Announcement: ESPimaticRF coming soon

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ok went to a lot of testing last week, got hold of a cp2102 serial esp device but it didn’t make a difference. after monitoring each individual nodemcu the only thing I’ve noticed is constant crashing of these modules. especially when there is a lot going on (multiple weather sensors, 2 pirs and some other stuff is sending data to the nodemcu modules and there are at least 20 different klikaanklikuit receivers in the house switching on and off all kinds of stuff). so for me it is not reliable. since the only reason I wanted to use espimaticrf was our outdoor lights in the backyard I’ve replaced all my lights with Philips hue compatible devices, abandoned espimaticrf and placed my good old arduino nano back in the system. for now everything is working as it should again

thanks for your help @koffienl and @Gleno0h

happy new year

Hi All!

Short update from my side.

I experienced a lot of time outs with ‘homeduino’ after switching to ESPimaticRF. I used a setup with a NodeMCU as homeduino device. It was set to send and receive RF and also use a NodeMCU set as Node as second send/receive device. This set up gave me a lot of timeouts which could be ‘mended’ by restarting Pimatic.

This weekend I switched the ‘homeduino’ to a Wemos D1 min. This didn’t change anything. Without scientific proof it resulted in even more time outs.

So I looked into the wiring. Originally I had the RF3400 transmitter and receivers connected to the 5V pin on the ESP-module. I changed this to the 5V pin of my Pi (and grounded the ESP-module to a ground pin on my Pi). I have done this yesterday around 1600 hours. Since this change, I have not had to restart pimatic. RF on/off switching is working and keeps working for quit a while know (in the old setup I would have had several time outs).

So it seems this has solved my issues, though it is to early to celebrate.

For reference My Pimatic set up has several rules switching several RF lights and lights are also switched through the app (some 10 lightpoints). Besides that I have 6 temp/hum sensors that transmit every 1 minute or so, a weather station (temp/hum/windspeed/winddirection/rain) and a door sensor. I have removed all rules with dimming options.

Fingers crossed for know. I while report later this week on the progress, number of needed restarts due to time outs.

UPDATE - 30-1-18 @ 10:50 >> It is still running stable. Experienced no timeouts so far. I have now reenabled rules whitch include dimmers. I’ll wait and see how that goes.

Best regards,

Ruud

@ruudvddries said in Announcement: ESPimaticRF coming soon:

Hi guys,

I experience the issue with switches and dimmers.
I have changed the power supply for pimatic. But I still have homeduino connection losses.
Before I used an arduino nano. It remember it was connected on grounds to the raspberry pi. Is this also needed for a nodeMCU?

Any thoughts are welcome!

Regards,

Ruud

Glad to see you probably find the issue, although I can’t figure out why the 5v pins is causing the problem?

Hi all,

Short update. I still use the wemos D1 mini with the rf3400 set powered from my Pi and data wise connected to the wemos.

A few days back, I activated the rules that include a dimmer (kaku socket dimmer, don’t know exact type) and from that moment the timeouts reappeared.

So probably it is not fixed with the 5v reconnection @koffienl … Anyways, without dimmers it works without any timeouts and I believe the 5v reconnection makes it even more stable.

It would be great if the dimmer issues could be resolved. These are the same as @djmvt has experienced I think.

Maybe MQTT could be a solution. But I feel that taking that step is a giant leap for me. For instance, what is a MQTT broker. How and where do I install it. Anyways, if I can help in anyway with debugging the UDP/TCP dimmer issues, let me know!

Best regards,

Ruud van den Dries

What protocol do you use for the dimmer? Can you tell how use send the dimm (slider, rule?)

@koffienl I just woke up again…

It is time for another update i guess.

I use a KAKU dimmer, through a rule and also through the slider in the interface. Both gave issues. After posting the short update above, the system was stable for a while. After some weeks I again ran into the problem of pimatic not willing to send out RF signals (timeouts). This was indeed without any dimmer rules or using the dimmer slider.
So I’m back to square one. Contemplating to switch to MQTT instead of UDP.

Best regards,

Ruud

@ruudvddries said in Announcement: ESPimaticRF coming soon:

@koffienl I just woke up again…

It is time for another update i guess.

