Hello Experts (my definition of an expert is someone with more knowledge or skill than I... so that should be everyone!)
I've been using a Current Cost Envir (http://www.currentcost.com/product-envir-specifications.html) for some time with the gateway product Net Smart. Its been working quite unreliably for many years :). Mainly the Net Smart device seems to give up and you find out your data hasn't been gathered for quite a while.
So I've taken the plunge and bought a Pi with the RFM12PiV2_433 module, with the understanding that it would receive data transmitted from my existing CurrentCost OptiSmart (http://www.currentcost.com/product-optismart.html) transmitter.
Experts... I'm struggling. I've finally got the Pi to boot in "Rock Solid Gateway Forwarder" mode (I don't think my powered hub and/or USB HDD are compatible with the Pi... but that's another story). I updated the oemgateway.conf file with my frequency shorthand code (4), put my API key in the emoncms_remote section. Plugged her in and... I get this:
2014-03-26 16:30:03,384 INFO Logging level set to DEBUG
2014-03-26 16:30:03,388 INFO Opening gateway...
2014-03-26 16:30:03,391 INFO Creating buffer emoncms_local
2014-03-26 16:30:03,395 INFO Creating buffer emoncms_remote
2014-03-26 16:30:03,400 INFO Creating listener RFM2Pi
2014-03-26 16:30:03,404 DEBUG Opening serial port: /dev/ttyAMA0
2014-03-26 16:30:03,409 INFO Setting send time interval to 300
2014-03-26 16:30:03,412 INFO Setting RFM2Pi | frequency: 4
2014-03-26 16:30:04,417 INFO Setting RFM2Pi | sgroup: 210
2014-03-26 16:30:05,421 INFO Setting RFM2Pi | baseid: 15
2014-03-26 16:30:06,426 INFO Creating listener Socket
2014-03-26 16:30:06,429 DEBUG Opening socket on port 50011
2014-03-26 16:30:06,453 DEBUG Broadcasting time: 16:30
2014-03-26 16:30:06,458 INFO Serial RX: > 4b
2014-03-26 16:30:06,663 INFO Serial RX:
2014-03-26 16:30:06,666 WARNING Misformed RX frame: ['\x01']
2014-03-26 16:30:06,872 INFO Serial RX: > 210g
2014-03-26 16:30:07,076 INFO Serial RX:
2014-03-26 16:30:07,080 WARNING Misformed RX frame: ['\x01']
2014-03-26 16:30:07,285 INFO Serial RX: > 15i
2014-03-26 16:30:07,508 INFO Serial RX:
2014-03-26 16:30:07,512 WARNING Misformed RX frame: ['\x01']
2014-03-26 16:30:07,717 INFO Serial RX: > 0s
2014-03-26 16:30:07,923 INFO Serial RX: -> 4 b
and every 5 minutes get more...
2014-03-26 18:25:08,523 DEBUG Broadcasting time: 18:25
2014-03-26 18:25:08,729 INFO Serial RX: > 0s
2014-03-26 18:25:08,935 INFO Serial RX: -> 4 b
Nothing appears in my Emoncms account in terms of energy readings.
What have I missed? The instructions appear very straight forward, yet I for the life of me cannot get a single reading. Feeling a bit dopy to be honest, as I've been at this for 2 days on and off.
Please advise - keen as mustard to get this working... and then onto understanding why my Pi won't boot when USBHDD is connected (would like to host my own data).
Looking forward to your advice.
Re: Newbie - am I missing a step? ANSWERED
I hate to say it, but an unmodified RFM12PiV2_433 isn't going to read data from a currentcost tranmitter, as current cost uses a different protocol to openenergymonitor.
Whilst the currentcost protocol is proprietry, it has been reverse engineered and if you google something like :
"Reading CurrentCost TX directly with a Pi" you might very well find a page that can help you reconfigure the RFM12Pi to recieve data from a currentcost device. You would then have to modify the forwarding script to take the data and forward it to emoncms.
Dependant on how much you value your time, it might be easier to fully join the openenergymonitor community and purchase a openenergymonitor transmitter ;-)
Re: Newbie - am I missing a step? ANSWERED
Ahhh... I see. Thanks for the insight.
I'm guessing the reverse engineering work is perhaps far beyond my personal technical ability. Unless someone has already done it and would be happy to share how it is done??
Am I correct in assuming that at least the pulse sensor plugged into my CurrentCost transmitter is reusable with the OEM transmitter?
I would be prepared to invest in a new transmission system, if I can get some feedback on a couple of ideas - which could give a lot more value to my Pi based home energy logger/server. I'll open up a new thread to ask those questions.
Thank you Moose for the quick response. For now I have stopped plugging and unplugging my Pi, and reading the instructions while scratching my head.