RTL_433 with watchman oil tank

[stuiow]

Hi all,
Just install a TV adapter and got my adapter setup and started the below in a ssh session:-
/home/pi/rtl_433# rtl_433 -R 42

It then states teh following:- (all good)
Registering protocol [1] "Watchman Sonic / Apollo Ultrasonic / Beckett Rocket oil tank monitor"
Registered 1 out of 68 device decoding protcols
Found 1 device(s):
0: Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000001

Using device 0: Generic RTL2832U OEM
Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
Exact sample rate is: 250000.000414 Hz
[R82XX] PLL not locked!
Sample rate set to 250000.
Bit detection level set to 0 (Auto).
Tuner gain set to Auto.
Reading samples in async mode...
Tuned to 433920000 Hz.

My question's.
1. if i now close this ssh window (putty on my windows PC), i presume this will then stop the adapter monitor the frequency and stop logging the data?

2. My next step is get Domoticz to grab that data from rtl-$33, how do i achieve that? I presume the link below is the correct way of doing that, assuming the answer to question is not yes.

http://www.domoticz.com/wiki/Lua_-_Oil_ ... ticz_Setup

Cheers

[kevster]

I'm about to do the same..... and am at this place.

Did you manage to find out how to capture the rtl_433 output to send to the virtual sensor ?

[stuiow]

I stopped working on this when i couldn't find a solution on this.
I'm sure there is, but without anyone offering any guidance, i gave up.
I was also worried about the increase in CPU and temperature that running RTL_433 did to my RPI2.
But in reality, it was only a 5% increase in CPU all the time, it probably isn't a great strain.

I was holding out until i got a RPI3 to run Domoticz and RTL_433 to see how that coped.

[rowanbradley]

I have joined this thread a long time later. I too want to monitor my oil tank level. I have an Apollo ultrasonic sensor mounted on the tank with the matching Apollo display in the house, but now I want to monitor within Domoticz running on a Windows PC. The beginning of this thread doesn't explain how to get started, what an RTL433 is or how to connect it, whether it can be used with a PC rather than a Raspberry Pi etc. Please can someone explain what is the best way of reading the oil tank level within Domoticz?

I have an RTL-SDR which I can possibly use. Or I can buy the RF receiver module like the one that is used within the Apollo receiver, and interface this somehow to the PC. I don't mind building a bit of electronics if this is necessary.

Thanks - Rowan

[kevster]

I did some work on this and finally got round to pushing out some info.

See my GitHub project at https://github.com/kevsterd/sdr2domo

This uses a container on my Pi running Domoticz to read the RTL433 SDR and push the values from the tank sensors (I have three) into Domotics. Using some LUA I then update virtual outputs to show values.

Need to correct the Wiki as well as there is some issues in that write up.

HTH

[rowanbradley]

I'm trying to monitor my oil level via an Apollo ultrasonic sensor. I have installed rtl_433 for Windows, and run it with protocol 43. This is what I see:

D:\XPS_8700 Extended Files\Users\RowanB\Downloads\rtl_433-win-x64-21.12> .\rtl_433_64bit_static.exe -R 43
rtl_433 version 21.12 branch at 202112141644 inputs file rtl_tcp RTL-SDR
Use -h for usage help and see https://triq.org/ for documentation.
Trying conf file at "D:\XPS_8700 Extended Files\Users\RowanB\Downloads\rtl_433-win-x64-21.12\rtl_433.conf"...
Trying conf file at "C:\Users\Rowan\AppData\Local\rtl_433\rtl_433.conf"...
Trying conf file at "C:\ProgramData\rtl_433\rtl_433.conf"...
Registered 1 out of 207 device decoding protocols [ 43 ]
Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
Exact sample rate is: 250000.000414 Hz
[R82XX] PLL not locked!
Sample rate set to 250000 S/s.
Tuner gain set to Auto.
Tuned to 433.920MHz.
baseband_demod_FM: low pass filter for 250000 Hz at cutoff 25000 Hz, 40.0 us
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
time : 2022-03-01 13:11:48
model : Oil-SonicSmart id : 8ff20d3
flags : 60 maybetemp : 23 temperature_C: 10.000 binding_countdown: 0
depth_cm : 52
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
time : 2022-03-01 13:12:42
model : Oil-SonicSmart id : 836496d
flags : 80 maybetemp : 22 temperature_C: 11.667 binding_countdown: 0
depth_cm : 63
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
time : 2022-03-01 13:17:10
model : Oil-SonicSmart id : 8caa9ae
flags : 80 maybetemp : 23 temperature_C: 10.000 binding_countdown: 0
depth_cm : 47
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
time : 2022-03-01 13:28:08
model : Oil-SonicSmart id : 836496d
flags : 80 maybetemp : 22 temperature_C: 11.667 binding_countdown: 0
depth_cm : 63
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
time : 2022-03-01 13:28:42
model : Oil-SonicSmart id : 8ff20d3
flags : 60 maybetemp : 23 temperature_C: 10.000 binding_countdown: 0
depth_cm : 52
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
time : 2022-03-01 13:33:30
model : Oil-SonicSmart id : 8caa9ae
flags : 80 maybetemp : 23 temperature_C: 10.000 binding_countdown: 0
depth_cm : 47
Async read stalled, exiting!

LIBUSB_ERROR_NOT_FOUND: Entity not found!
Check your RTL-SDR dongle, USB cables, and power supply.

WARNING: async read failed (-5).
PS D:\XPS_8700 Extended Files\Users\RowanB\Downloads\rtl_433-win-x64-21.12>

I presume that this means that rtl_433 has correctly found my RTL_SDR, and that it is receiving data from the Apollo. Questions:

1. Are these actually readings from 3 different oil tanks (all of which presumably must be within range of my receiver)? If so, how do I tell which is mine?
2. How do I read the oil level? Is it in the data shown, or not? Is it the depth_cm reading? If so, is this distance of the oil surface from the sensor, or depth of oil in the tank?
3. Why did I get the LIBUSB_ERROR_NOT_FOUND error? How do I solve this?

Thank you - Rowan

[kevster]

Hi Rowan

I found with the Watchman sensors each time you pair them with their 'display' (a mains plug with a bar graph) it generated a new ID. So you could do that if the Apollo ones are the same. Sounds like some of your neighbours may have the same type sensor. I used to get a good 100 metre range with mine.

The 'length' the sensor outputs is the distance from it to the fluid. You need to do a bit of measuring and calculations to allow it to work. I used some script and virtual sensors in Domoticz to save these. So I had three virtual sensors for the inputs from the sensor and then a couple more for my actual displays.

I posted the output as JSON into Domoticz but you could do it other ways...