Unable to make it works :(

[Tang]

Hello

First of all thank you for your website, i love it and all its content ;-)

I'm trying to test mysensors, without success (sensor+gateway, sensor+relay) :(
So i decided to try gettingstarted example, unfortunately without success too.
I have 2 arduino nano v4 and 2 nRF24L01+ connected with a coupling capacitor but i never managed to establish communication between both of arduinos.
I checked so many times the wires that i can't count :)

According to output debug of gettingstarted example, i think everything is correctly configured and connected:
1st arduino:
STATUS = 0x0e RX_DR=0 TX_DS=0 MAX_RT=0 RX_P_NO=7 TX_FULL=0
RX_ADDR_P0-1 = 0xf0f0f0f03c 0xf0f0f0f0d2
RX_ADDR_P2-5 = 0x69 0x96 0xa5 0xc3
TX_ADDR = 0xe7e7e7e7e7
RX_PW_P0-6 = 0x20 0x20 0x20 0x20 0x20 0x20
EN_AA = 0x3f
EN_RXADDR = 0x3f
RF_CH = 0x4c
RF_SETUP = 0x07
CONFIG = 0x0f
DYNPD/FEATURE = 0x00 0x00
Data Rate = 1MBPS
Model = nRF24L01+
CRC Length = 16 bits
PA Power = PA_HIGH

And 2nd one:
STATUS = 0x0e RX_DR=0 TX_DS=0 MAX_RT=0 RX_P_NO=7 TX_FULL=0
RX_ADDR_P0-1 = 0xf0f0f0e13c 0xf0f0f0f0d2
RX_ADDR_P2-5 = 0x69 0x96 0xa5 0xc3
TX_ADDR = 0xf0f0f0f05a
RX_PW_P0-6 = 0x20 0x20 0x20 0x20 0x20 0x20
EN_AA = 0x00
EN_RXADDR = 0x3f
RF_CH = 0x4c
RF_SETUP = 0x06
CONFIG = 0x4f
DYNPD/FEATURE = 0x00 0x00
Data Rate = 1MBPS
Model = nRF24L01+
CRC Length = 16 bits
PA Power = PA_HIGH

As you can see TX/RX address seems to be good and all other informations seems to be correct too. That's make me believe it's not a wire problem. But i can't find what does not working.
Can you help me please?
I spent more than 2 weeks making tests, and i'm in point I don't know what can i do more :S

I also give my modules to a friend. He tested its own code using mirf lib and he told me he managed to make them communicate but not with librf24.

Thank you for your support ;)

[hek]

Sorry to hear that you're experiencing communication problems.

Could you try feeding the Arduino with some other power source than the computers USB port. I've heard about people having strange powering problem sometimes.
Do you have more than two radio modules? Try switching.

You might also have a congested radio channel. Set another channel in Config.h. In the supplied RF24-library examples there is a sketch called scanner that can be used to se how much other radio traffic you have in your location.

[wmylionel]

You did not mention any Controller in your setup, I'm assuming you only have the gateway + sensors up (without Controller, ie. Vera)?
First of all if you did not change any part of the code, it will not work, because the sensors always sends a request to the gateway to request for an ID, and the gateway will send request to the controller for an available ID. If no respond from Controller everything stops there. However you can bypass the ID request by just forcing an ID on the sensor code by putting the id in the gw.begin() call, ie. gw.begin(10) for ID 10.

[wmylionel]

also uncomment #define DEBUG in config.h to see more debug messages...

[Tang]

Thank you for all your answers.

Like suggested, I try with another power supply and it seems to resolve some communication problem. I mean both of arduino can now transmit some messages sometimes.
Now it seems i have some communication problems despite capacitors connected on nrf. I will try with other capacitors when I will receive them.

Effectively I didn't explain all stuff I made during my tests.
I had activated debug like mentionned in mysensors troubleshoot webpage, and force sensor it to avoid the need of a controller forcing an id in sensor begin function.

I will keep you in touch after I received my new components.

Thank you again for your support ;-)

[Tang]

Hi everybody

I managed to make it works perfectly with capacitors.

My controller is agocontrol and I'm developping with Hari the MySensor plugin for agocontrol.

My gateway is an arduino nano with amplified version of nrf24
My sensor is a arduino nano connected to a relay with button.

I'm having problems of emission, I mean 2 times over 10 my sensor receives nothing.
I took a look on the mysensor source code trying to find something that allows me to know on my controller the message has been correctly sent or not but I found nothing except that .
Is there some ack sent back to the controller after message was sent successful or not ?

Thx

[jendrush]

@Tang said:

My controller is agocontrol and I'm developping with Hari the MySensor plugin for agocontrol.

Great! I am waiting for this, Mysensors Raspberry Pi controller, or integration with Domoticz.

[hek]

Yes, for relay-actuator an ack is sent back all the way to the controller.

In the development version were working on, the communication is much more reliable (utilizes the shock burst mode with hardware acks).

[Tang]

@hek ok i will switch to development version to try it. thx
About RF24 lib, do you recommend to switch to your optimized lib?

[hek]

It is included in the branch.

[Tang]

@hek is development branch usable in actual state?
I just tryed to upload new serialgateway and after some code update (Gateway->MyGateway) it compiles.
I also uploaded dallastemperature sketche and i receive some strange messages (i guess;-) ) on my controller:
RECEIVED LINE:0/0;INTERNAL;]�U��S���;read: 255-255-0 s=255,c=4,t=3,cr=ok:
RECEIVED LINE:255/255;INTERNAL;I_TIME;
SENDING: 255;255;4;3;1400620645
I didn't remember to see this message with master source code.
With first message controller did nothing, and it answered current timestamp to second message. DallasTemp sensor sent 6 times this message then stop.

That is the output of DallasSensor:
sensor started, id 255
req node id
send: 255-255-0-0 s=255,c=4,t=3, st=fail:
req node id
send: 255-255-0-0 s=255,c=4,t=3, st=fail:
req node id
send: 255-255-0-0 s=255,c=4,t=3, st=ok:
req node id
send: 255-255-0-0 s=255,c=4,t=3, st=fail:
req node id
send: 255-255-0-0 s=255,c=4,t=3, st=fail:
req node id
send: 255-255-0-0 s=255,c=4,t=3, st=fail:

[hek]

@Tang

It's usable with the dev-branch of the vera plugin (small changes in behavior and enumeration of internal commands which probably will mess things up in the agocontrol plugin).

***General comment: I cannot give any support on development-branch as it is under development and things might change fast and without any notice. ***