[SOLVED] Problems with Ethernet Gateway (Arduino Ethernet Shield)

[Dan S.]

@BulldogLowell Once you sent the pin definitions in RF24_config.h as you indicated you connect the MOSI, MISO and SCK pins of the radio to A0,A1 and A2 on the Ethernet shield/UNO as niccodemi indicated. The other radio pins remain connected as they were originally.

[BulldogLowell]

right, completely understood now. i updated my IDE, made all the edits, changed the pins and loaded up my rig.

fingers crossed.

Thanks for everyone's help!

[BulldogLowell]

@BulldogLowell

OK... Working fine :)

THANKS to everyone who assisted!!!

[BulldogLowell]

@BulldogLowell said:

@BulldogLowell

OK... Working fine :)

THANKS to everyone who assisted!!!

UPDATE: 12 hours and working perfectly!

[korttoma]

Thanks @niccodemi for the detailed how to. Now to only thing unclear to me is if this can be applied on the Ethernet board I have or should I order a new one? I have built a Ethernet GW with a Pro mini and that Ethernet board but I just have not found time to take it in to use and then there was all this about the SPI issue that made me push the task ahead of me.

[niccodemi]

@korttoma , I don't see why it shouldn't work with your board. It doesn't cost you anything to try and report back here how it went.

[niccodemi]

@BulldogLowell , are you using relay actuators with your ethernet gw?

[BulldogLowell]

@niccodemi

I'm not sure I know what you mean... Do you mean are some attached node used as relays?

Gateway still working perfectly...

[niccodemi]

@BulldogLowell yes, node with relay.

[BulldogLowell]

@niccodemi

I had... but converted it back to regular non-repeating node.

I had too much trouble with it, but that was before I had this stable Ethernet gateway.

[Opus40]

Would Just like to say thank you to every one, this fixed my GW problems as well.

[korttoma]

I was finally gona tackle my own Ethernet GW but I got stuck at the "0;0;3;0;9;check wires" issue.

I'we checked the wires a couple of times. Tried 4 different power supplies, rewired so that only the radio gets the 3.3v from the LM2937ET-3.3 regulator (arduino Pro mini 3.3 feed with 5v on the raw pin and Ethernet module also gets 5v since it has a AMS1117 onboard). I do have a 47uF cap close to the radio. Tried regular radio module and the PA-LNA module that I was planing on using.

The "check wires" is related to the radio module only right?

Guess I will have to go back to the breadboard to see if I can get it working.

[p0lar]

Do we need to remove this Soft SPI mod to build sensors now?

[hek]

@p0lar

For normal sensors you should probably run with the hardware SPI. So yes. disable it when gateway has been compiled and flashed.

[korttoma]

I have now tried on a breadboard with the same result "0;0;3;0;9;check wires". Swapped out the Pro Mini to a Nano same result. My conclusion would be that the Ethernet board I have can just not be used.

How I connected:
Ethernet board arduino pin
NSS/SS D10
MO/MO A0
MI/MI A1
SOK/CK A2
V+5 tried with 3.3v 5v and 9v
GND GND

The radio was connected according to this

I'm still gona try the none SOFTSPI setup if I get the same result. edit -> same result here

[Anticimex]

@korttoma That W5100 module has no SPI_EN signal out on the pins, so you have to use soft SPI for it, or it will block the radio module. Or you can HW-patch the module to drive the inverse of the CS pin on the SPI_EN pin on the W5100 ASIC. If you instead does pull out SPI_EN to the Arduino you can use the config in the gateway sketch to handle the SPI_EN for you. I do this for my GW which has a W5100 module with SPI_EN available and it works a treat.

[korttoma]

I tried to use the SOFT_SPI but I always get check wires. So it seems like there is also something else. Only time I managed to get the sketch running was with the none soft_spi setup and I had power disconnected from the Ethernet module during startup and connected it later.

[Anticimex]

@korttoma Sorry to be asking these probably stupid questions but have you checked that

• all wires are properly connected, and in-line with the config in the software
• the RF module is ok (tested multiple ones)
• supply voltage is relatively free of noise (I have seen noice up to 1V in relative amplitude without proper decoupling on my breadboard)

I am pretty sure you will never get the GW running on that module without either SOFT_SPI or a HW patch to it.
To me it sounds like a good start would be to get to the point where you can get it running on SOFT_SPI without the W5100 "present". Just to establish that you can communicate with the RF module.
If you can do it on HW SPI, then it should not be a problem with the RF module itself, more a config error for SOFT_SPI.

[korttoma]

I we tried allot of different sources of power, this was the firs thing I did. I have a stupid question to. The radio connection are the same even if I use soft_spi right? Or should also the radio be connected to the 3 analog pins?

[Anticimex]

@korttoma No, the whole point of using SOFT_SPI is that you use different pins. The reason is that the W5100 "hogs" the SPI interface, so if you cannot access SPI_EN on W5100 then you cannot share SPI pins with W5100.