Raspberry Pi 433MHz RF Transmitter/Receiver

Details

I wanted control some Etekcity RF switches from Home Assistant.

I had an old Raspberry Pi 2 Model B V1.1 laying around doing nothing, so I got started. I believe this process should work with any model, the pins just may be different and easily updated in the send/receive scripts.

I started by installing Raspberry Pi OS Lite, as I didn't need a screen other than initial setup. I had a USB Wifi dongle that I use for communication and I enabled SSH. The OS was fully updated and configured and autologin was setup.

I wired up the RF Transmitter and RF Receiver per https://github.com/milaq/rpi-rf.

I then configured the RF per https://www.instructables.com/RF-433-MHZ-Raspberry-Pi/. Installing RPi-RF per https://pypi.org/project/rpi-rf/. Created my working directory and copied my scripts from https://github.com/KayserSosa/RPiRF. I then obtained the On/Off codes from the outlets. and tested to make sure the send code was working.

MQTT configuration was next. I used https://www.emqx.io/blog/how-to-use-mqtt-in-python and https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-mosquitto-mqtt-server/ to get it installed on the RPi. I copied my script from https://github.com/KayserSosa/RPiRF and tested. I was able to send words back and forth from Home Assistant and the RPi. This was before I had the final version of the code, so most of the testing was with the original version that I tweaked as needed.

I then experimented with several ways to create a button or switch in Home Assistant to control the Etekcity RF switches. I finally settled on a working method via scripts. I only setup a single button at this time, the rest were setup when the project was completed.

Next I started on trying to figure out how to auto execute my python script and ran into several walls. One of the methods I had used on another older project kept giving me errors and I couldn't figure it out. That is where it sat for awhile, until I finally came back to it. I had to almost re-figure out what I had done. Luckily I had most of it already done and partly documented.

I then figured out how to the execute my python script at login, modify the rc.local file instead, which I verified it worked.

I knew I needed a safe shutdown switch for the RPi or it would become corrupted. I next wired in and configured the button. Testing was successful.

Then I needed to figure out how to execute both python scripts at boot. Wasn't sure if I had to combine them into a single script or if I could run them both the same way as the main script, I was finding conflicting information on that topic. I put them both in the rc.local and success.

The next task was to create the buttons in Home Assistant and everything was working.

The last thing I did was block the IP of the RPi from the internet, as I have no need for the access unless I'm updating.

I have this RPi sitting in my office which is on the first floor and opposite side of the house from a pair of the switches that are upstairs as well. It can access all the switches without issue. Also my Home Assistant server is on a virtual machine not a RPi.

An issue I ran into, was the retention of the last button press. So if I turned on a light and had to reboot the RPi but had manually turn the light off, the light would come back on after reboot. Being new to MQTT, after a bunch of reading and trying different things in the code I discovered I had selected retain message to yes on the Home Assistant side. Once I cleared the retained messages and set retained message to no, the issue was gone.

I think I figured out the final issue of keeping the system alive. I initially had it setup on Wifi (2.4ghz) and have since hardwired it. My 2.4ghz network has lots of stuff on it. I haven't had an issue since connecting to hardwire. ...

Components

1 × Raspberry Pi 2 Model B V1.1

1 × 433MHz Superheterodyne RF Link Transmitter and Receiver Kits 3400 for ARM/MCU https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HEDRHG6

1 × DAOKI 10pcs 433MHz Antenna Helical Spiral Spring Remote Control for Arduino Raspberry 5mm https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CGMOYYM

1 × OCR 190Pcs 10 Values 6x6 Colorful Tactile Push Button Switch Micro Momentary Tact Assortment Kit https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BT96FKD

1 × Etekcity Remote Control Outlet Wireless Remote Light Switch for Lights, Lamps, Fans, Household Appliances, Up to 100 ft. Range, https://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Control-Wireless-Household-Appliances/dp/B00DQ2KGNK

Build Instructions

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RPi OS Install & Config

OS: Raspberry Pi OS Lite

Install the OS

Download the lastest OS from https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/
Use Etcher to image a 2GB or larger SD card.

Configure Wireless Access

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/raspberry-pi-headless-setup-how-to,6028.html
Setup Wireless
- Create a file named wpa_supplicant.conf under boot directory.
  - Add the following lines to the file and save.

country=US
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
network={
scan_ssid=1
ssid=”ssid name”
psk=”password”
}

Enable SSH

Create an empty file in the boot directory called ssh.

Configure Raspberry Pi OS

SSH into the Pi

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt full-upgrade
sudo apt autoremove
sudo raspi-config
- 1 System Options
  - S3 Password
    - Enter in a password
  - S4 Hostname
    - RPi-RF
  - S5 Boot / Auto Login
    - B2 Console Autologin Text console, automatically logged in as 'pi' user
  - 5 Localisation Options
    - L2 Timezone
      - Setup yours
    - 8 Update

Wiring

Wire the TX, RX, & Button

milaq/rpi-rf
https://github.com/milaq/rpi-rf

TX: (little)

GND > PIN 09 (GND) (Red)
VCC > PIN 02 (5V) (Black)
DATA > PIN 11 (GPIO17) (Yellow)
Antenna

RX: (big)

VCC > PIN 04 (5V) (Red)
DATA > PIN 13 (GPIO27) (Orange)
GND > PIN 06 (GND) (Black)
Antenna

Button:

B > PIN 37 (GPIO26) (Yellow)
C > PIN 39 (GND) (Black)

Config RF

https://www.instructables.com/RF-433-MHZ-Raspberry-Pi/

Program the remote and outlets to each other.

Map python and python3 to the same PATH (may not be needed)

alias python="python3"

Install RPi-RF Program

https://pypi.org/project/rpi-rf/
sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3-pip
sudo -H pip3 install --system rpi-rf (may not need the -H)
pip3 install rpi-rf

Create MQTT-RF Directory

sudo mkdir mqtt-rf

RPi-RF Python Scripts

Copy the rf-receive.py and rf-send.py files to /home/pi/mqtt-rf
Do not modify the these scripts
https://github.com/KayserSosa/RPiRF

Obtain the RF Codes

cd /home/pi/mqtt-rf
python3 rf-receive.py
Once the script is running, push the button on the remote for on and note the codes, pulselength and protocol, same for the off.

Test RPi-RF Send Script

usage: rf-send.py [-h] [-g GPIO] [-p PULSELENGTH] [-t PROTOCOL] [-l LENGTH] [-r REPEAT] CODE
Example: python3 rf-send.py -p 168 -t 1 87811

Discussions

Ken Yap wrote 02/09/2022 at 23:39

If you want an even lighter RPi distro, try https://dietpi.com/ That's what I used for #An NTP server using GNSS for time

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Raspberry Pi 433MHz RF Transmitter/Receiver

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