Hydreon RG-15

[Rob73]

I have a few of those RG-15 rain sensors. It has a serial connection and a normal output when it detects a raindrop. I can talk to them with an esp32-s3-zero through a regular Arduino IDE serial sketch on the serial line. So I verified its working as its supposed to. I can not get it to respond to any serial commands from ESP-EASY.

Is anyone successfully using one of these devices?

I have done some serial stuff with ESP-EASY, I think I have it configured correctly but I am not sure I completely understand it all. The sensor should respond to a handful of commands per the data sheet, which I do through the regular Arduino IDE sketch. I am curious if I am sending it the command from ESP-EASY correctly. I have it setup as a Serial Server under a Communication device. Sending the device a simple "R" command initiates the sensor to spit out all available data. I have a scope and it looks like there is activity on the tx gpio when i give it a serialsend,"R" command. I show activity on the tx line of the sensor coming back to the esp32 suggesting that it is spitting out the data. I have tried formatting it every way with quotes, without, carriage returns and newlines & without.

Am I correct that I should be able to see the data come in on the serialserver on the tools - log page? Or am I missing something there also? I have it set for generic event processing and process events without client selected.

I have the latest build, collection c on an esp32-s3-zero.

Rob

[Ath]

To be able to see all data in the log and events, it's needed to either connect to the configured TCP (or since recently UDP) port, OR check the "Process events without client" checkbox. That'll help a lot in the logging.

And, watching the log via the USB-serial port of the ESP has a clear advantage over the web-log, as that's updated immediately, instead of via a (small) script running in the browser, so nothing is lost 'in translation' there.

[Rob73]

I never thought about watching the log through the usb serial console. That sounds like a good idea. I will watch that and see what comes through there.
I do have the process events without client checked.

Thanks.
I will get back to testing....


Rob

[Ath]

For receiving less small 'chunky' parts of data from a serial device, you can set the RX Receive Timeout to ~5 msec, to make the plugin wait a little longer for incoming data, especially on a slower rate like 9600 baud.

[Rob73]

I will have to try that. I need to learn more about talking over uart. I struggle working with it. I dont understand enough about it for sure.

Rob

[chiuaua]

An old post from me (about RG-9) with someone else with an RG-15 as well: https://www.letscontrolit.com/forum/vi ... 815#p55815.

I have had the RG-9 running OK with a wemos D1 mini pro and espeasy serial server where it responded to my R\n and K\n appropriately. For some reason the RG-9 serial seemed to have died after which I have used the “does it rain” relay in it for a while as a “switch” on one of the GPIO’s.

One year ago I overhauled my box with a new RG-9 and rewiring with some home made dupont cables. That worked until two weeks ago. The RG-9 already had sent a reboot due to “low voltage” two weeks prior and not long after that the D1 mini pro became unreachable, even after power cycling, not even transmitting my light sensor’s MQTT messages. Investigation at my box revealed that one year ago I have supplied the 5v input voltage to the 3.3v pin of the D1 mini pro

I replaced the D1 mini pro, flashed a newly built espeasy, wired it up correctly last week and am unable to read or reach the RG-9. I possibly fried it as well . On top of that I of course never saved the setup from espeasy so had to redo it all manually again.

Long story: I have been able in the last years to properly communicate with a hydreon sensor via espeasy (with a socat connection linked to openhab). Will fiddle a little bit next weeks to get everything going again otherwise buy a new RG-9 (again)…

Would love to hear if you get it going in the meantime.

[TD-er]

If you still have the old ESP, maybe you can make a dump of the flash chip using the Python esptool.py ?

[chiuaua]

I swapped the board on the roof with another one I revived and tested with the same espeasy image but on a nodeMCU. On the nodeMCU no special settings and working flawlessly for the Hydroen, both sending and receiving.

The D1 mini pro on the roof does not, although the led on the RG9 shows good response. Hence it is in my serial wiring between hydreon and D1 mini pro (or possibly the different custom port number I’ve chosen). Have to troubleshoot further, but all in all my NodeMCU is the proof that everything works with espeasy in both directions.

[Ath]

The D1 mini pro on the roof does not, although the led on the RG9 shows good response. Hence it is in my serial wiring between hydreon and D1 mini pro (or possibly the different custom port number I’ve chosen). Have to troubleshoot further, but all in all my NodeMCU is the proof that everything works with espeasy in both directions.

What exact serial settings have you used in the plugin? Is the "Enable Serial Port Console" setting unchecked on the Tools/Advanced page?

[chiuaua]

Nothing special. The device settings are standard (the prefilled ones), except for name and port.
For port I’ve used 32908 on my D1 mini pro (just like the board that died) and 1234 for the nodeMCU.

And I turned off the serial port console in Advanced settings.