Guides

• Node Red Tutorials
• Useful Guide available here
• Lighting Guide here
• List of nodes for Home Automation

FAQ

• Where is the node-red installation directory on the PI headless Server? :/home/ubuntu/.node-red
• Where can I find the cofor the individual nodes? : /home/ubuntu/.node-red/node_modules
• How to restart nodered: sudo systemctl restart nodered.service

Displaying Static Content

• Add a location for static content to your settings file (settings.js) in ~/./node-red/ For example

httpStatic: '/home/ubuntu/.node-red/static',

An image called test.jpg placed in the static directory can then be displayed with

<img src="/test.jpg">

Using HTTP Request

• See this tutorial
• JSON Test Site

Integrating with Dropbox

Configuration node

Request an access token on https://www.dropbox.com/developers/apps/info/

Make sure you set the required permissions before generating the access token otherwise you will get an error like:

 {"error_summary": "missing_scope/.", "error": {".tag": "missing_scope", "required_scope": "files.content.read"}}

Token Expiry

Sending a file to Dropbox

Integrating with MongoDB

Based on the use of node-red-node-mongodb

Setting up the database configuration

Configuring an in node to retrieve some data

Configuring an out node to insert some data

Storing images on MongoDB

Parsing Messages

Given a message like:

tele/SENSORS_FRONT/STATE : msg : Object
object
topic: "tele/SENSORS_FRONT/STATE"
payload: object
Time: "2021-09-16T18:51:08"
Uptime: "0T10:19:09"
UptimeSec: 37149
Heap: 27
SleepMode: "Dynamic"
Sleep: 50
LoadAvg: 19
MqttCount: 1
POWER1: "OFF"
POWER2: "OFF"
Wifi: object
qos: 0
retain: false
_msgid: "b8c0580330e8a880"

We can parse it with a switch node as follows

Or a Function Node:

msg.payload=msg.payload.POWER1;
node.warn(msg.payload);
return msg;

Run this script to update rasbian or hassbian image:

bash <(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/raspbian-deb-package/master/resources/update-nodejs-and-nodered)
node-red-start
Then point your browser to localhost:1880
To start nodered as a service use: sudo systemctl enable nodered.service
Integrating with HomeAssistant

Open nodered in a browser
Got to the menu selector on the top right
select mange pallette
select the install tab
select and install the 'node-red-contrib-home-assistant' package
Restart nodered service with - sudo systemctl restart nodered.service
See Here (HASS & Node-Red - Integrating Them Together)

Dash Board

Url 192.168.1.xxx:1880/ui

Embedding an Image into a Node Red DashBoard

• https://discourse.nodered.org/t/getting-image-in-dashboard/228/15

Using Template Nodes

• Template Nodes

Starting on Boot

• https://nodered.org/docs/faq/starting-node-red-on-boot: Here

Node Red as a Service on PI

• See here
• And here

# This script work on any system using systemd as the init process.
# It works on Debian/Raspbian Jessie.
# If you have Debian/Rapbian Wheezy and want to use this script with systemd
# follow the information here : https://wiki.debian.org/systemd

# To easily download, install and set at startup:
# wget -O /tmp/download https://gist.github.com/Belphemur/3f6d3bf211b0e8a18d93/download && sudo tar -zxf /tmp/download --strip-components 1 -C /etc/systemd/system/ && sudo systemctl --reload-daemon && sudo systemctl enable Node-RED

# To consult the log : journalctl -u Node-RED
[Unit]
Description=Node-RED is a tool for wiring together hardware devices, APIs and online services in new and interesting ways.
After=syslog.target network.target
Documentation=http://nodered.org/

[Service]
Environment="NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=128"
Environment="NODE_RED_OPTIONS=-v"
#Full Path to Node.js
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/node-red-pi --max-old-space-size=256  $NODE_OPTIONS red.js $NODE_RED_OPTIONS
WorkingDirectory=/home/ubuntu/node-red/
# User/Group that launches node-RED (it's advised to create a new user for Node-RED)
# You can do : sudo useradd node-red
# then change the User=root by User=node-red
User=ubuntu
Group=ubuntu
Nice=10
SyslogIdentifier=Node-RED
StandardOutput=syslog
# Make Node-RED restart if it fails
Restart=on-failure
# Node-RED need a SIGINT to be notified to stop
KillSignal=SIGINT

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

• In /etc/systemd/system create a sym link
• sudo ln -s /lib/systemd/system/nodered.service nodered.service
• sudo systemctl enable Node-Red.service
• sudo systemctl start Node-Red.service
• journalctl -u nodered.service -b (Shows Node Red logs when running as a service)

Custom Nodes

• Debugging Custom Nodes

Interfacing with RestDB.io

Getting Data

Details for the function node

var apikey = "7a................................";
msg.method = "GET";
msg.headers = { "x-apikey" : apikey };
msg.url = "https://xxxxxx-xxx.restdb.io/rest/Events";
return msg;

Adding New Data

Details for the function node

var apikey = "7a3.....................................e";
var date = new Date();
var data = { "date" : date, "type" : "motion", "details" : "Test Sensor Activated"};
msg.method = "POST";
msg.headers = { "x-apikey" : apikey , 'content-type': 'application/json' };
msg.url = "https://xxxxxx-xxxx.restdb.io/rest/events";
msg.payload = JSON.stringify(data);
return msg;