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[OBSOLETE] TinySensor v1.4

By Martin | June 6, 2012 | 11 Comments |

11 thoughts on “[OBSOLETE] TinySensor v1.4”

  1. nozlaf

    very cool design, I am interested in if this design would benefit from the addition of a RTC? I’m considering building a data logger for placement in a harsh remote environment and logging in date / time of the reading is important

    Reply ↓
  2. peter nolan

    Hi, Received and assembled my TinySensor 1.4 today thanks. Project is Raspberry Pi with rfm12b(as emoncms base). I’m using arduino to programme TinySensor and not sure how to connect together (ok with sw I think). Can I use use dedicated port (sized 2×5 pins) on tinysensor and a few wires. Can you please provide wiring diagram or guide. Many Thanks Peter

    Reply ↓
    1. admin Post author

      Hi Peter,

      The 2×5 header is for connecting to the Pi only, you can’t program it from there. If you don’t own an ISP programmer, then I think our next best option is to follow Nathan’s instructions as provided here http://nathan.chantrell.net/20120225/an-attiny-based-wireless-temperature-sensor/
      see the section “Using an Arduino as an ICSP programmer”. That will require that you take out the ATTiny84 chip (I hope you used the dip socket I also include), Nathan’s post has a pretty good close-up picture of the wiring as well, plus a description.
      I guess you have set up your Arduino IDE to work with ATTinys as I described here: http://harizanov.com/2012/08/setting-up-arduino-ide-for-working-with-attinys/
      If for some reason this turns out hard, I can send you pre-programmed ATTiny84 that you will only have to plug in. As you probably noticed, I now offer pre-built and pre-programmed rfm2pi board, because I was afraid of such situations :). Anyway, that takes away a part of the learning experience, so when you manage it, you will have a lot new knowledge.

      You have my email address (the paypal address), you can contact me for further guidance there. In any case, let me know how it worked out.

      Reply ↓
  3. Peter

    Hi Martin,
    Thanks for guide, | think I nearly there. I have uploaded to Attiny84 using arduino. I get the following:
    Binary sketch size: 7,474 bytes (of a 8,192 byte maximum)
    avrdude: please define PAGEL and BS2 signals in the configuration file for part ATtiny84
    avrdude: please define PAGEL and BS2 signals in the configuration file for part ATtiny84
    Com 7 displays @9600: yyy
    Is there any way to test its working before putting back into TinySensor. Whats next step. I have raspberry pi ready to go (I think).
    Thanks
    Peter

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    1. admin Post author

      Good,
      Indeed you are making progress, the sketch size matches what I get.
      As Nathan says in the post I referred, the ‘PAGEL and BS2’ message can be safely ignored, as long as it says “Done uploading” at the end.
      How did you get the COM7 output? Did you use a FTDI cable for the purpose? Testing is easy, just hook the VCC, GND, TX and RX pins to FTDI and you shoud be able to see some output @ baud 9600. Note that if you have a 5V FTDI cable, you can do this only with the ATTiny chip removed from TinySensor as the 5V will destroy the RFM12b module (bit it is safe for the ATTiny)

      I assume you have the ATTiny operate at 8Mhz, otherwise it will not work with the RFM12b

      ATTiny84:
      rxPin 7 //PA3
      txPin 3 //PA7

      FTDI cable:
      BLACK – GND (hook to Tiny’s GND pin)
      BROWN – CTS (don’t use)
      RED – 5V (hook to Tiny’s VCC pin)
      ORANGE – TX (hook to Tiny’s RX pin i.e. PA3 aka digital 7)
      YELLOW – RX (hook to Tiny’s TX pin i.e. PA7 aka digital 3)
      GREEN – RTS (do not use)

      Anyway, make sure the terminal program runs at 9600 too. It is perfetly safe to return the chip to the TinySensor and test this on the Rasperry Pi with minicom terminal program

      Reply ↓
  4. PeterN

    Hi, No luck over weekend. I had to reload fresh wheezy on raspberry pi as it hung and I now have some issues with wifi (wr703n on openwrt) on ethernet. Will try again next weekend. I’ll keep you posted on progress.
    Thanks
    Peter

    Reply ↓
  5. PeterN

    Hi, Do I need to configure TinySensor e.g. frequency 868Mhz, Network 212 and node ID 31 (tinysensor). If I do could you please provide a guide or example.
    Thanks in advance. Peter

    Reply ↓
    1. admin Post author

      Type ‘h’ in the serial console to see the current configuration and help:

      Available commands:
      i – set node ID (standard node ids are 1..26)
      (or enter an uppercase ‘A’..’Z’ to set id)
      b – set MHz band (4 = 433, 8 = 868, 9 = 915)
      g – set network group (RFM12 only allows 212, 0 = any)
      c – set collect mode (advanced, normally 0)
      …, a – send data packet to node , with ack
      …,       s – send data packet to node , no ack
      l – turn activity LED on DIG8 on or off
       q – set quiet mode (1 = don’t report bad packets)
      Current configuration:
      65 i1 g210 @ 868 MHz

      so basically to set the node id you type this command:
      25i

      this will set the node ID to 25. Type ‘h’ to confirm it visually in the “Current configuration” line.

      To set the band type the following:
      8b

      this will set the band to 868Mhz. Type ‘h’ to confirm it visually in the “Current configuration” line.

      to set the group type:
      210g

      this will set the group to the default one 212. Type ‘h’ to confirm it visually in the “Current configuration” line.

      That’s the most important set of commands.

      What data are you going to pick up?

      Reply ↓
  6. PeterN

    Hi, Thanks a mil. One more question please. What’s the serial console? – please excuse if a dump question. I using arduino uno as ISP to load RF12demo and minicom on raspberry pi. Cheers Peter

    Reply ↓

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