Setting up the 2nd RF24 network..

[pvoj]

Hi,

I'm setting up a parallel network next to my existing one. Since I live in a dense area lot's of different equipment are being used around me. My goal is to find the best settings with the less interference. I have some specific questions about this:

• How should I choose the best MY_RF24_CHANNEL? Do you use any scanner solution? (something like wifi analyzer on Android?)
• Should I modify MY_RF24_BASE_RADIO_ID settings? Any recommendation?

I guessed with the values and it's working now, but I would like to know if there is a more scientific method used to reach a better stability.

config: MySensors 2.3.1, Raspberry Pi 3 B+, nRF24L01+ and nRF24L01+PA+LNA radios

[skywatch]

@pvoj There is something called the 'poor mans scanner' out there - This uses the nrf24l01 to scan all it's channels and record signal activity and levels.

This might help you find the best channels, but be aware that some equipment can do this sutomatically, so from day to day it might change. Also, some routers etc look for clearest channel at power on and then stay there until next power up.

Frequency hopping would help if your environment is 'noisy' but dynamic channel changing is not supported in mysensors (afaik), so that's something you would have to do yourself. I did try a 'slow hopping' solution years ago, but that was without mysensors and hopped at 1ch/sec. It worked well though.

Just keep the rf modules and antennas as far apart as you can to avoid any cross interference.

[pvoj]

@skywatch said in Setting up the 2nd RF24 network..:

Thank you! It's something what I was searching for!
https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=54795.0

This is a snippet from the terminal window:

>   1 2  3 4  5  6 7 8  9 10 11 12 13  14                     <
|  .WRa**+a-:.:.....=..     :..--....                            | 19
|  :aWaWWRR.:.....:....     .....::.:                            | 21
|  :RWRaWRR......-.: ..     .:.:..::.                            | 19
|  -*WRaWW*:.:. ::-:.-.     ==.----:=                            | 15
|  :+**==-:-..-:::--.-.     +WW=***+=                            | 13
|  -RWWRRa*.==:=-:+=-::     -..::::aR                            | 10
|  :RaW++RW:.=:-+-:. ..     :.--=:.a+                            | 11
|  .*+W=*+a.+--.-:.-:..     ..=-.:*::                            | 11
|  :Waa+*-*= ...:..=:..     +:.=-*-.                             | 11
|  :+WWaRW*=+:=====-==.     :.-= ::-                             | 10
|  :+Ra+++W .:::...-:.:      :-=++::-                            | 14
|  +aRaaaRW -+--:.*-++:     ++-::.-*-                            | 8
|  aaa===aR ..=.aW+R.=      aa+: .:=:                            | 7
|   WWWW*R*:                =     :                              | 5

I start to find out and decode it. With MySensors library there are channels supported between 0-125 which means 2400MHz - 2525MHz range. I will need to map them to understand.

[Yveaux]

@pvoj the nrf24doctor can do exactly what you are looking for : https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/9178/nrf24doctor
The last few posts in this thread address the channel scanning function.

[pvoj]

@yveaux thank you for letting me know about this great project! The thread is also very useful.
I managed to find a relatively quiet range in channels.