HeaterMeter v4.0 for RaspberyPi / Standalone


 
John Bostwick said:
I use a service called No-ip, so that I can have a web address for an internal Ip(Rpi). For instance I use www.heatermeter.servebeer.com on my phone and it takes me to my heatermeter. All you need is to know the ip for each Rpi and your modems IP address(No-ip will tell you that) and you set up a host for each Rpi. You might have to foward your RPI's ip address in the router, thats pretty simple to do in the routers setup pages.
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I did set this up, with a little google on how to do the port forward on my router, I did not yet setup the dynamic IP stuff at no-ip. but until my IP changes this should work :). Just a raspberry pi, no heatermeter yet.


Edit: deleted the links....dunno if it is a security risk, might be :)



Bill
 
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Bryan Mayland said:
Let's start with this. Are you using the openwrt-rpi.zip from here? I just flashed that to an SD card and booted it up but have no anomalies and all the web page tabs come up fine. Does the LinkMeter config page have all the values filled in or is it just blank? Does the rest of the website work without the HeaterMeter board attached?

I can't imagine what would make the button on the HeaterMeter unresponsive unless the voltages aren't right. Sounds like there's some sort of hardware issue but I have no idea what it could be.
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Yes those are the openwrt images I was using. The one with the 1 in it is the one that gives me the most trouble, I can log in to it at 192.168.1.1 the main page is all blank, no values for anything. I can then click on the configuration link and it takes me to the linkmeter page, it is also blank, there are no values for anything. I can enter values into all the fields but like I said the link that is supposed to be there at the bottom is not present, I also noticed when I try and click the link to the presets it does nothing. With that newest one it will error out most times when I try and go to any of the other pages/tabs, I then have to unplug the power from the RPi and then plug it back in to be able to get into the linkmeter page again. With the older image, I can browse through all the tabs etc, activate the wireless, etc. The main page is blank, and the link meter page is also blank and I still can not save any settings I enter, the links to the presets do seem to work however.

Like i said it is acting very strangly. I have not tried it without the heater meter board attached, I may give that a go this week. I am also going to give yet another look over the board to make sure everything is right. I am also going to desolder and resolder the chip that connets directly to the board, I ran out of solder part way through putting that on and tried some other solder I had, I finished that chip with the other solder and I don't really like the looks of those solder joints, they are dull looking, but other than that seem to look good. I didn't solder anything else until I got more of the solder I had before.

If nothing else I will start over on another board, I got 3 of them after all, and got enough of most of the parts to build all 3, the more expensive parts ill just pull off this board. Im at a loss what to check as well.
 
Did you change the ip address to something other than 192.168.1.1? If not and your router is at the same IP address things will act very strangely.

dave

Paul S (Missouri) said:
Yes those are the openwrt images I was using. The one with the 1 in it is the one that gives me the most trouble, I can log in to it at 192.168.1.1 the main page is all blank, no values for anything. I can then click on the configuration link and it takes me to the linkmeter page, it is also blank, there are no values for anything. I can enter values into all the fields but like I said the link that is supposed to be there at the bottom is not present, I also noticed when I try and click the link to the presets it does nothing. With that newest one it will error out most times when I try and go to any of the other pages/tabs, I then have to unplug the power from the RPi and then plug it back in to be able to get into the linkmeter page again. With the older image, I can browse through all the tabs etc, activate the wireless, etc. The main page is blank, and the link meter page is also blank and I still can not save any settings I enter, the links to the presets do seem to work however.

Like i said it is acting very strangly. I have not tried it without the heater meter board attached, I may give that a go this week. I am also going to give yet another look over the board to make sure everything is right. I am also going to desolder and resolder the chip that connets directly to the board, I ran out of solder part way through putting that on and tried some other solder I had, I finished that chip with the other solder and I don't really like the looks of those solder joints, they are dull looking, but other than that seem to look good. I didn't solder anything else until I got more of the solder I had before.

If nothing else I will start over on another board, I got 3 of them after all, and got enough of most of the parts to build all 3, the more expensive parts ill just pull off this board. Im at a loss what to check as well.
Click to expand...
 
I was connected to it straight from my laptop through a small switch I have. No router, internet connection etc. I had the laptop set at 192.168.1.2 and then just accessed it through browser at the 192.168.1.1 I did notice it doing some things differently when I used IE vs. Firefox vs. Chrome. IE gave me the most fits.

I am going to try and reflash the AVR when I go to that tab in the browser it wants me to select a file, do I just use the .img file there or is there something else I need to go looking for to do that?
 
Paul S (Missouri) said:
Yes those are the openwrt images I was using. The one with the 1 in it is the one that gives me the most trouble, I can log in to it at 192.168.1.1 the main page is all blank, no values for anything.
Click to expand...
Note that the one with the .1. in the filename is the oldest image. Use just the openwrt-rpi.zip

If things are blank in the configuration page when you get there, that means there's no communication to the HeaterMeter so the nothing on it will actually work. I am going to change that page right now so that it doesn't allow you to use it if there's no communication.

