Error setting up Ethernet gateway. Radio won't initialize

[drock1985]

Hi,

I have been trying to set up a gateway for MySensors for a couple of days, and after having problems with the Serial Gateway and my RPi, I decided to make the ethernet gateway instead. I followed the directions on the main page for wiring the NRF radio (with long range antenna) and W5100 ethernet module. I also went into MyConfig.h and removed the comments (//) under definespi.

I wired everything to an Arduino Nano, and have the 3.3v connected to NRF, and 5V on the w5100. After flashing the EthernetGateway sketch, I am getting this error in the serial console. 0;0;3;0;9;radio init fail

I'm not sure what I have wrong, i'm still new to Arduino's in general so i'm not sure where to proceed from here to fix this. I'm running the 1.5 branch of MySensors as well as Arduino IDE 1.6.5 running on Windows 10. I plan to run MySensors on my OpenHab1/2 raspberry pi.

Please help, I would really love to get this working and get a better understanding of how this is working.

Thanks!

[ericvdb]

Hi,

welcome to MySensors.

I also experienced a lot of trouble getting the Ethernet gateway up and running, and here is how i solved it:

1. I was not able to get it working on a Arduino Pro Mini 3.3V/8Mhz, switched to an (older) Arduino 2009 5V/16Mhz instead, worked straight away.

2. The nrf24L01+ modules are very sensitive regarding their power supply: use a dedicated power-supply for the radio module

3. I have a Wiz811MJ module (uses the Wiz5100 chip) and I also power that with a dedicated power-supply

4. check your wiring over and over again, i missed a couple of times too even when i was convinced i had it right

5. use a capacitor as close as possible to the nrf24L01+ module (i put mine into the connector)

6. you have to remove the // in front of #define SOFTSPI

7. If you followed the guide to connect the radio and wiz5100 module, you should change in the Ethernet sketch:

   #define RADIO_CE_PIN 5 // radio chip enable
   #define RADIO_SPI_SS_PIN 6 // radio SPI serial select

Hope these tips will help you getting the controller working.

[drock1985]

Hi ericvdb,

Thanks for the reply. I ended up having a wire in the wrong spot, and a small amount (ever so small) bridging two connections on my ethernet controller. Now i'm getting this instead: 0;0;3;0;9;gateway started, id=0, parent=0, distance=0

I think i'ts working, thanks for the tips!

So far I have been able to get the unit to power from the nano alone connected to my PC (so I can see the serial output), and I have been able to ping the controller from cmd no problem. I'm double checking my wiring on my humidity sensor(DHT22) to see how things are working.

[drock1985]

Well, some more good news.

I have the Ethernet gateway connected to OpenHab2, and it's reading my temperature sensor perfectly and registering it in OpenHab after auto discovery! It also registered the humidity sensor, but it's not updating that for some reason.

WooHoo! getting there slowly (but surely).