tfrec-mqtt

Docker image to receive wireless sensor data and publish them via MQTT.

Maintenance Notice

This project is not maintained anymore. It is no longer required since merbanan/rtl_433 added support for MQTT and Klimalogg sensors. Users of tfrec-mqtt are encouraged to migrate to rtl_433.

This configuraton covers the basics for a migration:

---
services:
  rtl_433:
    image: hertzg/rtl_433
    container_name: rtl_433
    restart: unless-stopped
    init: true
    devices:
      - "/dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb"
    command: [
      "-R", "150",
      "-f", "868.325M",
      "-s", "1.536M",
      "-M", "level",
      "-F", "mqtt://broker,events=rtl_433[/id]"
    ]

Additional options might be required to align the SDR setup, e.g. gain (-g) or demodulator options like -Y minlevel=-25. Furthermore, rtl_433 allows to reduce the CPU load by lowering the sample rate (-s) or adding -Y squelch. See the rtl_433 documentation for a complete reference.

MQTT messages have different structure but contain the same (and additional) information:

tfrec-mqtt

tfrec/1a2b/json { "sensor_id":"1a2b", "temperature":9.1, "humidity":78, "seq":0, "lowbat":0, "rssi":82, "flags":0, "timestamp":1588303401 }

rtl_433

rtl_433/6699 {"time":"2020-05-01 03:23:21","model":"Klimalogg-Pro","id":6699,"battery_ok":1,"temperature_C":9.1,"humidity":78,"sequence_nr":0,"mic":"CRC","mod":"ASK","freq":868.28416,"rssi":-9.76374,"snr":27.60925,"noise":-37.373}

Usage

Start a container to publish sensor data via MQTT.

Docker Compose

1. Create a run configuration compose.yml, e.g.

   ---
   services:
     tfrec-mqtt:
       image: ckware/tfrec-mqtt
       container_name: tfrec-mqtt
       restart: unless-stopped
       init: true
       devices:
       - "/dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb"
       environment:
         MQTT_OPTIONS: "-h broker"
       command: [ "tfrec", "-q", "-e", "mqtt-publish" ]

2. Start a container:

   $ docker compose up -d

Docker

$ docker run --device /dev/bus/usb -e "MQTT_OPTIONS=-h broker" --init -d ckware/tfrec-mqtt tfrec -q -e mqtt-publish

Result

$ mosquitto_sub -v -h broker -t tfrec/#

tfrec/1a2b/json { "sensor_id":"1a2b", "temperature":9.1, "humidity":78, "seq":0, "lowbat":0, "rssi":82, "flags":0, "timestamp":1588303401 }

tfrec/c3d4/json { "sensor_id":"c3d4", "temperature":15.6, "humidity":69, "seq":0, "lowbat":0, "rssi":79, "flags":0, "timestamp":1588303402 }

Requirements

Hardware

• RTL2832-based USB-Adapter
• One or more thermo/hygro sensors made by or compatible to TFA Dostmann, Technoline or LaCrosse (see sensors.txt for a list)

Software

• Required: Docker
• Recommended: Docker Compose

The Docker Compose documentation contains a comprehensive guide explaining several install options. On recent debian-based systems, Docker Compose may be installed by calling

$ sudo apt-get install docker-compose-plugin

Configuration

The configuration is based on environment variables.

Variable	Description	Allowed values	Default	Example
MQTT_OPTIONS	MQTT options	All options supported by mosquitto_pub	none	-v -h broker
MQTT_TOPIC	MQTT topic for publishing sensor data	Topic names	tfrec	devices/sensors
MQTT_TOPIC_APPEND_ID	Append sensor ID to topic?	true / false	true	true
MQTT_TOPIC_APPEND_FORMAT	Append format (one of: json, raw) to topic?	true / false	true	true
FORMAT_JSON	Publish sensor data in JSON format?	true / false	true	true
FORMAT_JSON_LOWBAT_AS_BOOLEAN	Convert native lowbat value (0 or 1) to JSON boolean type?	true / false	false	false
FORMAT_RAW	Publish sensor data in raw format?	true / false	false	false
FORMAT_RAW_SEPARATOR	Field separator for raw format	String	Whitespace (\u0020)	,
CLIENT_MOSQUITTO	Use Mosquitto as MQTT client?	true / false	true	false
LOG_FILE	If set, topic and message are appended to a log file	File path	not set	/var/log/tfrec-mqtt.log
LOG_FORMAT	Format to write topic and message to log file	printf-compatible syntax for 2 arguments	%s %s\n	{"topic":"%s","message":%s}\n

FHEM-Integration

This section contains example configurations to use the sensor values within FHEM.

Using a MQTT2_DEVICE

define mosquitto MQTT2_CLIENT localhost:1883

define mqtt_air_kitchen MQTT2_DEVICE
attr   mqtt_air_kitchen readingList tfrec/1a2b/json:.* { json2nameValue($EVENT) }
attr   mqtt_air_kitchen stateFormat T: temperature H: humidity

Using a MQTT_DEVICE

define mosquitto MQTT localhost:1883

define mqtt_air_kitchen MQTT_DEVICE
attr   mqtt_air_kitchen subscribeReading_json tfrec/1a2b/json
attr   mqtt_air_kitchen stateFormat T: temperature H: humidity

define expandjson_mqtt_air expandJSON mqtt_air_.+.json:.\{.*\}

References

• This project is an integration of
  • tfrec - A SDR tool for receiving wireless sensor data
  • Mosquitto - An Open Source MQTT Broker
  • The OCI image format
  • Docker
• History and details (in German): Temperatur/Feuchte-Sender mit tfrec und MQTT