System setup problem

Hey all,

 

            I have recently bought the whole emontxv3 assembled version along with a rasperrypi and the RF transmitter ( all 868 Mhz version). I followed the exact procedures in setting up the sd card but there is no feed to the emoncms. I changed the url, api key, and the frequency to 868 in the emonhub.conf

 

yet i noticed that when i operate the rasperrypi, I get an error whenever i want to change password, expand the root or even change the keyboard.

 

Please advise about this situation

pb66's picture

Re: System setup problem

Using the standard SD card image the Pi will boot up in read-only mode so although the menu pops up any changes attempted using"raspi-config" at start up cannot be written to disk. Once you log-in to the PI, you can set read & write mode and then start raspi-config from the command line

rpi-rw
sudo raspi-config

This should let you set the timezone, keyboard and password etc, but you will not be able to expand the rootfs using the menu because of the 3rd partition, you should be able find a few posts about resizing partitions etc using the forum search.

If you set emonhub's loglevel to debug in the conf, you can see what is happening with emonhub and your data using

tail -f /var/log/emonhub/emonhub.log

Paul

welbaz's picture

Re: System setup problem

Hey Paul,

 

 I did change the time zone, keyboard, password, but I didn't exapnad the rootfs.

 

so far when i show out the emonub.log

thats the output  and I can't really figure it out

1970-01-01 01:00:50,855 INFO EmonHub Pre-Release Development Version (rc1.0)
1970-01-01 01:00:50,858 INFO Opening hub...
1970-01-01 01:00:53,893 WARNING 1 Discarded RX frame 'non-numerical content' : ['>\x00', '8b']
1970-01-01 01:00:54,299 WARNING 3 Discard RX frame 'information' : ['>', '210g']
1970-01-01 01:00:54,705 WARNING 5 Discard RX frame 'information' : ['>', '15i']
1970-01-01 01:26:58,477 INFO EmonHub Pre-Release Development Version (rc1.0)
1970-01-01 01:26:58,479 INFO Opening hub...
1970-01-01 01:27:01,513 WARNING 1 Discard RX frame 'information' : ['>', '8b']
1970-01-01 01:27:01,919 WARNING 3 Discard RX frame 'information' : ['>', '210g']
1970-01-01 01:27:02,326 WARNING 5 Discard RX frame 'information' : ['>', '15i']

Thanks

sam

welbaz's picture

Re: System setup problem

Also, do I need to do any installation for the rfm12pi module. or just plug and play

 

pb66's picture

Re: System setup problem

Hi Sam, the problem is the Pi thinks it is currently "1970" this is a known issue that's easily fixed by running

rpi-rw
git clone https://github.com/emonhub/ntp-backup.git ~/ntp-backup && ~/ntp-backup/install

it's caused by running in read only mode and upsetting the default way the Pi's clock works. You can get more info about this in the Read-only image time issues thread.

Paul

welbaz's picture

Re: System setup problem

Thanks alot for the help. I followed your lead. Now the EMONCMS got just one message with weird numbers, but here your the emonhub log after changing the mood from warnning to debug. Yet,  Istill can't figure out whats the issue.
 

tail -f /var/log/emonhub/emonhub.log
2014-12-03 14:10:38,720 INFO EmonHub Pre-Release Development Version (rc1.0)
2014-12-03 14:10:38,723 INFO Opening hub...
2014-12-03 14:10:38,726 INFO Logging level set to DEBUG
2014-12-03 14:10:38,729 INFO Creating EmonHubEmoncmsReporter 'emonCMS'
2014-12-03 14:10:38,734 INFO Set up reporter 'emonCMS' (buffer: memory | size: 1000)
2014-12-03 14:10:38,738 INFO Creating EmonHubJeeInterfacer 'RFM2Pi'
2014-12-03 14:10:38,741 DEBUG Opening serial port: /dev/ttyAMA0
2014-12-03 14:10:38,745 INFO Opened serial port: /dev/ttyAMA0 9600 bits/s
2014-12-03 14:10:38,748 DEBUG Setting RFM2Pi frequency: 868 (8b)
2014-12-03 14:10:39,751 DEBUG Setting RFM2Pi group: 210 (210g)
2014-12-03 14:10:40,755 DEBUG Setting RFM2Pi baseid: 15 (15i)
2014-12-03 14:10:41,777 DEBUG 1 NEW FRAME : 1417612241.78 > 8b
2014-12-03 14:10:41,780 WARNING 1 Discard RX frame 'information' : ['>', '8b']
2014-12-03 14:10:41,985 DEBUG 2 NEW FRAME : 1417612241.99
2014-12-03 14:10:41,989 INFO 2 Ignoring frame consisting of SOH character
2014-12-03 14:10:42,194 DEBUG 3 NEW FRAME : 1417612242.19 > 210g
2014-12-03 14:10:42,198 WARNING 3 Discard RX frame 'information' : ['>', '210g']
2014-12-03 14:10:42,403 DEBUG 4 NEW FRAME : 1417612242.4
2014-12-03 14:10:42,406 INFO 4 Ignoring frame consisting of SOH character
2014-12-03 14:10:42,611 DEBUG 5 NEW FRAME : 1417612242.61 > 15i
2014-12-03 14:10:42,615 WARNING 5 Discard RX frame 'information' : ['>', '15i']
2014-12-03 14:10:42,832 DEBUG 6 NEW FRAME : 1417612242.83
2014-12-03 14:10:42,835 INFO 6 Ignoring frame consisting of SOH character

