FLM v2b arrived today.
Lesson learned so far:
1. Can't plug the unit into a hub, even with appropriate IP and netmask settings on my PC. It seems to require a direct-to-PC connection with DHCP enabled on the PC.
2. It looks like the HTTP server is not accessible over the wireless link, nor does ping appear to work over wireless.
3. The "3-phase" setting seems to have some meaning that I don't understand, since it disables power sensor connections beyond the first one.
4. Apparently this forum doesn't have a search feature.
After wiring everything up, it took quite a while for anything to show up on the fluxo.net website. Is that normal? How often does the v2b sync with the website?
Is there an easy way to check the setup locally, to make sure everything is working right?
As far as I can tell, there isn't currently a way to configure certain sensors to be consumption, and others to be production, and to have them displayed net. I've heard I can do that with pvbeancounter or pvoutput, but that it requires some setup. Is there a writeup somewhere with more details? Nothing along those lines came in the box, nor do I see a "docs" or "support" section on the website.
For search use G**gle or www.duckduckgo.com with search term "site:flukso.net term_you_are_searching_for" - https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Aflukso.net
Although all these issues exist, they are more or less easy to solve e.g. Gebhardm's tip for searching the Flukso site. There is a kind of ability needed for managing things yourself with the FLM and a willingness to tinker with the FLM's hard/software.
Well, this may sound big-headed, but this way of working, suites me fine and with the help of this community, most problems are straightened out in a most friendly and satisfying manner.
Now, Gebahrdm, thanks for the tips on the mosquitto thing. I managed to run it in Terminal on OSX with a little help from homebrew. Do you know if there exists a fancy web interface with nicely designed gauges?
"Nicely designed gauges" are like "electronics in cases"; it takes an hour to solder a solution and weeks (if not years) to finally pack it into a nice box... Yesterday I actually started to get into the MQTT stuff again (the actual data collector runs smoothly on a RaspPi for some while) - I experimented with http://www.flotcharts.org/ but am not convinced yet; Jean-Claude Wippler (please continue your blog on www.jeelabs.org) proposes http://dygraphs.com/ - I looking forward to continuing during winter vacation starting Friday... There "should" be some MQTT ready solutions that generically display readings, but I did not do any research yet.
I think, I will report progress in https://github.com/gebhardm/energyhacks/tree/master/RaspberryPi - there my "quickly hacked" python-to-html solution is available that has a lot of room for improvement...
All you hackers, tinkerers, nerds, and freaks out there - share your insights, as I am getting too old (means too lazy) to again and again and again program stuff that should be already feasibly solved in the 21st century ;-) (I know why I studied math and not computer science)
1/ Out-of-the-box, the FLM is configured in wifi mode. This means that the eth port is set as a DHCP server. That's why step 1 on the sleeve says to "Connect your computer to the Fluksometer's ethernet port" and the accompanying pictogram shows a cable running straight from the laptop to the FLM. If you wish to toggle the FLM to ethernet mode (with the eth port in DHCP client) you have to push the toggle button between 2 and 5 secs. This is explained in more detail in the Fluksometer Manual. We reference this manual in the red "How do I start?" box on the sleeve.
2/ When in wifi mode, the FLM's firewall will block all incoming traffic. If you toggle the FLM to eth mode, this firewalling will not be active and you can access the local config page, ssh, bonjour, etc. The wifi firewall settings can be changed, but atm only by running some commands in the FLM's shell.
3/ See the Fluksometer Manual.
4/ See gebhardm's reply. I prefer to leave site indexing up to the search engines.
5/ The FLM reports its readings to flukso.net at 5min intervals with minute resolution.
6/ Yes. Consult the local status page, i.e. the one displayed right after logging into the FLM. It gives you status info on firmware version, uptime, reporting mode (wifi or eth), link quality, the result of a ping test to flukso.net, the synchronisation status of the FLM's sensor settings with the sensor board and flukso.net. It will also try to figure out the root cause of any error and print an appropriate message.
7/ You indicate whether a certain sensor is production or consumption by assigning it an appropriate name. For now, we do not support for virtual sensors, i.e. a sensor that's the result of a mathematical operation on existing "real" sensors.
HTH
/Bart
@gebhardm Could you copy/paste your MQTT reply to a new forum topic? I'll be glad to answer your RFI.
Cross-post applied: https://www.flukso.net/content/mqtt-nicely-designed-gauges
Please understand that I'm trying to offer constructive feedback as a new customer, not criticism:
1/ The Fluksometer Manual wasn't included in the box with the device. It's relatively uncommon for a straight-through cable to work with Ethernet peripherals; usually a hub or a cross-over cable is required. It's also unusual for a peripheral other than a router to have its own DHCP server.
2/ OK.
3/ OK.
4/ Google can take weeks to index new pages, and the syntax for searching within a specific forum group takes some time to craft together. If that's your preference, though, maybe have a Google search box on your site to save people like me the time they would otherwise spend looking for an easy way to search?
5/ It took about a half-hour for my first data to show up on the website. While I was waiting, I had no indication of whether the FLM was working.
6/ I can only access the local status page when the FLM is plugged into a hardwired ethernet connection. On wireless only, it's not accessible -- presumably due to the firewall issue mentioned above. If I don't disable the firewall, is there another way to check status, other than looking at the LEDs?
7/ Pvoutput supports composite sensors based on FLM data. Details are on their website.
All feedback is more than welcome.
1.a/ The FLM manual is updated regularly as new firmware versions are released. Including the manual in the box would almost certainly mean an out-of-date description when it's referenced.
1.b/ Auto-MDIX has been available on ethernet PHYs for more than a decade. The wires will cross-over automatically. No need for special cabling anymore.
1.c/ The FLM's OpenWRT operating system has a router heritage. Putting it in DHCP server mode is no sweat. We need to do this since we have to be able to bootstrap the configuration of the FLM.
4/ Most built-in CMS search engines are terrible or require an elaborate setup.
5/ Every internal sensor 'pulse' is written to the FLM's syslog. For setup/debugging you can always consult this local syslog page.
6/ The reason we enable the firewall on the wifi side is for security reasons. When it's in wifi mode you need physical access to the FLM's ethernet port to change its config. You can put the FLM into ethernet mode, connect it straight to your router and then access it without having to disable the firewall. You just have to find out the IP address your router's DHCP server has given to the FLM.
Oh, I thought you were trying to produce a commercial, shrink-wrappable, mass-distribution type product. My mistake.
Never mind. The box is great.
LOL. FLMs will never be shrink-wrapped nor contain a full manual in dead-tree format. We're trying to help a little in saving the planet so the less waste, the better!
Cheers
/Bart