rfm69hw on a raspberry pi 4, power issues



  • Hi,

    I am trying to build a raspberry pi gateway with a rfm69hw chip.

    I built a hat for the pi and the connections seem to be fine, my problem is range.

    I am using the signal scanner sketch and it shows me that the sending node has to max out TXPowerLevel when it talks to the gateway.

    I repurposed one of my other nodes as a gateway and there sending was fine at TXPowerLevel 0, so it must be the gateway.

    I soldered a 470uF capacitor to the radio on the pi and that helps for the first lets say 50 messages, but then the same pattern reappears: The node maxes out its power level.

    Any ideas on how to fix this? I know I could just use a serial gateway, but to be honest I got it into my thick skull that the gateway has to be hat for the pi (mostly because otherwise all that time would have been wasted ;)).

    I have some step up boosters to 3.3v (the ones I use for the nodes), should I try to power the rfm69-chip from one of the boosters?

    photo5875171307518276502.jpg



  • So from what I can read here this might not be a power issue after all?

    This is the sketch I am using for the signal scanner:

    /*
     * The MySensors Arduino library handles the wireless radio link and protocol
     * between your home built sensors/actuators and HA controller of choice.
     * The sensors forms a self healing radio network with optional repeaters. Each
     * repeater and gateway builds a routing tables in EEPROM which keeps track of the
     * network topology allowing messages to be routed to nodes.
     *
     * Created by Henrik Ekblad <henrik.ekblad@mysensors.org>
     * Copyright (C) 2013-2019 Sensnology AB
     * Full contributor list: https://github.com/mysensors/MySensors/graphs/contributors
     *
     * Documentation: http://www.mysensors.org
     * Support Forum: http://forum.mysensors.org
     *
     * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
     * modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
     * version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
     *
     *******************************
     *
     * REVISION HISTORY
     * Version 1.0 - tekka
     *
     * DESCRIPTION
     * ATC mode settings and signal report functions, on RFM69 and RFM95 nodes
     *
     */
    
    // Enable debug prints
    #define MY_DEBUG
    #define MY_SIGNAL_REPORT_ENABLED
    
    
    #define MY_NODE_ID 3
    
    // Enable and select radio type attached
    
    // RFM69
    #define MY_RADIO_RFM69
    #define MY_RFM69_NEW_DRIVER   // ATC on RFM69 works only with the new driver (not compatible with old=default driver)
    #define MY_IS_RFM69HW
    //#define MY_RFM69_ATC_TARGET_RSSI_DBM (-70)  // target RSSI -70dBm
    //#define MY_RFM69_MAX_POWER_LEVEL_DBM (10)   // max. TX power 10dBm = 10mW
    
    // RFM95
    //#define MY_RADIO_RFM95
    //#define MY_RFM95_ATC_TARGET_RSSI_DBM (-70)  // target RSSI -70dBm
    //#define MY_RFM95_MAX_POWER_LEVEL_DBM (10)   // max. TX power 10dBm = 10mW
    
    #include <MySensors.h>
    
    // ID of the sensor child
    #define CHILD_ID_UPLINK_QUALITY (0)
    #define CHILD_ID_TX_LEVEL       (1)
    #define CHILD_ID_TX_PERCENT     (2)
    #define CHILD_ID_TX_RSSI        (3)
    #define CHILD_ID_RX_RSSI        (4)
    #define CHILD_ID_TX_SNR         (5)
    #define CHILD_ID_RX_SNR         (6)
    
    
    // Initialize general message
    MyMessage msgTxRSSI(CHILD_ID_TX_RSSI, V_CUSTOM);
    MyMessage msgRxRSSI(CHILD_ID_RX_RSSI, V_CUSTOM);
    MyMessage msgTxSNR(CHILD_ID_TX_SNR, V_CUSTOM);
    MyMessage msgRxSNR(CHILD_ID_RX_SNR, V_CUSTOM);
    MyMessage msgTxLevel(CHILD_ID_TX_LEVEL, V_CUSTOM);
    MyMessage msgTxPercent(CHILD_ID_TX_PERCENT, V_CUSTOM);
    MyMessage msgUplinkQuality(CHILD_ID_UPLINK_QUALITY, V_CUSTOM);
    
    void setup()
    {
    }
    
    
    void presentation()
    {
      // Send the sketch version information to the gateway and controller
      sendSketchInfo("ATC", "1.0");
    
      // Register all sensors to gw (they will be created as child devices)
      present(CHILD_ID_UPLINK_QUALITY, S_CUSTOM, "UPLINK QUALITY RSSI");
      present(CHILD_ID_TX_LEVEL, S_CUSTOM, "TX LEVEL DBM");
      present(CHILD_ID_TX_PERCENT, S_CUSTOM, "TX LEVEL PERCENT");
      present(CHILD_ID_TX_RSSI, S_CUSTOM, "TX RSSI");
      present(CHILD_ID_RX_RSSI, S_CUSTOM, "RX RSSI");
      present(CHILD_ID_TX_SNR, S_CUSTOM, "TX SNR");
      present(CHILD_ID_RX_SNR, S_CUSTOM, "RX SNR");
    }
    
    void loop()
    {
      // send messages to GW
      send(msgUplinkQuality.set(transportInternalToRSSI(_transportSM.uplinkQualityRSSI)));
      send(msgTxLevel.set(transportGetTxPowerLevel()));
      send(msgTxPercent.set(transportGetTxPowerPercent()));
      // retrieve RSSI / SNR reports from incoming ACK
      send(msgTxRSSI.set(transportGetSendingRSSI()));
      send(msgRxRSSI.set(transportGetReceivingRSSI()));
      send(msgTxSNR.set(transportGetSendingSNR()));
      send(msgRxSNR.set(transportGetReceivingSNR()));
     //to serial
     Serial.print("transportInternalToRSSI(_transportSM.uplinkQualityRSSI): "); Serial.println(transportInternalToRSSI(_transportSM.uplinkQualityRSSI));
     Serial.print("transportGetTxPowerLevel(): "); Serial.println(transportGetTxPowerLevel());
     Serial.print("transportGetTxPowerPercent(): "); Serial.println(transportGetTxPowerPercent());
     Serial.print("transportGetSendingRSSI(): "); Serial.println(transportGetSendingRSSI());
     Serial.print("transportGetReceivingRSSI(): "); Serial.println(transportGetReceivingRSSI());
     Serial.print("transportGetSendingSNR(): "); Serial.println(transportGetSendingSNR());
     Serial.print("transportGetReceivingSNR(): "); Serial.println(transportGetReceivingSNR());
     Serial.println("Waiting");
      // wait a bit
      wait(10000);
    }
    

    And this is how I compiled the gateway:

    ./configure --my-transport=rfm69 --my-rfm69-frequency=868 --my-gateway=mqtt --my-is-rfm69hw --extra-cxxflags="-DMY_RFM69_RST_PIN=29" --my-controller-ip-address=127.0.0.1 --my-mqtt-publish-topic-prefix=mysensors-out --my-mqtt-subscribe-topic-prefix=mysensors-in --my-mqtt-client-id=mysensorsgateway1 --my-mqtt-user=mysensors --my-mqtt-password=redacted --my-port=1883
    
    

    Any ideas how I can test mysensors 2.2 with the raspberry pi 4? From what I understand that version of the pi isn't supported until version 2.4 alpha?


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