www.gisvold.co.uk - Open source

Jeenode v4 problem

tor — Sun, 30 May 2010 11:21:51 +0000

Problem with Jeenode V4

(Just to start with a bit of background - I've got 8 Jeenodes so far - 4 of these hand soldered without any real problems except for turning the radio the wrong way round for the first one)

I received my first 2 Jeenode V4's a couple of days ago - and soldered them together, and started them up.

Both displayed the same behaviour - where the prompt for the Demo sketch cam up as one line, with no further activity.

I have spent a bit of time trying to find out why - including using a magnifying glass to check my soldering etc.

In the end I had to start software debugging - and it all ended up with these lines in RF12.cpp

" // wait until RFM12B is out of power-up reset, this takes several *seconds*
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Gas usage measurements

tor — Sat, 08 May 2010 18:07:59 +0000

The software measure our gas usage in the house is coming along slowly - I have attached a LDR to one of the Jeenodes and found out the light level when just the pilot light is on, and the light level when the burner is on.

so I can now detect the transitions when the boiler turns on and when it turns off, and from there calculate how long it was turned on for.

This all looks a bit strange at the moment :

monitter : real time, live twitter monitor

tor — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:15:20 +0000

Found this javascript based Twitter monitor that can be easily embedded in your own pages - and keeps on updating your Twitters.

I quickly changed a copy to fetch messages from a status.net based site

monitter? what is it?
Simple. It's a twitter monitor, it lets you "monitter" the twitter world for a set of keywords and watch what people are saying. Cool huh?

[From monitter : real time, live twitter monitor | free live twitter embed widget]

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Protocol for sending data to a Jeenode

tor — Mon, 03 May 2010 12:37:21 +0000

For my home automation project I needed a general purpose protocol to send data (and text) from a server to a Jeenode:

- First to control a multi-line LCD display

- To control "things" connected to a Jeenode remotely (and wirelessly of course)

The first project is to control a set of fans mounted in a boiler cupboard that gets way too hot occasionally, and to control a display on top of the cupboard.

The temperature is already reported to the server from another Jeenode running a unmodified version of the "ROOMS" sketch reading from a temperature and humidity sensor (SHT11).
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Wattson power meter

tor — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 20:11:06 +0000

I've created a page for sample code for accessing data from the Wattson energy meter.

Technorati Tags: Array development electronics Open source OsX Ruby This website

Meteor - a exiting new web server

tor — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:42:43 +0000

Once in a while a new way of serving web pages (or parts of pages) comes along - and Meteor is one of these :

Meteor is an HTTP server which gives developers the freedom to think about web development in an entirely new way. It comprises the Meteor server and a standalone Javascript class which can be used in webpages to provide an abstraction layer for receiving data streams. Designed to be as simple and flexible as possible, Meteor offers a great solution for those wishing to add asynchronous functionality to their web projects.
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LEDs Arduino and Ikea

tor — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:13:46 +0000

I want one of these tables from the following article:

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Setting up status.net

tor — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:41:22 +0000

I am currently experimenting with setting up status.net - a twitter clone service on our servers, and so far I have learnt 2 major lessons :

- Does not work on osx server (fine on a bog standard osx machine)

- The standard setup needs you to execute a sql query to give any user admin rights

insert into profile_role (profile_id, role) VALUES (1, 'administrator');

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Mango, open source M2M

tor — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:55:33 +0000

I've just come across Mango - a piece of software that may be of interest to me in my house monitoring experiment:

Mango, open source M2M

Welcome to the home of Mango, the world's most popular open source Machine-to-Machine (M2M) software (also known as Industrial Control, SCADA, HMI, or domotics). Mango is browser-based, Ajax-enabled M2M software that enables users to access and control electronic sensors, devices, and machines over multiple protocols simultaneously. Easy to download and install on many platforms, Mango provides an interface with which diverse data sources can be created and configured while providing downstream management of user access, alerts, data logging, and automation.
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Arduino 0018 seems to have been released

tor — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:53:49 +0000

From the release notes :

Arduino Software Release Notes

0018 - 2010.01.29

[core / libraries]

* Added tone() and noTone() functions for frequency generation.
* Added Serial.end() command.
* Added precision parameter for printing of floats / doubles.
* Incorporated latest version of Firmata.
* Fixed bug w/ disabling use of the RW pin in the LiquidCrystal library.
* No longer disabling interrupts in delayMicroseconds().
* Fixed bug w/ micros() returning incorrect values from within an interrupt.
* Fixed bug that broke use of analog inputs 8-15 on the Mega.

