💬 MySRaspiGW - MySensors Raspberry Pi GPIO Gateway

[openhardware.io]

https://www.openhardware.io/view/105/MySRaspiGW-MySensors-Raspberry-Pi-GPIO-Gateway

[alexsh1]

Interesting. Did you look at getting the board for the PA+LNA SMD version? I am talking about this one:
http://www.icstation.com/images/big/productimages/3723/3723.JPG

[emc2]

@alexsh1 I did yes.

It's still untested but I used this schematic to design a PCB:

Both PCB and radio module are ordered but not received yet. If you want to give it a try before I test them let me know and I will send you the gerber files or the OSHpark link to the PCB.

[GertSanders]

@emc2
I have this larger radio in house. It needs around 160-220mA in peak power during transmission, so we can not use the 3V3 pin on the gpio header (they can source only 40mA max).
I have not gotten around to do a board for this larger radio, but if you have then I'm interested in the .brd file or the boardname if available on OSHPark.

[alexsh1]

@GertSanders @emc2 That's right. I have my PA+LNA version running from 5V via AMS1117. I have not looked up the power consumption for the SMD version though, but think this is going to be considerable and cannot use 3.3V pin.

[emc2]

@GertSanders I saw 45mA peak current on the aliexpress description, I knew it would be off, but I was not expecting to be 10x off. So sad when we can't even trust the descriptions on the "datasheets"

I use Kicad so no .bdr file sorry. I sent you the OSHPark link via a private chat.

[emc2]

@GertSanders @alexsh1
PA+LNA Radios and PCB received and everything was assembled.
So far everything seems to work on my old Raspberry Pi A. Pi GPIO is not fried (yet), both Rx and Tx is working without any reset or reboot so far.

[reinhold]

@emc2 Thanks for this awesome tiny piece!

I just built a copy of this RPI<=>nrf24l01 SMD gateway for my raspberry Pi. Unfortunately, while the RPi seems to properly detect the transceiver, but it never receives anything from my nodes (mysgw built from current development branch, with the exact configure line given at openhardware.io

root@raspi:/home/pi/MySensors# ./bin/mysgw -d
mysgw: Starting gateway...
mysgw: Protocol version - 2.2.0-beta
mysgw: MCO:BGN:INIT GW,CP=RNNG--Q-,VER=2.2.0-beta
mysgw: TSF:LRT:OK
mysgw: TSM:INIT
mysgw: TSF:WUR:MS=0
mysgw: TSM:INIT:TSP OK
mysgw: TSM:INIT:GW MODE
mysgw: TSM:READY:ID=0,PAR=0,DIS=0
mysgw: MCO:REG:NOT NEEDED
mysgw: Listening for connections on 0.0.0.0:5003
mysgw: MCO:BGN:STP
mysgw: MCO:BGN:INIT OK,TSP=1

After that, there is simply no output and the serial console of my sensors also do not indicate any connection.

If I instead attach a "normal" (i.e. non-smd) nrf24l01 module with jumper wires to the same SPI port on the RPi, then full communication is possible:

mysgw: Listening for connections on 0.0.0.0:5003
mysgw: MCO:BGN:STP
mysgw: MCO:BGN:INIT OK,TSP=1
mysgw: TSF:MSG:READ,1-1-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0:
mysgw: TSF:MSG:BC
mysgw: TSF:MSG:FPAR REQ,ID=1
mysgw: TSF:CKU:OK,FCTRL
mysgw: TSF:MSG:GWL OK
mysgw: TSF:MSG:SEND,0-0-1-1,s=255,c=3,t=8,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:0
mysgw: TSF:MSG:READ,1-1-0,s=255,c=3,t=24,pt=1,l=1,sg=0:1

I also tried to build a second of these tiny smd gateways, but I get exactly the same issue...
Do I need to change anything in my nodes' code to make them talk to this smd gateway and replace my "big", wired nrf24l01 with this smd gateway?

[emc2]

@reinhold I bet it's an IRQ issue:

If you are using version 1.1 of the board, with IRQ support, you need to compile the software on the pi with the --my-rf24-irq-pin=18 option (see Install section on openhardware / github)

By default IRQ is on pin 15 so my bet is that if it's working by following https://www.mysensors.org/build/raspberry you just need to recompile the software with this option and it should work

[reinhold]

After some more googling, I think I found the cause of the issue: I bought some cheap SMD version of the nrf24l01 on aliexpress.
Apparently, that SMD version with the epoxy blob is a cheap knock-off that does not really include a genuine nrf24l01 chip, but only a similar chip. While the board is pin-compatible and API-compatible to the nrf24l01, the over-the-air data frame format is apparently NOT compatible with the real NRF24L01+ chip:

• https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/4564/nrf24-mini-smd-nrf24l01/4
• http://nerdralph.blogspot.co.at/2014/11/se8r01-24ghz-wireless-modules.html
• http://community.atmel.com/forum/help-identifying-nrf24l01-compatible-modules

So, no wonder my smd gateway is not communicating (or rather unable to understand the communication) with the nodes that use real nrf24l01+ modules.... Guess I'll have to wait for the real, non-blob nrf24l01 SMD modules, which I also ordered a while ago and which should arrive any day now....

[reinhold]

Okay, finally got the original nrf24l01 SMD modules with the square chip visible... As exptected, things work just fine now, so the culprit of my issues was really the incompatible/fake "nrf24l01" SMD modules with the epoxy blob. If you want to use normal nrf24l01+ modules together with this smd gateway, DO
NOT USE the smd module with the epoxy blob, as they won't work.

Using only the fake SMD modules might work, too, but mixing the fake modules with real ones does not work.