Old hardware support

Hardware
1

Hello, I’ve just dug out an old box of gear that I bought from the emon store back in 2013, originally working on a first gen raspberry pi.

Would anyone be able to advise if these components are still supported?

RFM12PiV2868
EMONTX868

I recognise I’ll need a more up to date pi to run the host software.

Many thanks
M

2

Welcome @mjdyson to the OEM forum.

We no longer use the 868 MHz band, so you won’t find any modern sketches with that as the default. But it doesn’t mean to say you cannot use it - I do.

I guess your emonTx is a V2 - I have one and it works still with the old sketches, and with many of the modern ones - once you change the I/O pins and delete things like the DIP switches that are fitted to the emonTx V3.4. And I think there is still software available for the RFM12Pi.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to tun the very latest emonPiCM software, because that needs the RFM69CW radio module.

However, it’s probably worth trying the present emonCMS - it runs for me on a RPi 2B, but it does take a while to draw a big (time-wise) graph.

3

The other option could be to use EmonESP to make the EmonTX communicate over WiFi.

4

Superb. Thank you both. I unfortunately neglected the original install and then kids came along and hey… time is no longer my own!

Yeah it’s a v2 self soldered kit. I’ll get it all out together and see what I can make working. Are there any upgrade paths of radios?

Thanks for the suggestion of emonESP too. I’ve got quite a lot of things in HomeAssistant, so that might be a decent way to go, given their new energy focus.

M

5

I’m a fan of using a Pi Zero rather than the EmonESP - more versatile.

6

If you’ve soldered them directly onto the PCB as intended, most likely not. Your problem is to melt the solder on all 16 pads simultaneously, without lifting the pads on the main board. Unless you have somebody who has access to the proper tools and skills to remove the radio module without damaging the main PCB, I wouldn’t recommend trying.

If you can remove the RFM12B without damaging the main board, then although the software is vastly different, the RFM69CW is a pin-for-pin replacement. I have a V2 with a RFM69CW fitted.

I wasn’t quite specific enough when I wrote that. You can run the RFM69 Native format software on the emonTx with the RFM12B, you can’t receive in that format with a RFM12B in you RFM12Pi, you must have a RFM69CW.