 

 

by the way... this is the runtime settings.

 group = 210
        frequency = 868
        baseid = 15

I used the 868 frequency as its the europe version.

 

Thanks alot for your help and please advice me if its a problem with the hardware

welbaz's picture

Re: System setup problem

is there specific setting for the europe 868 Mhz version. I just changed the frequency from 433 to 868. is there anything I should change. I have bougth the emontx assembled ( 868) version and preloaded. Should be anything be done about it.

pb66's picture

Re: System setup problem

The log looks as expected, emonHub is communicating with the RFM2Pi ok and has set the baseid, group and frequency and the RFM2Pi has confirmed the settings.

Providing the RFM2Pi and emonTx are both 868 the only change required is the one you have made, editing 433 to 868 in the emonhub.conf.

Where the log ends is where I would expect the data to start logging, check the RFM2Pi, it has a tiny green led which flashes each time a packet is received, if it flashes every so often you should be seeing more emonhub's log, if it is not flashing it is not getting a signal from emonTx.

​Is emonTx power up ok? any led activity ? do you have any CT's attached ? is it battery powered or AC powered ? and do you have a FTDI usb programming lead you can hook up to see the emonTx serial output?

Try moving it closer, until you see the RFM2Pi led flash there will be no data for emonHub to process.

Paul 

welbaz's picture

Re: System setup problem

Whats happening is a bit weird actually. My system is AC powered and one current transformer sensor is connecting

the hub and emontx are almost side by side. EmonTx was flashing red as soon as I connect it to power. Suddenly the system started feeding in beautifully to the emoncms and then I wanted to change the nodes

[[99]] datacode = h datacodes = l, h, h, h,

with:

[[10]] datacodes = L, h, h, h, h, l, l, l, l

 

then it all failed again and the rfm is not even blinking anymore. I changed back to the normal installation of the data codes, but its not working as well.

I'm pretty lost at the moment and can't figure out a specific reason

pb66's picture

Re: System setup problem

When using the default emonTX sketch, there is no need to set the datacodes as the sketch sends data in the default " signed ints  as byte pairs " and emonHub handles that by default. If you want different data from the emonTX you will have to change the sketch and if the new sketch requires the datacodes to be specified because they are not in the default format, the datacodes need to be set to match the sketch.

So without the datacodes in the nodes section of the conf you should concentrate on getting that green led regularly flashing on the RFM2Pi.

​With the CT(s) already connected reset the emonTx by reconnecting the AC adapter (the emontx only checks for ct's at start up if they not there at start up it won't work. Is the RFM2Pi led flashing ?

welbaz's picture

Re: System setup problem

No the RFM2Pi is dead. It just get on once when switch on

pksmith's picture

Re: System setup problem

I was having a similar issue, booting up my pi with the preloaded card for the first time. Thanks to your post, I used 'rpi-rw' and 'sudo raspi-config' to change the timezone and password. Im not quite sure what to do next. I have already changed my apikey in the Emondhub.conf file but I don't see any inputs coming in.

 

Edit: Noobie error, I had not updated the url. I am now receiving inputs.

pb66's picture

Re: System setup problem

welbaz - Do you have a FTDI usb programmer

welbaz's picture

Re: System setup problem

no, but its suddenly now finally working

pb66's picture

Re: System setup problem

Is it possible you have something nearby that could interfere with the RF ? or did you alter / disturb anything ?

It maybe worth getting a FTDI lead it's a handy thing to have. and essential if you want to expand the data collected.

welbaz's picture

Re: System setup problem

I will buy one then immediately

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