Thanks Robert I have only just got back to this. Am I correct in saying I can update TX3 firmware using Pi with latest software with usb lead? The wifi card was bought from the openenergymonitor shop so has the correct software I believe?
It’s said that you can do that, I’ve never tried it so I can’t personally endorse it. The ESP8266 from The Shop should indeed ‘just work’ - given ir receives the data in the correct format.
At this point I guess it would make sense to go continuous monitoring. Is it as simple as loading the cm firmware into the tx3’s and it will work?
I’m still not sure what hardware you have. There are two very different versions of the emonTx V3. The V3.2. used the no longer available RFµ328 module, while the V3.4 has the ATMega 328P directly on the main circuit board. Then there are two possible radio modules, the Hope RFM12B and the Hope RFM69CW. To identify which one of those you have, look here: Learn | OpenEnergyMonitor
When you can say definitively what you have, I can tell you which software will work, or what you need to change to make it work.
Board says v3.2 Oct 2013. That prob explains why it would not update connected to Pi. with rfm12b 868.
OK, The emonLibCM library itself works on all emonTx versions so far (even with limitations on the V4!)
The rfmTxLib can only transmit, but that too will work with both the RFM12B and the RFM69CW. What I suggest is exactly as I wrote to another correspondent only days ago:
Both libraries are documented, but if you run into problems, do ask.
Thanks Robert,
So I have never used GitHub Arduino or anything like that in my life. I hope I can work it out! To be clear. Are you saying that I will also need to change the program as well?
I am 60 yrs old so this kind of thing is a bit daunting!
rgds
Mark Webb
No excuses allowed - I’m 73. Yes, you will need to edit the sketch. I can do that for you, but I can’t do it immediately, it may well be a week or more before I can look at it. Let me know if you’re prepared to wait, or whether you want to give it a go. Do you have a programmer? And have the Arduino IDE set up? You’ll need both either to load a sketch I send you, or to edit and load your own.
Thanks again Robert,
I have a programmer. I have downloaded Arduino. I can’t get a serial feed from the emontx into Arduino (have downloaded drivers) And I don’t understand how to download from GitHub and get stuff into Arduino libraries. Pretty useless really! Instructions not that clear!
rgds
Mark Webb
Which instructions were you following? This is my recommendation: Learn→Electricity Monitoring→Using the Arduino IDE
I go to say Jeelib on the GitHub site but I don’t see how/where to download it?
I normally try never to waste my time with Github. If you want emonLibCM and rfmTxLib, here they are:
emonLibCM.zip (132.8 KB)
rfmTxLib.zip (61.3 KB)
thanks you are a godsend. Now I don’t have blue led on usb to uart
That’s a separate issue. Did you follow the 'Learn" pages for installing your Arduino IDE and (if you’re using Windoze) the driver? Did you get the correct driver for your programmer - because The Shop has sold two versions of programmer?
I am using a max and old programmer. I have followed the learn article and installed what I believe to be the correct drivers. All seems to be ok as long as the installer put them in the correct place
That’s good progress.
My best guess is your programmer has a red LED, not a blue one. As far as I know, there is only one LED on the programmer.
I think the next step will be to see if you can compile one of the demo sketches in emonLibCM. It won’t necessarily work without some changes, so don’t try to upload it yet. If you can compile it without errors, that will show that you have most things in place and working.
if I click on any of the sketches that you sent me. they open in arduino with no errors. Not sure what “compile” means.
rgds
Mark Webb
“Compile” means turning the human-readable sketch you are looking at into a low-level set of instructions that the processor can use. In the Arduino window, top left, there’s a menu: File Edit Sketch Tools Help; and immediately beneath it a set of icons. If you hover your mouse over those, they read Verify Upload New Open Save. The same things are all available via the menu
Verify is what I meant by “Compile” - but it doesn’t send the result to the emonTx. Upload first compiles the sketch, then (provided that there are no errors) sends it to the emonTx.
I think we might need to pause there, and I’ll try to find time this week to put a sketch together for you. I’ve got an emonTx V3.2 here, with an 868 MHz RFM12B, so I can prove everything is correct before I send it. But it will be several days before I can promise to do it.
Ok I can wait. Pretty busy this week anyway.