Domoticz

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

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 ?

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.

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

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

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

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...