Hydreon RG-15 rain sensor

[BliXem]

Any new readings? Are those things accurate? I bought one to test it out.

[JulianDH (Julian Hall)]

@BliXem

Are those things accurate?

Yes. I have not “calibrated” but for my purposes it looks good.

The device produces a number of entities; if you have programmed the RG-15 on the most sensitive settings, it will show some activity with low sunlight/ mist / dirt etc. On mine this doesn’t necessarily trigger a “Rain Event” (which is another entity) but if you need to trigger a Home Assistant automation from a proper rain event occurring, then I would construct a HA template which triggers on say 0.1mm (i.e. ignoring condensation and sunlight). This works really well for me

[BliXem]

Hi Julian,

Thanks for your reply! Alright, there are some activity events that won’t trigger the ‘it’s raining’ event like low sunlight/mist/dirt on the highest setting. Can you share your (template) code please? :-). Not only for me but also for others with the same issue.

I’m glad that it’s accurate then.

[JulianDH (Julian Hall)]

@BliXem

This is my template sensor … I guess you could/should really make it a binary sensor … but I have used text as a return… and it works

- sensor:
    - name: "Rain State"
      unique_id: rainstate
      device_class: enum
      state: >
        {% if states('sensor.tubpit_rain_intensity') | float(0) > 0.1 %}
          Raining
        {%- else -%}
          Dry
        {%- endif %}

[BliXem]

Did someone connect the RG-15 via ESPhome on uart via a ESP32 device? It boots up with 3 green flashes, but then my ESP hangs, looses wifi and restart again like 3 times… Connected via J2, port 1 for ground, 4 for rxd, 5 for TXD and 8 for 3v3…

[BliXem]

Nevermind, where bad cables

[BliXem]

Well its not working for me. It I remove the dome it’s working, if I reattach the dome my esp32 hangs, boot loops, don’t understand

[juergenjw (Jürgen W.)]

I’m using it with 5V power. The documentation says it needs a stable 3.3V supply on J2.
TX and RX are still 3.3V level signals.

[BliXem]

It also says that it can induce false indications or affect accuracy. I don’t think it’s related with the boot loops… Without the dome all is working better then when the dome is attached.

[BliXem]

On tasmota it’s working perfectly. So there is a bug within ESPHome. Will report it I guess.

[BliXem]

Back to ESPHome and now it works perfectly… Dunno what it was