I have a 433 Rain sensor from TFA.
If I use my RFXtrx433E connected to my PC I can get the following:
Packettype = TEMP_HUM
subtype = TH14 - Alecto WS3500,WS4500
Sequence nbr = 100
ID = 4601 decimal:17921
Temperature = 15 ?C
Humidity = 134
Status = Wet
Signal level = 6 -72dBm
Battery = OK
But when I run through the Vera, the autodetect gives me two bogus temperature sensors that show temperatures of several hundred degC. The show up as:
-RFX Temp T7/23296 and
-RFX Temp T9/43007
I’ve been playing around with activating/deactivating different protocols.
Any ideas of what to do?
Anyone else who has this sensor?
Not sure if I can help but if you can provide a bit more info:
What version of the RFXtrx plugin are you using? (available from the RFXtrx device Help page in Vera)
What version of RFXtrx firmware is installed?
What type of RFXtrx firmware is installed? (Type1, Type2, Ext, or Ext2)
Can you provide a model number for the sensor?
The user guide indicates that the Hideki protocol is the one that will decode signals from the TFA weather sensors. This protocol is available in all four of the firmware types. But there is a TFA pool sensor that apparently uses the Oregon protocol in type EXT2 and a temperature sensor that for some reason requires the Hideki protocol in type EXT2.
It would be useful to see the actual message data that the plugin sees from that sensor. You can see this at the bottom of the protocol settings page. If you have many devices communicating to the RFXtrx it may be difficult to capture the message data; it won’t be visible for long, overwritten by the next received message. You can limit this by temporarily disabling protocols you don’t need (do not press the “Save RFXtrx Settings” button). The message from the TFA sensor should look like:
0A 52 0E nn X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7
The data of interest are the Xn values. The nn value will always change. The X1 and X2 values will never change for this device (perhaps unless the batteries are removed/replaced).
For temperature/humidity sensors the RFXtrx plugin will normally create two devices: a temperature device and a humidity device. Their names will start differently but the numeric part will be the same. I’m not sure what will happen with a sensor that reports temperature, humidity, and rain.
If you have Auto Create enabled for the RFXtrx I suspect that the devices that are being added are simply from spurious signals seen by the RFXtrx and perhaps not from your sensor. Have you tried moving the sensor closer to the RFXtrx temporarily until the correct device is created? Also, when using RFXmgr with your PC, is the ID number (the decimal value) consistent in the message that you suspect is coming from the TFA sensor AND different from any other sensor you may have?
I have located a user manual for this TFA device ( TFA Monsoon Digital Wireless Rain Gauge Model # 47.3003). Based on what I see in it I suspect that the RFXtrx transceiver code will not properly decode the message from this rain sensor. This is also evident in what is displayed by the Rfxmgr connected to your PC. The rain sensor does send the current temperature it measures but does not sense humidity. It might be possible to modify the RFXtrx plugin to properly handle the message it receives from the transceiver but to do that one would have to understand the meaning of the value currently shown to be humidity. Again, knowing the actual content of the received message would be a starting point. The actual rain sensor of this product looks a lot like products from LaCrosse.
Not sure if I can help but if you can provide a bit more info:
What version of the RFXtrx plugin are you using? (available from the RFXtrx device Help page in Vera)
What version of RFXtrx firmware is installed?
What type of RFXtrx firmware is installed? (Type1, Type2, Ext, or Ext2)
Can you provide a model number for the sensor?
Im running the beta3 plugin
and the (latest) 1020 firmware.
Ive tried both Ext and Ext2, but not the type1 and type2. when I wrote the post above, I ran Ext. But currently I am running Ext2
The user guide indicates that the Hideki protocol is the one that will decode signals from the TFA weather sensors. This protocol is available in all four of the firmware types. But there is a TFA pool sensor that apparently uses the Oregon protocol in type EXT2 and a temperature sensor that for some reason requires the Hideki protocol in type EXT2.
If I enable only Hideki, I get nothing. The same goes for all protocols, the only way to get the decoding as Alecto, as seen above, is when I activate both Rubicson and Viking at the same time. If I deactivate either one of them, I get nothing.
It would be useful to see the actual message data that the plugin sees from that sensor. You can see this at the bottom of the protocol settings page. If you have many devices communicating to the RFXtrx it may be difficult to capture the message data; it won't be visible for long, overwritten by the next received message. You can limit this by temporarily disabling protocols you don't need (do not press the "Save RFXtrx Settings" button). The message from the TFA sensor should look like:
0A 52 0E nn X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7
The data of interest are the Xn values. The nn value will always change. The X1 and X2 values will never change for this device (perhaps unless the batteries are removed/replaced).
Right now I get: 0A 52 0E 06 46 01 00 6D 5E 03 59
If you have Auto Create enabled for the RFXtrx I suspect that the devices that are being added are simply from spurious signals seen by the RFXtrx and perhaps not from your sensor. Have you tried moving the sensor closer to the RFXtrx temporarily until the correct device is created? Also, when using RFXmgr with your PC, is the ID number (the decimal value) consistent in the message that you suspect is coming from the TFA sensor AND different from any other sensor you may have?
Yes, when looking in RFXmgr I get a long series of consistent messages with increasing seq no. I think that the receiver holds the rain history and the transmitter only sends the delta. Not very rubust, but still... I think the humidity value is used to indicate change in amount of rain. I shook the rain sensor once and then the humidity value increased with one. Inside there is a swing that tips over when filled with enough water.
The message 0A 52 0E 06 46 01 00 6D 5E 03 59 would normally be from a temperature and humidity sensor from Oregon. If you feel sure that this is the message being sent by your TFA device then it is also an indication that the RFXtrx transceiver does not currently decode that signal.
Yes, My LaCrosse sensor too only sends the delta so the plugin would have to be clever enough to keep a running total; or several totals for 24hrs, weekly, etc. For the LaCrosse each delta count represents 0.266mm. The value for each count from the TFA device would have to be determined.
Well, the message I see in RFXmgr is correct, I cen see the temperature is correct with the actual sensor display, and I noticed that the humidity increased when I shock the sensor.
But how do I know that in the Vera? Is there any way t decode the message? You seem to know the code of the Oregon. Can I find out what the temperature reading is in the message?
If you enable Auto create you should see a new temperature sensor (TS/TH14/nnnnn) and a new humidity sensor (HS/TH14/nnnnn). The temperature sensor should work properly but obviously the humidity sensor will not. After the new sensors are created you can disable auto create and then perhaps delete the humidity sensor.
I do get one sensor RFX Temp T9/25089. But it shows temperatures totally wrong. Right now 41degC. In the middle of the night. It is too hot to be any neighbors swnsor aswell…
When you enable auto create you may see quite a few spurious devices appear. I know I do. How long did you have auto create enabled? Try waiting until you see what looks like the correct one appear. Then disable auto create and delete all the others.