Gateway device
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I think a header for daughterboards will go far in terms of flexibility.
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Nice nice. I am very interested in this as I have more or less decided to swap to RF69 from RF24. Both for range and because I like the concept of having the radio handle the encryption on my signed packets (yep, I am paranoid as hell). Unfortunately, it means my current gateway has to go but I have made a "sensor evaluation board" (got the PCBs, still waiting for components). Once I get the components and can verify all the features I put on it I will publish it in this forum for those interested. It will still rely on Arduino modules and such so it is not the hard-core approach like the Sensebender Micro though.
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updated the first post in the thread, with links to github project, and pdf of schematics (on github). So it will always point at the latest available one, so I don't have to remember that there is a forum thread to keep updated :)
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I see no reason why that would not work. I sure hope so as I did that on my board :)
Both radios will never be connected (or at least in use) simultaneously so it should be ok. -
could be someone got brainfreeze and decided to go with both radios at once in one setup.. On the other hand, we're not using IRQ for the nrf24 at the moment..
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On the other hand, is there a usecase to provide HW interrupt functionality for a dagughterboard on the gateway? Since it will "by definition" have a solid power supply, any sensors using interrupts should be fine with the soft-interrupt options (have not looked into those myself though) or simply use polling. Power saving makes little sense in this case. The radios are probably better off with "real" interrupts (if we ever use them).
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been fiddling with layout, and schematics changes..
Added a couple of MAX3002E for level conversion between 5V and 3V3 domains on the board. (Links to the schematic are in the first post of this thread)
Waiting for samples of the ESP8266, and W5100 modules, so I can make some last measurements before ordering boards.
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Hi,
just want to share with you some of our progress in a board similar to the one that you are designing.
This is based on Atmega32U4 and has socket for nRF24L01 and ESP8266 and is designed to be battery operated and support Grove connector. The board has mosfet to switch off the sensor while sleeping and keep low the consumption, this should stand a year on battery.
We just received the PCB, picture at the link below,
http://www.souliss.net/2015/06/sensor-battery-board-pcb-arrived.htmlThe schematic and layout are open-source and hope that this board may fit some needs also in the MySensor community
https://github.com/souliss/boards/tree/master/Battery_Operated_Board/Ver1Regards,
Dario. -
Looks like a nice board you have created... Only problem is, that we run out of memory on atmega328, if we want to run with signing and have MQTT client on board.
So that is why we have bumped the processor to a atmega1284 instead, having 4 times the memory, than atmega328. Also, with this board, we have the posibility to use both RFM69 and NRF24L01 on the sensor network..
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Tried to make a concept drawing, of NRF module placement
the esp8266 is placed in a similar way, on the right edge of the board, also hanging over the edge with the antenna part.
the W5100 board (which is similar to this one from itead studio) is turned 180 degrees, which makes the ethernet jack placement above the large "empty" space on the board (there is a 2x3 pinheader in the concept drawing)
The micro usb connector will be just beside the ethernet jack. between the ether jack, and the single pinheader pin (this is the antenna connection point for the rfm69 you can put on the bottom of the board)
Things are still a bit conceptual, trying to visualize it for my self :)
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I'll second (third? fourth? whatever...) the suggestion to design this to fit a cheap and readily available enclosure. Something like:
(Not saying that's ideal; just an example.)
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the board is 50x50 mm, and with the radio / wifi protruding over the edge, this box should fit nicely.
The reason why I chose 50x50mm for the board size, is that it's either 50x50mm, or 100x100mm board when we order prototypes, which is more expensive. (And I like to make things small :))
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Agree about smaller. Everything looks classier with less wasted space.
Probably too late now, but if the board had mounting holes that lined up with the enclosure that would be sweet. I'm always at a loss for how to keep my boards stable inside their plastic homes. Would love to hear peoples' solutions for mounting when the holes don't line up.
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nothing's too late (yet). I haven't even ordered the first prototype batch yet. Still ironing out some details, and routing the PCB (I have only scratched the routing for the 10th time or so :s ). Actually I had thought about adding a couple of mounting holes in the board..
I'll see if the boxes that I have, resembles the one that I just linked to.. (I've talked with @hek about finding some enclosures a couple of days ago, when we suddenly found a seller on ali express, that only had enclosures of various kinds).
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Yes the Atmega32U4 and Atmega328 has in the RAM their main problem, in our case we run smoothly in the 2KBytes available because we don't use ASCII in the protocol, but binary only.
Then the board is for as a remote sensor node, running on battery, not a main gateway board.
In any case, the board that you are designing will work nicely also with Souliss.
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nothing's too late (yet). I haven't even ordered the first prototype batch yet. Still ironing out some details, and routing the PCB (I have only scratched the routing for the 10th time or so :s ). Actually I had thought about adding a couple of mounting holes in the board..
I'll see if the boxes that I have, resembles the one that I just linked to.. (I've talked with @hek about finding some enclosures a couple of days ago, when we suddenly found a seller on ali express, that only had enclosures of various kinds).