Also as Dave pointed out, make sure you're not both plugged into ethernet AND on wifi at the same time. (unless you're a networking mastermind and really understand setting up multihomed routes and arp entries and so on)
 
I am no networking mastermind for sure lol! I had the same issues even with the wireless dongle removed from the RPi. I'll have time to mess with it this week, based on your comment it sounds like a communication problem, which is probably a hardware issue of some sort so I will concentrate my efforts there. I highly doubt it is on the software side since everyone else seems to be using it without issue. I have no doubts that the problem likely lies within something that I did!
 
Paul S (Missouri) said:
I am going to try and reflash the AVR when I go to that tab in the browser it wants me to select a file, do I just use the .img file there or is there something else I need to go looking for to do that?
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No, the AVR firmware is the HeaterMeter firmware and is the HEX file. IF you don't build your own, use "from online repository" and select a target of v3.2+. Your rPi must be connected to the internet for this to work, and it does not work at all in IE because their browser is a piece of ****. If it is not, download the firmware manually and use "from local machine".

If you're not seeing anything show up on the configuration page, there's a pretty good chance this won't work either though.
 
Thanks for the help Bryan, I am going to start on the hardware end tonight and see if I can get this thing sorted out. I have a feeling my impatience with the solder thing may have bit me in the @#$ on this. Hopefully I can get it sorted, otherwise I'll just start over on one of my other boards. Hopefully I can get it sorted in time to do my Thanksgiving turkey!

And I agree that IE is a piece of crap as well, I only tried it as a last resort, first time I have ever even used it on this computer.
 
I'd say give it a go without the HeaterMeter attached and with the openwrt-rpi.zip firmware. Don't set a password or anything, just check out the web UI. If it still is behaving strangely, telnet in and check the `dmesg` for errors. Also check `logread`.

You can also check the 5V and 3.3V levels with a multimeter with the HeaterMeter plugged in. If the power is wonky who knows what sort of problems you might have.
 
Now in github:
-- Config page shows nothing except troubleshooting information if no serial communication is established
-- AVR Firmware page now allows you to flash hex files from /lib/firmware (i.e. the "default" heatermeter hex)
 
Bryan Mayland said:
I'd say give it a go without the HeaterMeter attached and with the openwrt-rpi.zip firmware. Don't set a password or anything, just check out the web UI. If it still is behaving strangely, telnet in and check the `dmesg` for errors. Also check `logread`.

You can also check the 5V and 3.3V levels with a multimeter with the HeaterMeter plugged in. If the power is wonky who knows what sort of problems you might have.
Click to expand...

Well I tried it without the heatermeater connected and have the exact same issues, there is no change at all. And I was mistaken earlier, the latest version is the one that gives me the most issues. I can get to the config page only, if I try to go to any other tabs or links I get this error "connection attempt to 192.168.1.1 was rejected. The website may be down blah blah blah", Once I get that its done, the only way I can get back into it again is to unplug the power form the RPi and then plug it back in. The older image of openWrt I can actually get to all the other tabs like the wireless etc.. but it is still not working correctly. I am using a Transcend 8GB SDHC card do you suppose that may be the issue? I have also tried another brand, same size from my wifes camera, same issues. Since it does it without the HM installed I assume it is either the RPi itself or the image that is written to the card? Perhaps something is going wrong during the write process.

Here is a shot of the logread. Looks like there are some sort of errors to do with the SD card, do you suppose that is my issue?
logread.png
 
Oh that is 100% without a doubt what your problem is. When I was developing the firmware image, when I'd get that error message things wouldn't work very well at all. It would hang on most accesses of the filesystem which is what you're seeing.

A) Check your voltages check your voltages check your voltages check your voltages. If your power is sagging then this can create sorts of problems running things out of spec.
B) If the voltages are ok, try yet another SD card. I know you've tried one other, but if the voltages are ok then it is either your Pi is busted or you just have really uncanny luck that you'd have 2 SD cards that aren't compatible with the Pi.
 
I was doing voltage checks while I was waiting on your reply. Everything appears to be ok. I get exactly 5.0v on the test points on the RPi. I also get the voltages on the GPIO pins as shown below. I am going to go hunt down a different SD card and a new card reader as mine does not read the HC cards I found out. I have been using the built in card reader thing on my laptop to write the image to the SD card, maybe that is part of the issue. I do get a pop up that says something to the effect of "writing to a device can corrupt the device" something like that and then it goes on and says write complete. Also when I put the SD card in the reader on my laptop once it is writen I can not access it at all, it shows up as a drive, but when I click on it in explorer it says it has not been formated, it also gives me fits when I try to reformat it to rewrite the image, it shows up as 8mb free I have to format that with FAT from explorer, eject the card, reinsert it, and format it again from drive manager, only then do I get the full 8GB back. Sometimes I have to do that several times to get it to work.

