[SOLVED] Raspberry b+, emonSD-13-08-14 and rfm12pi v2.6: Unable to communicate with rfm12pi

Hi,

I recently received a OEM bundle (emonTXv3; emonTH; raspberry B+ and the rfm12pi card), downloaded emonSD-13-08-14 and installed it to a SD card following this.

 

The OS is working fine, I enabled local emoncms and configured my /boot/emonhub.conf as explained on your documentation pages, and it is currently looking like this:

$ sed -e 's/#.*$//' -e '/^$/d' /boot/emonhub.conf

[hub]
loglevel = DEBUG
[reporters]
[[emonCMS]]
    Type = EmonHubEmoncmsReporter
    [[[init_settings]]]
    [[[runtimesettings]]]
        url = http://192.168.1.169/emoncms
        apikey = b53ec1abe610c66009b207d6207f2c9e
[interfacers]
[[RFM2Pi]]
    Type = EmonHubJeeInterfacer
    [[[init_settings]]]
        com_port = /dev/ttyAMA0
    [[[runtimesettings]]]
        group = 210
        frequency = 433
        baseid = 15
[nodes]
[[99]]
    datacode = h
    datacodes = l, h, h, h,

When started, the log seems OK:

2014-12-25 23:44:15,427 INFO EmonHub Pre-Release Development Version (rc1.0)
2014-12-25 23:44:15,431 INFO Opening hub...
2014-12-25 23:44:15,435 INFO Logging level set to DEBUG
2014-12-25 23:44:15,439 INFO Creating EmonHubEmoncmsReporter 'emonCMS'
2014-12-25 23:44:15,454 INFO Set up reporter 'emonCMS' (buffer: memory | size: 1000)
2014-12-25 23:44:15,460 DEBUG Setting emonCMS url: http://192.168.1.169/emoncms
2014-12-25 23:44:15,464 INFO Creating EmonHubJeeInterfacer 'RFM2Pi'
2014-12-25 23:44:15,469 DEBUG Opening serial port: /dev/ttyAMA0
2014-12-25 23:44:15,477 INFO Opened serial port: /dev/ttyAMA0 9600 bits/s
2014-12-25 23:44:15,481 DEBUG Setting RFM2Pi frequency: 433 (4b)
2014-12-25 23:44:16,486 DEBUG Setting RFM2Pi group: 210 (210g)
2014-12-25 23:44:17,491 DEBUG Setting RFM2Pi baseid: 15 (15i)

All seems to be fine (doesn't it ?), but when logging into emoncms, I noticed that no inputs where detected (the docs I read about the pre-configured modules suggest that it's automatic once the remote mods are detected).

Again as suggested, I closed emonhub, and launched minicom:

# minicom -b9600 -D/dev/ttyAMA0

but I'm not able to send anything, and the only output looks strange:

Welcome to minicom 2.6.1

OPTIONS: I18n
Compiled on Apr 28 2012, 19:24:31.
Port /dev/ttyAMA0

Press CTRL-A Z for help on special keys

CCGÃÃGSAÃCCEÿ

the actual output line just continues to increment, and after say a minute, would look like this:

CCGÃÃGSAÃCCEÿCÑñCÑõCQñCCGCWÃÃÃCECQõCÁ×AGCCGQAÿCCÃCCÃGSÇGGõCGGGWÃÇCÃASUõCEGÑSGCCGCCõCGÃCÇGSCCWÇÑõCQõCQõCGCCCÃCGÃCCUõCCUCCÃECÇGCSAÿCÇCCCÇÇACCÇSõCQõCÿ

As the many posts on forums and the documentation suggest, I checked the inittab and cmdline files, who are looking good (as far as I understand !)

# cat /boot/cmdline.txt

dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline rootwait

# grep AMA /etc/inittab
#T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyAM

also rpi-serial-console seems to say all is ok:

# rpi-serial-console status
Serial console on /dev/ttyAMA0 is disabled

So, at this point I'm not to sure what's going on, as my knoledge about all my new tools are still quite limited !

Is there anything I have missed ? Has anyone else faced this issue ?

Any help / orientation is welcome :)

 

EDIT:

I forgot to talk about the led on the rfm12pi.

At boot, turns on for a few secs, then blinks from time to time (as if it was detecting the data sent by the TX and TH mods.

bond79's picture

Re: [SOLVED] Raspberry b+, emonSD-13-08-14 and rfm12pi v2.6: Unable to communicate with rfm12pi

I am not sure, what's the default baud rate for the rfm12pi, but the garbled output is probably due to wrong baud rate.

Test different baud rates with minicom (I would first try 57600) and then put the one that works  in emonhub.conf with "com_baud = 57600" in the init_settings below com_port.

I think there is also a newer version of emonhub, that tests automatically for different baud rate at launch.

etal's picture

Re: [SOLVED] Raspberry b+, emonSD-13-08-14 and rfm12pi v2.6: Unable to communicate with rfm12pi

Hello M. Bond

Flat on ! 57600bps seems to be the exact ehange rate. I'm now able to receive the data from both my modules.

I tested a few last night, but gave up before reaching 57600bps.

Thanks very much.

pb66's picture

Re: [SOLVED] Raspberry b+, emonSD-13-08-14 and rfm12pi v2.6: Unable to communicate with rfm12pi

Hi etal,

Successfully connecting to the rfm2pi @ 57600 means it is one of the latest "rf69" equipped rfm2pi's. Manually setting the baud in emonhub.conf will work perfectly well but you may want to read  the "RFM12Pi with RFM69CW" thread, The baud has since been changed in production and you may wish to update yours to keep inline with the current "standard" specifications. (recommended but not essential, however you should at least be aware)

Paul

etal's picture

Re: [SOLVED] Raspberry b+, emonSD-13-08-14 and rfm12pi v2.6: Unable to communicate with rfm12pi

Hello Paul,

 

Thankyou for the clarification. I didn't pay attention to the board type.

All working fine now, I'm happily monitoring my home installation :)

 

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