papa]

I created a new thread, Wireless Programming>Anarduino Miniwireless. It includes documentation & sketches for accomplishing Wireless Programming with an Anarduino miniwireless (tested & working) & also maybe much of what is needed for a Moteino (untested)

[papa]

I added a new thread, Multi-choice Node Sketch incl Gateway 2.4 Compatibility. The new sketch there includes a GW24 option for making a node that takes advantage of the computourist Gateway 2.4 (latest version).