💬 NRF2RFM69

[gohan]

you are right, the picture has an error, but the pcb has the right labels. Maybe @sundberg84 may fix the picture :)

[Markus.]

@gohan yes and i didn't checked the PCB Label...shit happends

[sundberg84]

@Markus. Sorry, this is because it was changed from Rev 8 to Rev 9 and the location of the IRQ jumper is changed. I will try to update to REV 9 pictures only.

[jostor]

@tbowmo

@tbowmo said in 💬 NRF2RFM69:

I've added the panel design to dirtypcb's store.. So just order it from the following link

http://dirtypcbs.com/view.php?share=16378&accesskey=4e199dccdf623eab0c90fddbc4786f80

I ordered PCBs from dirtypcbs via the link above. But just now I got this message from dirtypcb:
"Problems Drill holes don't match with the solder pads."
Do you know why?

Thanks for your help!

[gohan]

I got them from seeed studio, no problem

[jostor]

@gohan But then I guess you didn't use the panel version?
From what I can see it looks like the drill file in the panel version is missing the drill holes on the board itself. It looks like it only contains the drill holes between the cards? I am not sure, and has little experience with drill files and pcb design, but it looks like this when I open the drill file (and the profile layer, .gml-file) in gerbview in kicad:

From what I can see the drill holes on the boards itself is missing, but I guess there are others that have ordered this panel version from dirtypcbs, so I find it strange that there should be an error.

[tbowmo]

@jostor

That sounds weird, as I haven't touched the files at dirtypcb for the last couple of years.. And I got a notification from dirtypcb the other day, that another set was successfully ordered..

Perhaps it's a fluke in their system?

[jostor]

@tbowmo
OK. Then I guess the files are OK, and that the error is in dirtypcb's system. Thanks!
But what about the drill file on your github. Why am I not seeing the drill holes on the card itself when I am opening it? Shouldn't they be a part of the drill file?

[tbowmo]

@jostor

probably.. Can't remember much of what I did 2 years ago :)

[jostor]

@tbowmo
That's understandable :-)

I received this email from dirtypcbs today:

"Thanks for ordering!
So here is the thing- please see attached screenshots. The only drill holes in this Gerber are the mouse bits(the pink layer, photo 001). The light green layer(photo 002) is the top solder mask layer. The problem is that no drills are specified in the solder pads or circles, which means that if we make the board exactly how the gerber is designed, all of the light green parts are solder pads and there WILL NOT be drill holes at the bottom of the solder pads, which seems wrong.
I checked this gerber in our system, and I couldn't find any other orders that included it. Even if we have made this board for other people, it doesn't mean that this back-and-forth didn't happen before. I suggest that you write the designer and forward this message and screenshot to him, so that he can update the design in case you order again in the future.
I am also going to include a screenshot of the whole design, and I hope that will be clear to you what the problem is."

The attachments in the email are basically showing the same as the image I attached in my post above.
I don't find any design files for the panel layout in your git repository, just gerber files. I guess you don't have them anymore?
I will try to make a new panel layout myself, if I not succeed, I will just order single boards.

[tbowmo]

@jostor

If I remember right I used this gerber panelizer to place 3 of the normal gerber files on one board. You could do the same again, and re-create a panel.

[jostor]

@tbowmo
Thanks! I have looked at it, and it seems easy to create a panel with that tool. I will look more into it later today or tomorrow.

[rozpruwacz]

Hi,
I ordered this board trough pcbway on 6th december and still didn't received it. I event did not received any confirmation email accept paypal payment confirmation. Did any one here ordered those boards with pcbway ? Do they send any information about the order ?

[hek]

@rozpruwacz, I'll PM you the shipping details.

[joaoabs]

What value should be the C1 SMD ? I don't have kicad, so I can't open the file. Just saw it the 3d sketch and realized I have to order some SMDs...

[rozpruwacz]

@joaoabs i use 10u and ir works ok.

[tbowmo]

@joaoabs

It's not a specific value.. I just added the footprint, so that it was available, if someone wanted to add a capacitor.

[symos]

First of all, thank you to the creator of this very convenient PCB.
I ordered 10 of those but got confused when I tried to make a RPi 3 gateway and Arduino node.

In the "Connecting the Radio" guide, the instructions are to connect NRF's IRQ pin to Arduino No 2 pin.
This is where RFM's D100 pin is supposed to be connected. As far as I could tell from the PCB this is correct, as RFM's D100 pin is broken out to where NRF's IRQ pin is.

However, in the "Building a Raspberry Pi Gateway" guide, it says to connect RFM's D100 pin to RPi's pin 22, which is where NRF's CE pin is supposed to be connected, not IRQ. As for IRQ, it says it's "optional", but if you do connect it, this should be to RPi's pin 15.

So, if you connect the radio to the RPi following the NRF instructions, you get a different circuit than if you connect it following the RFM instructions (and using the pin matching you get from the "connecting the radio" guide). When I did the former, the gateway wasn't working, but when I did the latter, it worked.

I don't know why this difference exists, but I think it's important to point out for anyone wanting to use the PCB with an RPi.

[alexsh1]

@symos IRQ is not utilised for nrf24l01+ in MySensors. There is a provision for future, but just ignore IRQ for now.

[tbowmo]

@alexsh1

You can enable interrupt usage for NRF24, depending on your hardware and needs.

see the #MY_RF24_IRQ_PIN define, which is used around here