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Real world estimation of NRF24L range

Chester last edited by

Hi all,

I am starting out with building up my MySensors modules, and I am finding that the range on the NRF24L's seem to be quite variable, as well as quite small!

I have my controller radio with the SMA connection and larger antenna, and the remote modules have the NRF24L with just the PCB antenna.

I find that some modules are working at ranges of approx 8m through a single leaf brick wall, and others are struggling at that distance. I had another unit that works at a range of around 13m through either 4 single leaf brick walls, or on a reflective route of around 15m if the signal was travelling through the hallway (I'm not sure which path the signal was taking, so it could be either!).

I have fitted 22uF caps that I salvaged from an old UPS circuit board as I haven't had a chance to hit the electronics store (Might try and get out there this weekend if the significant other lets me), to trial a 4.7uF cap - is there a risk or difference to be gained between a 22uF and a 4.7uF cap?

I haven't tried powering the radio's from the 5V supply run through an LM33 yet, for the same reason above (No access to the electronics store) so these are all running from the arduino nano's 3.3V output, but do people find that it makes a huge difference in the effective range?

What kinds of range do other people get from their modules? I'm just interested to know if other people are getting the same kind of range as me, or less or more.

Thanks!
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I have success! (oops, that's suppose to be Timer1) I only sample for 1/60 of a second. What I did was to back up all the timer registered I used and then resorted them after I was done sampling. (As opposed to initializing the registers in setup and then starting the timer when needed.) Now I have a Nano sampling the data and sending it to a MySensors Gateway on an RPi3B+ which then sends it to an MQTT broker runing on an old laptop. Also running on the laptop is Home Assistant running inside of VirtualBox. If MySensors does use Timer1, it appears that restoring the registers allows it to be shared. //------------------------------------------------------ISR ISR(TIMER1_OVF_vect){ // interrupt service routine for overflow TCNT1 = TimerPreloadValue; // must be first line! starts the timer counting again digitalWrite(TRIGGER_START_SAMPLE_PIN,HIGH); samplesVolts[--sample]=analogRead(VOLTS_IN_PIN); // decrement before capturing samplesCurrent[sample]=analogRead(CURRENT_IN_PIN); digitalWrite(TRIGGER_START_SAMPLE_PIN,LOW); if (!sample){ // count down to zero digitalWrite(TRIGGER_START_SAMPLE_PERIOD_PIN,LOW); // indicate that sampling is complete samplingEnd = micros(); TCCR1B &= 248; // turns off timer } } //------------------------------------------------------sampleOneCycle void sampleOneCycle(){ // back up timer registers uint8_t TCNT1_b = TCNT1; uint8_t TCCR1B_b = TCCR1B; uint8_t TCCR1A_b = TCCR1A; uint8_t TIMSK1_b = TIMSK1; // configure timer which starts the sampling noInterrupts(); // disable all interrupts TCCR1A = 0; TCCR1B = 0; TCNT1 = TimerPreloadValue; // preload timer //TCCR1B |= (1 << CS10)|(1 << CS12); // 1024 prescaler TCCR1B &= 248; // turns off timer? TIMSK1 |= (1 << TOIE1); // enable timer overflow interrupt ISR // demark sampling sample = NUMBER_OF_SAMPLES; // count down to zero digitalWrite(TRIGGER_START_SAMPLE_PERIOD_PIN,HIGH); samplingStart = micros(); TCNT1 = 65535; // first trigger right away! TCCR1B |= 1; // turns on timer interrupts(); // enable all interrupts // wait for sampling to be complete while(digitalRead(TRIGGER_START_SAMPLE_PERIOD_PIN)){}; samplingEnd = micros(); // restore timer registers TCNT1 = TCNT1_b; TCCR1B = TCCR1B_b; TCCR1A = TCCR1A_b; TIMSK1 = TIMSK1_b; }
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I bought the Every because it implied it was backward compatible with the nano. No, it's not, as we found out. Be that as it may, any word on a getting the Every working with mySensors?
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