I use a KAKU dimmer, through a rule and also through the slider in the interface. Both gave issues. After posting the short update above, the system was stable for a while. After some weeks I again ran into the problem of pimatic not willing to send out RF signals (timeouts). This was indeed without any dimmer rules or using the dimmer slider.
So I’m back to square one. Contemplating to switch to MQTT instead of UDP.

Best regards,

Ruud

MQTT did not resolve the issue for me unfortunately. so I just tried to optimize the old situation with the Arduino and pimaticrf. Still hope to see it solved because my kaku wall switches are just out of reach for the receiver.

I have really no clue what could causing the issue. I have several kaku dimmers, all controlled with ESPimaticRF without any issues…
Multiple times a day a dimm value is send with rules on my setup.

@koffienl lately my espimaticrf keeps resetting, and have to update wifi credentials again untill the next reboot;

Booting pimatic outouts the following;

12:28:00.237 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ACK"
12:28:01.522 [pimatic-mobile-frontend] packing static assets
12:28:13.218 [pimatic-mobile-frontend] packing static assets finished
12:28:13.272 [pimatic-mobile-frontend] rendering html
12:28:23.161 [pimatic-homeduino] data: ""
12:28:23.177 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "Soft WDT reset"
12:28:23.189 [pimatic-homeduino] data: ""
12:28:23.201 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ctx: cont"
12:28:23.213 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "sp: 3fff1c70 end: 3fff1ff0 offset: 01b0"
12:28:23.226 [pimatic-homeduino] data: ""
12:28:23.237 [pimatic-homeduino] data: ">>>stack>>>"
12:28:23.248 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1e20:  3fff30bc 00000004 0ccccccc 00000009"
12:28:23.260 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1e30:  401070e4 3fdcb2d0 00003e80 3fff30be"
12:28:23.272 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1e40:  3ffefa04 3fff49fc 3fff4b0c 4020c011"
12:28:23.284 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1e50:  3fff2038 3ffefa04 00000004 4020c6d7"
12:28:23.295 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1e60:  3fff1e90 00000007 3ffefa5f 00000001"
12:28:23.307 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1e70:  3ffefa02 3fff49fc 3ffefa04 3fff1e90"
12:28:23.319 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1e80:  3fff2038 3fff49fc 3ffefa04 4020b900"
12:28:23.330 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1e90:  00000104 00000514 00000a8c 000028a0"
12:28:23.344 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1ea0:  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000"
12:28:23.357 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1eb0:  00000000 00000000 00000000 ffffffff"
12:28:23.370 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1ec0:  4020b5a4 3fff49fc 3ffe8be4 00000000"
12:28:23.382 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1ed0:  00000000 3ffe93c0 00000000 3fff4afc"
12:28:23.394 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1ee0:  00000400 00000003 00000001 3fff0fb8"
12:28:23.406 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1ef0:  3ffef964 3fffdad0 3ffe8bb8 00000030"
12:28:23.419 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1f00:  3fffdab0 00000000 3fffd9d0 3fff0fc0"
12:28:23.431 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1f10:  00000000 00000000 00000001 3fff0fb8"
12:28:23.444 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1f20:  3fff4244 0000001f 0000001b 00000030"
12:28:23.456 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1f30:  00000007 3fff4a04 3fff1e90 00000030"
12:28:23.468 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1f40:  00000090 3ffef9e5 3ffefafc 4020d73e"
12:28:23.481 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1f50:  3fff0fb4 0000031a 0000031a 3ffefadc"
12:28:23.493 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1f60:  3ffef9db 00000005 3ffef9de 4020be23"
12:28:23.505 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1f70:  3fff2038 00000000 3ffef9cc 4020bf6c"
12:28:23.518 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1f80:  00000008 3fff3214 000003e8 4020b3d9"
12:28:23.530 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1f90:  00000000 00000000 00000000 3ffe8bb8"
12:28:23.542 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1fa0:  3fffdad0 3ffef964 3fff0fb8 4020b5f2"
12:28:23.555 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1fb0:  00000000 402073d0 feefeffe feefeffe"
12:28:23.568 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1fc0:  00000000 00000000 00000001 3fff0fc0"
12:28:23.580 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1fd0:  3fffdad0 00000000 3fff0fb8 4020ff64"
12:28:23.592 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "3fff1fe0:  feefeffe feefeffe 3fff0fd0 40100718"
12:28:23.604 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "<<<stack<<<"
12:28:23.617 [pimatic-homeduino] data: ""
12:28:23.630 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ets Jan  8 2013,rst cause:2, boot mode:(3,3)"
12:28:23.642 [pimatic-homeduino] data: ""
12:28:23.655 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "load 0x4010f000, len 1384, room 16"
12:28:23.667 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "tail 8"
12:28:23.680 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "chksum 0x2d"
12:28:23.692 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "csum 0x2d"
12:28:23.704 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "v3de0c112"
12:28:23.717 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "~ld
12:28:23.717 [pimatic-homeduino]>Connecting to :"
12:28:23.732 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "MySSID"
12:28:23.744 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "."
12:28:23.756 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "."
12:28:23.769 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "."
12:28:23.781 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "."
12:28:23.793 [pimatic-homeduino] data: ""
12:28:23.805 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "Connected to"
12:28:23.818 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "MySSId"
12:28:23.831 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "IP address:"
12:28:23.843 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "192.168.178.xx"
12:28:23.855 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "Receiving op pin 10"
12:28:24.398 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:24.503 [pimatic-homeduino] Connected to homeduino device.
12:28:54.944 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:54.974 [pimatic-mobile-frontend] rendering html finished
12:28:55.196 [pimatic] Listening for HTTP-request on port xx...
12:28:55.333 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.484 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.537 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.567 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.588 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.609 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.668 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.691 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.721 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.742 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.763 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.782 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.801 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.821 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.837 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.852 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.868 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.884 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.899 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.915 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.931 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.946 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.962 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.978 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:55.993 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.008 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.024 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.039 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.054 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.071 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.086 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.101 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.117 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.132 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.148 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.163 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.179 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.195 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.216 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.235 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.255 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.275 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.297 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.319 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.343 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.369 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.388 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.411 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.430 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.449 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.469 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.489 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.510 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.528 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.546 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ready"
12:28:56.567 [pimatic-homeduino] data: "ACK"
12:28:56.602 [pimatic-homeduino] Receiving on pin 0```