[environment]
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Status of our home monitoring

tor — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:50:40 +0000

Our home monitoring system is coming along with the addition of a set of jeenodes (see them as wireless and battery driven Arduinos)

The slave nodes look like this :

the green box houses the 3 AA batteries making this a truly wireless solution, enabling me to move this around to anywhere in the house.

At the server things look like this

Make: Arduino vs. Maple - early impressions

tor — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:55:49 +0000

Make has a good comparison between a standard Arduino and the maple:

For those that haven't heard, LeafLabs' Maple board is an Arduino-compatible microcontroller platform based on an STM32 ARM Cortex-M3 chip. The full feature list includes -
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Maple - a Ardunio "clone" with a twist

tor — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:39:48 +0000

Interesting reading - a new Arduino "comaptible" board based on a different processor - and apparently almost 10 times as fast....
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Ah - set the frequency band correctly on the Jeenode

tor — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:23:01 +0000

It turns out that the default settings for the Jeenodes frequencey band (in software) is for the 433Mhz band. Due to the mismatch with the antennae length and the noise in this band - the maximum distance between receiver and transmitter was something in the region of 1 metre of line of sight.

Changing the frequency band to 868Mhz (Command 8 C in the demo software) increases this considerably.

Currently it works well through a fairly solid concrete wall - so again I'm happy.

Technorati Tags: Arduino Array electronics Jeenode Open source

My first Jeenode transmit

tor — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:55:41 +0000

How exiting is this - today my replacement radio for my blown Jeenode arrived, I soldered it in (correct way around this time) and a few seconds later this appeared on the console of my receiving Jeenode :

The OK/ack's shows that valid datapackets have arrived, and that they have been acknowledged back to the transmitter.

The second to last byte (225) is the current temperature multiplied by 10, so in other words 22.5 degrees celsius.

I'm happy!

Technorati Tags: Arduino Array development electronics Jeenode Open source OsX

SNMP for MySQL

tor — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:51:31 +0000

Excellent - a SNMP module for MySQL!

I’m really proud to announce the release of the version 1.0 of mysql-snmp.
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Arduino basic networking software

tor — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:05:41 +0000

Really good news - Bonjour, DHCP and DNS for the Arduino. Now on to check how much memory this eats<

Arduino Ethernet is a collection of libraries I have written to use within the Arduino programming environment in conjunction with the Ethernet shield.

While the individual libraries are downloaded within a single archive, they do not depend on each other (unless noted otherwise) and can be used independently.

The libraries are published under the GPLv2 (or, at your discretion, any later version).

Individual libraries

EthernetBonjour | Documentation
EthernetDHCP | Documentation
EthernetDNS | Documentation
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Jeenodes - fixing problems with code

tor — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:10:07 +0000

I've got my first Jeenode up and running (after a rather disastrous soldering mistake which may have left the radio module toast) - and I am having a strange problem with some of the code.

This code is rather different from some of the Arduino code I have written and used so far, as one of the main aims is to use as little power as possible, to enable the Jeenode to run on a set of batteries.

And here is the problematic code :

static byte periodicSleep (word msecs) {

   // switch to idle mode while waiting for the next event

   lowPower(SLEEP_MODE_IDLE);

   // keep the easy tranmission mechanism going

   if (radioIsOn && rf12_easyPoll() == 0) {
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Beer fridge controller

tor — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:41:34 +0000

I keep on finding even better usage examples for a Arduino :

Beer fridge controller 0.1
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On the weekend I picked up a 220 liter beer fridge for $20. Its in really good condition (ignoring some minor rust in the freezer section), and the only real problem with it is that the thermostat doesn't work leaving the compressor on the whole time. Doug suggested that instead of just buying a new thermostat, we should build an arduino fridge controller.
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Wattson power meter OsX Mac reading

tor — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:07:08 +0000

I have now had a Wattson power meter for more than a year - and although it now comes with software for the Mac this is IMHO not terribly useful for my purposes, so I wanted to read the Wattson in real time, and use a server to send the information to other programs around the house and outside it.

This fits into the house monitoring system I am building using Arduino microcontrollers both to collect data, and to display data. More about this in other posts.

But the necessary information is hard to come by, and the public API has been a long time coming.
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