NRF24L01+ some batches won't power down properly

[รอเรือ]

Hi there!

I just received a batch of 20 NRF24L01+ that I bought from Great Wall Electronics on Ali Express. They are all bad. Unfortunately I used them building a batch of 20 "My Slim 2AA Battery Nodes" and now I will have to de-solder them and replace them by working ones. Unnecessary to say that I should have tested them before soldering them of course. That's a lesson I will not forget for sure.

The NRF24L01+ that I bought works except from that while my nodes enter sleep mode, the nodes (including my SI7020 sensor with the power regulator removed) are using 800-900 uA instead of 5 uA measured on a working node.

Where is safe places to buy working NRF24L01+ ? How can I tell if they will be working or not? When I write "working" I mean that they should be able to power down to just a few uA power consumption.

The faulty one that I bought has no white print on the back side. Brand Name: TENSTAR ROBOT according to the vendor. Except from the missing print they look identical to the working ones that I bought earlier from another vendor. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10PCS-PCS-LOT-nrf24l01-power-strengthen-edition-2-4g-wireless-module-nrf24l01-module/817000009.html

(Arduino 1.6.13, MySensors 2.1.0)

[Nca78]

Sounds like the brand of the fake HLK power supplies sold by the same Great Wall shop... I got my money back after dispute but lost my faith in that shop as they kept selling them for quite some time despite knowing they were fake. Now they sell the Tenstar branded ones and claim they "replace" the HLK...
I think it would be a good idea to blacklist this shop and remove it from the links in the MySensors shop if there are still some ?

[รอเรือ]

I decided to test all my 20 sensors and found out that 3 out of 20 actually could power down. Starting the tedious work to un-solder the radios of the remaining sensors now.

Using the link in the store, I ordered 30 new from Ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/400594940658?rmvSB=true

This vendor state that their radios will consume 1 uA in sleep mode. I will test all of them at arrival. I believe it's a bit more safe to buy radios on Ebay because it's easy to complain if something shouldn't work as expected.

Cheers!

[Tim Abels]

I struggled by the same problem 9 months ago and stopped working because of my frustration.

https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/2067/my-slim-2aa-battery-node/313

Let us know, where to buy good ones.

[Nca78]

@รอเรือ said:

I decided to test all my 20 sensors and found out that 3 out of 20 actually could power down. Starting the tedious work to un-solder the radios of the remaining sensors now.

Using the link in the store, I ordered 30 new from Ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/400594940658?rmvSB=true

This vendor state that their radios will consume 1 uA in sleep mode. I will test all of them at arrival. I believe it's a bit more safe to buy radios on Ebay because it's easy to complain if something shouldn't work as expected.

Cheers!

Is it too late for you to open a dispute ? With pictures of your multimeter showing current for "normal" module and current for "failing" module + text explanations, it should be possible to get most of your money back.
Also, put an evaluation about the radio. If like many people you put many stars before testing the product, you can still add additionnal feedback, that will be useful for the next users who will be tempted to buy from this seller.

[รอเรือ]

@Nca78 said:

@รอเรือ said:

I decided to test all my 20 sensors and found out that 3 out of 20 actually could power down. Starting the tedious work to un-solder the radios of the remaining sensors now.

Using the link in the store, I ordered 30 new from Ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/400594940658?rmvSB=true

This vendor state that their radios will consume 1 uA in sleep mode. I will test all of them at arrival. I believe it's a bit more safe to buy radios on Ebay because it's easy to complain if something shouldn't work as expected.

Cheers!

Is it too late for you to open a dispute ? With pictures of your multimeter showing current for "normal" module and current for "failing" module + text explanations, it should be possible to get most of your money back.
Also, put an evaluation about the radio. If like many people you put many stars before testing the product, you can still add additionnal feedback, that will be useful for the next users who will be tempted to buy from this seller.

Hi! Unfortunately I did my review before testing them in sleep mode. I won't do that next time for sure. I will see if I can make an additional review. I have no hope to regain any money from them though. Thanks for the tip.