MYSBootloader 1.3.0-beta.3

[slt1]

I am getting good range here. I have a repeater node (not using MYSBootloader yet) that is 100m away and works fine and another node 200 to 300m away (hence the repeater at 100m). The far node was dropping some messages but that is not too critical as its only a water tank level sensor. I plan to put in a long range PA+SMA type nrf24L01 on that one. The gateway and repeater already have the long range nrf's. I am now testing OTA to a weather station node that is just outside - around 10m from gateway. And I have a test node on my desk around 8m from the gateway. Both the weather station and the test node on my desk give same results for OTA - around 30min or so for every 20k of hex file.

[gohan]

how long is the sleep time of your nodes?

[slt1]

@gohan The weather station does not sleep - it uses wait() and does so for 5 seconds every loop. The test node first waits for 5 seconds then sleeps for 55 seconds. Both these node seem to update at the same rate. However, it also seems MYSBootloader does the firmware update then launches the sketch code, so the wait / sleep cycle is irrelevant as it first updates the bootloader then runs the sketch

[gohan]

it is relevant because if it is long, the node will start the ota update only when it exits the sleep, so I was just making sure you didn't overlooked that :)

[slt1]

@gohan not overlooked :) All seems to be working - range is good, MYSBootloader and OTA updates work. It just incredibly slow. It seems to do some message updates then pause for maybe 5 seconds or so, then carry on going. So when there are 1000 messages - these 5 sec pauses probably add up to what is making it take hours instead of minutes

[jkandasa]

@slt1 If you are using wait() to repeat some function. I recommend using http://playground.arduino.cc/Code/SimpleTimer, to avoid complete blocking when executing wait().

[slt1]

@jkandasa Thanks for the help, but the problem I am having cannot be in the sketch. The firmware update does gets started after a reboot. So that part is all working fine. Once the firmware is updating then no sketch code runs until it completes. The firmware updating is what is very very slow

[jkandasa]

@slt1 I hope you are also facing this kind of issue: https://github.com/mysensors/MySensorsBootloaderRF24/issues/12

[slt1]

@jkandasa I added some basic shielding around NRF's and now getting the 60Kb hex file transferred in around 15 minutes (was 2 hours!), and a 30Kb hex file transferred in about 7 minutes (prev was about 1 hour). So its a lot better, but still rather slow ! I am not sure if that is a good transfer rate for OTA and if what I am now getting can still be improved. I cannot find any information on what transfer speeds one should expect with OTA updates.
I am also using MyController, but using the 5V / 16Mhz MySBootloader file in development branch. So I am not sure if my issue is same as yours.

[jkandasa]

@slt1 Thanks for the detailed information. If you have enough time would you mind to give a try to https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/4991/mysbootloader-1-3pre2-testing ?

Bootloader link: https://forum.mysensors.org/uploads/files/1475275020003-mysbootloader_v13pre2.zip

[slt1]

@jkandasa Using the bootloader in your zip file link I get the same result - around 15 minutes for a 60KB hex sketch file. I used MyController - not MYSController.
Can you please tell me how long it takes you to do an OTA update - the time + hex file size?

[jkandasa]

@slt1 Thanks for the report. I tested on two different nodes. Controller: MyController.org. Gateway MQTT(ESP8266), Radio: NRF24L01+

• 8 MHz internal crystal on the noisy environment: for 47K hex file takes 6 minutes and 42 seconds
• 16 MHz external crystal on clean environment: for 26K hex file takes 36 seconds

Bootloaders I use: https://forum.mysensors.org/uploads/files/1475275020003-mysbootloader_v13pre2.zip

Initial days I face coverage problem with NRF24L01+. I changed my antenna as per this specification, from this point I see notable improvement on coverage.

[slt1]

@jkandasa Thank you very much ! That is very helpful. It seems like you are getting excellent update speed.

For my testing of OTA the test sensor node is about 8m away from Gateway.

I am also using MyController.org, Gateway is ESP8266 (Ethernet), Radio NRF24L01+ (PA+LNA 1.1km range like the one shown here)

Current "live" sensor nodes are ...
Gateway (with PA+LNB) <------ 100 to 120m -----> Repeater Node / Pump Control Sensor (with PA+LNB) <-------- 120m to 150m -------> Water Tank Level Sensor (PCB antenna nrf24l01)

To get that range it needs good line of sight which luckily I have.

I will look into the antenna mod as well though, so thank you for the tips. I would be very happy if I can get about 1 to 2 minutes for updates on 16Mhz sensors.

[slt1]

@jkandasa I tried the modified antenna out and also removed the adapter board for the nrf and soldered a header in close to the arduino pro mini to insert the nrf24l01. And after doing, with all other sensor nodes turned off I can now get around 5 seconds for blink, about 30 seconds for TimeReporter and about 60 seconds for the 60kb custom sketch.
So thank you for the tip on antenna mod. That does help. The major issue I think though was the adapter board for the nrf24l01 - for some reason that was causing lots of pauses in the OTA updates.

The tests were all using MYSController - the windows app.

I am having a few strange issues MYController.org. It appears to be getting stuck when doing a few updates in a row and also I can't seem to roll back to a previous version.

[gohan]

What adapter were you using?

[slt1]

@gohan The manufacturer on the bottom of the board says robotdyn.com - lookinf at their website this is the exact one : http://robotdyn.com/catalog/adaptors/socket_adapter_for_nrf24l01_with_regulator_3_3v/

[gohan]

that is missing the decoupling capacitor. Did you solder one yourself?

[slt1]

@gohan I soldered a 4.7uF tantulum capacitor directly onto the nrf24L01. Didn't help !

[gohan]

did you try a bigger one like 47uF? Or maybe that voltage regulator is just rubbish :)

[Mark Swift]

I use these adaptor boards, I presumed they worked okay, what is missing @gohan, are the capacitors present on other adapter boards do you know? BTW the robotdyn stuff seems very well made but I've actually found their NRF's to perform very poorly.