Hello,

Using 2 ESP modules, 1 homeduino, 1 node.

I can receive signals, but when a turn on/off a rfswitch module in pimatic. The error: “Serialport not open” is comming everytime…

Does anyone can help me with this problem?

@estadhouders what does this command tell you:

ls -l /dev/serial/by-id

It has to be on USB1?

@estadhouders it is auto assigned i believe. Just checking if it is connected…

Could you try a new usb cable?

I try with different usb cables. When i stop/start pimatic, the devices is going to ttyUSB0 and then i can change switch/dimmers in pimatic.

But after a ± minute, the device change back to ttyUSB1. And the failure: “Serialport not open” is comming again… Very strange

@estadhouders ah yes, this sometimes happen.

Homeduino has the possibility to also use the serial by id line, here is an example;

{
  "plugin": "homeduino",
  "driver": "serialport",
  "driverOptions": {
    "serialDevice": "/dev/serial/by-id/usb-1a86_USB2.0-Serial-if00-port0",
    "baudrate": 115200
  },
  "receiverPin": 0,
  "transmitterPin": 5
}

This way, it doesnt matter if it is ttyUSB0 or ttyUSB1.

You get the serial not open error because it is indeed swapped.

Try replacing the serial device with the ID.

serialDevice: usb-1a86_USB2.0-Serial-if00-port0

Yeah i know, my serial devive is :
“serialDevice”:
"/dev/serial/by-id/usb-1a86_USB2.0-Serial-if00-port0",

I dont know why its not working on ttyUSB1. Is there an option to disable ttyUSB1? Because when i detect USB0 it works fine. But is switch automaticly to USB1 and then i get the serialport error

@estadhouders if you use an id, ttyusb becomes redundant. In other words, even if it is on ttyusb12837, it should still find it, by serial.

But i guess that doesnt work, maybe you could look into symlinking it with udev.

See this page; https://www.sparkfun.com/news/2332

As for me, this happened when using a broken usb cable. It would cut it off and reconnect it.