[Feature Request]: Power telemetry reporting on linux native / meshtasticd

[dswinton]

Category

Other

Hardware

Linux Native

Is this bug report about any UI component firmware like InkHUD or Meshtatic UI (MUI)?

• Meshtastic UI aka MUI colorTFT
• InkHUD ePaper
• OLED slide UI on any display

Firmware Version

2.6.5.14

Description

I'm having issues getting power readings from an INA219 over I2C on Meshtasticd / Linux Native.
It seems that the sensor is recognised, but then no readings are sent out to the mesh.

Testing nodes:

• Hardware is a Femtofox (running v1.0.0 alpha of Foxbuntu)
• I2C is enabled and I'm able to get power readings from the sensor within linux (not via Meshtastic)
• During startup, Meshtasticd recognises i2c devices.. so it can definitely see it
• I2C ID is 0x40, which is supported by meshtastic
• Power telemetry is enabled and set to 30 minutes
• No readings or relevant errors appear in the logs.. after acknowledging that it sees i2c sensors, the expected log entries with power telemetry readings never appear

When I test the same sensor connected to an NRF board rather than meshtasticd I do get readings over the mesh, and serial log entries with the readings... so I'm confident in the hardware and configuration.

I had read that not all modules are enabled on Linux Native... is it possible that the power telemetry module is not enabled / supported?

If it's not enabled then... feature request.. could it be enabled, please? 😄

Relevant log output

[KyruJames]

Same here on 2.6.4.

Meshtastic log shows it discovered at 0x40, i can read it through linux.

Nothing on Meshtastic.

[madeofstown]

Power telemetry is not enabled or I've never been able to get it to work. I believe environmental sensors don't work either.

[dwhacks]

I ran into this also. Would be rad if the documentation on linux native mentioned that sensors aren't enabled. Seems like the only thing that works in the oled display.

[dswinton]

Heya @jp-bennett - sorry for the ping, but hoping you can share some of your wisdom here! 🙏🏻

What was the blocker on enabling sensors/telemetry on Linux Native?

I've started having a bit of a dig into it but i can't find any leads on what needs to be addressed to get it working.

Would appreciate your insight here! I'm happy to have a go at it, wanted to check in with you first in case there is an underlying issue I'm not aware of!

Cheers 🍻

[jp-bennett]

Heya @jp-bennett - sorry for the ping, but hoping you can share some of your wisdom here! 🙏🏻

No problem! This has been on my todo list for a long time. I have a WIP branch that I'll push up in a bit.

What was the blocker on enabling sensors/telemetry on Linux Native?

The main blocker I ran into was that many of the Arduino libs refused to compile under Portduino. And because portduino was hard-coded not to use sensors, there's a huge ball of wax to untangle, to make it work.

See #6646 and meshtastic/framework-portduino#55