Should I be able to view the files on the SD card from explorer once the image is written or is it normal to not allow it, I assumed it was normal but this is my first foray into this realm.
GPIOs.jpg
 
Yeah those voltages look perfect apart from the RXD which if you have a HeaterMeter plugged in is probably just it transmitting data. If you have no HM plugged in, that's fine because that pin is an input so the other side drives it.

The message about "writing to a device can corrupt the device" is normal, that's a warning saying you're about to raw write the SD card. When it is done writing, you should be able to eject the card then put it back in and windows should see a very small drive, 8MB, with the following files in it:
Code: 
bootcode.bin
COPYING.linux
LICENCE.broadcom
start.elf
cmdline.txt
kernel.img
loader.bin
The rest of the capacity of the SD card is hidden by the fixed-size partition table, and the bigger linux partition containing openwrt. It is unusual that sometimes windows says it isn't formatted, but clearly the data gets written because otherwise I think the Pi wouldn't boot at all. I'd still say try another SD card though. I'd buy from the rPi supported cards list just to be sure, even though I know SD manufacturers change up chips all the time without changing model numbers.
 
Well I think I am going to have to order me another RPi, there must be something wrong with the one I have. I have tried it with 5 different SD card brands, at 3 different capacities, with the exact same result in every case. All the SD cards I got are on the "approved" list of cards so it just about has to be the RPi itself. It's disapointing but what do you do. Guess I'll order a new one and see if that fixes my issues, is there anywhere that has them in stock? I was hoping to have this going to do my Turkey but I guess I'll be doing it the old fashioned way.

Thanks again for all the help!
 
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Paul S (Missouri) said:
Well I think I am going to have to order me another RPi, there must be something wrong with the one I have. I have tried it with 5 different SD card brands, at 3 different capacities, with the exact same result in every case. All the SD cards I got are on the "approved" list of cards so it just about has to be the RPi itself. It's disapointing but what do you do. Guess I'll order a new one and see if that fixes my issues, is there anywhere that has them in stock? I was hoping to have this going to do my Turkey but I guess I'll be doing it the old fashioned way.

Thanks again for all the help!
Click to expand...

Did you try booting it with a normal linux distro ?? I got my Pi in a few days on Amazon.com from SK2 group. I think it was 55 shipped. I see a used like new one out there right now for 43 shipped. If you want to mail me an SD card or two I can burn you a normal linux distro and the openwrt image if you would like and mail them back.

Bill
 
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I have not yet tried it with a normal linux distro, I do have a couple downloaded and will give them a go this weekend and see what happens, but I can not get the Heatermeater images to work. It is stange that I can get the older one to work much better than the newer one, not sure what changes were made that would make it less likely to work than the old one. I can access all the various tabs, change wireless settings etc, on the older image, I can only get to the configuration tab on the newer one, it errors out anywhere else I try to go.
 
Paul S (Missouri) said:
I have not yet tried it with a normal linux distro, I do have a couple downloaded and will give them a go this weekend and see what happens, but I can not get the Heatermeater images to work. It is stange that I can get the older one to work much better than the newer one, not sure what changes were made that would make it less likely to work than the old one. I can access all the various tabs, change wireless settings etc, on the older image, I can only get to the configuration tab on the newer one, it errors out anywhere else I try to go.
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I agree that is strange.
 
Some more updates on my pit not found problem. Since the my probes were a little suspect (even though they work with my ET-732) I decided to pick up a ET-73 probe and see if that fixed the problem. Well the probe showed up yesterday and it does fix the no pit probe problem. Now I just need to buy a few more probes. Bummer. I also checked the resistance of the probes connections to the probe sheath on the new probe. One leg reads very high, and one is very low. This is unlike my ET-732 probe in which both legs read high.

One other problem has cropped up though. I also upgraded my openwrt firmware to the latest version. When I did this I couldn't get the wireless to work. On the old version I just had to go to Networks - Wifi - Enable the wireless controller and it would automatically see my wireless router. Then I just to enter my password and was done. With the new version I enable the wireless but it never "sees" my router or any other wifi signals. Switching to the older firmware takes care of this.

What does the newer firmware "fix" and any suggestions on how to get the new firmware working with wireless?

Thanks
 
Still waiting on a few parts from Mouser, I assume it would work without the LED's...but need the .....

Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors - Leaded 25volts 22uF 5x7 20% 2LS

Got my learn to solder kits done :)....and fixed a Linksys PSUS4 print server that was totally dead, had some bulged caps, soldered in new ones from Mouser, it works now :). Those were nasty to solder in, it is a board with a bazillion surface mount components on it, and tiny tiny solder pads around the leads for the caps. Did my best to get a solder joint, would not have surprised if it did NOT work.

Bill
 
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