Help needed to setup a RFM69 & ESP8266 Gateaway on Adafruit Feather Huzzah

hlehoux

@mfalkvidd thank you for pointing this to me. I confirm gpio5 works well for IRQ. I read too many articles about how to use gpio0 or gpio2 !

Anyway i still get very bad transmission ratio, even with very close distance and after buying antennas the good size for my 868 MHz RFM69s

Can some of you guys point me to help on how to troubleshoot transmissions and/or bad antenna setup for the RFM69, for a newbie like me ?

Thank you

electrik

Can you switch on MY_DEBUG_VERBOSE_RFM69 in your node and post the output?
Also post the sketch please.

hlehoux

Thank you for offering help!

Here is the output of my node "AT Startup" with MY_DEBUG_VERBOSE_RFM69

 
 __  __       ____
|  \/  |_   _/ ___|  ___ _ __  ___  ___  _ __ ___
| |\/| | | | \___ \ / _ \ `_ \/ __|/ _ \| `__/ __|
| |  | | |_| |___| |  __/ | | \__ \  _  | |  \__ \
|_|  |_|\__, |____/ \___|_| |_|___/\___/|_|  |___/
        |___/                      2.3.2

16 MCO:BGN:INIT NODE,CP=RPNNA---,FQ=8,REL=255,VER=2.3.2
28 TSM:INIT
28 TSF:WUR:MS=0
30 RFM69:INIT
32 RFM69:INIT:PIN,CS=10,IQP=2,IQN=0
36 RFM69:PTX:LEVEL=5 dBm
38 TSM:INIT:TSP OK
40 TSF:SID:OK,ID=1
43 TSM:FPAR
45 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=255,SEQ=0,RETRY=0
51 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
55 ?TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
2064 !TSM:FPAR:NO REPLY
2066 TSM:FPAR
2068 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=255,SEQ=1,RETRY=0
2072 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-109
2078 ?TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
2838 RFM69:SAC:SEND ACK,TO=0,RSSI=-30
2842 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-111
2848 TSF:MSG:READ,0-0-1,s=255,c=3,t=8,pt=1,l=1,sg=0:0
2854 TSF:MSG:FPAR OK,ID=0,D=1
4087 TSM:FPAR:OK
4087 TSM:ID
4089 TSM:ID:OK
4091 TSM:UPL
4093 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=3,RETRY=0
4098 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
4304 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
4306 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=4,RETRY=1
4311 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-107
4517 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
4519 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=4,RETRY=2
4524 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
4730 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
4732 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=4,RETRY=3
4737 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-107
4923 RFM69:SWR:ACK,FROM=0,SEQ=4,RSSI=-74
4927 RFM69:ATC:ADJ TXL,cR=-74,tR=-78..-82,TXL=5
4931 RFM69:PTX:LEVEL=4 dBm
4935 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=3,t=24,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:1
5156 RFM69:SAC:SEND ACK,TO=0,RSSI=-29
5160 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
5167 TSF:MSG:READ,0-0-1,s=255,c=3,t=25,pt=1,l=1,sg=0:1
5173 TSF:MSG:PONG RECV,HP=1
5175 TSM:UPL:OK
5177 TSM:READY:ID=1,PAR=0,DIS=1
5181 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=5,RETRY=0
5185 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-109
5392 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
5394 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=6,RETRY=1
5398 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-106
5605 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
5607 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=6,RETRY=2
5611 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-107
5818 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
5820 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=6,RETRY=3
5824 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-111
6031 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
6033 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=6,RETRY=4
6037 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-109
6244 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
6246 !TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=3,t=15,pt=6,l=2,sg=0,ft=0,st=NACK:0100
7464 RFM69:SAC:SEND ACK,TO=0,RSSI=-29
7471 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-107
7475 TSF:MSG:READ,0-0-1,s=255,c=3,t=15,pt=6,l=2,sg=0:0100
7481 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=7,RETRY=0
7487 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
7694 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
7696 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=8,RETRY=1
7700 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-105
7907 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
7909 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=8,RETRY=2
7913 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-107
8120 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
8122 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=8,RETRY=3
8126 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
8333 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
8335 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=8,RETRY=4
8339 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-106
8546 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
8548 !TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=0,t=17,pt=0,l=5,sg=0,ft=1,st=NACK:2.3.2
8556 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=8,RETRY=0
8560 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-106
8767 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
8769 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=9,RETRY=1
8773 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
8980 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
8982 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=9,RETRY=2
8986 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
9193 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
9195 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=9,RETRY=3
9199 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-107
9406 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
9408 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=9,RETRY=4
9412 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-106
9619 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
9621 !TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=3,t=6,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=2,st=NACK:0
Presentation
11628 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=9,RETRY=0
11634 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-110
11841 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
11843 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=10,RETRY=1
11847 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
12056 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
12058 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=10,RETRY=2
12062 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
12271 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
12273 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=10,RETRY=3
12277 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-110
12486 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
12488 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=10,RETRY=4
12492 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-106
12701 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
12703 !TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=3,t=11,pt=0,l=13,sg=0,ft=3,st=NACK:RFM69 Sensor 
12711 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=10,RETRY=0
12718 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
12924 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
12926 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=11,RETRY=1
12931 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-106
13139 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
13142 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=11,RETRY=2
13146 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-107
13355 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
13357 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=11,RETRY=3
13361 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-106
13570 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
13572 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=11,RETRY=4
13576 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-109
13785 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
13787 !TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=3,t=12,pt=0,l=3,sg=0,ft=4,st=NACK:1.0
13795 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=11,RETRY=0
13799 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-111
14006 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
14008 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=12,RETRY=1
14012 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-105
14219 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
14221 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=12,RETRY=2
14225 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-106
14432 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
14434 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=12,RETRY=3
14438 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-107
14645 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
14647 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=12,RETRY=4
14651 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-107
14858 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
14860 !TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=0,c=0,t=23,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=5,st=NACK:
14866 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=12,RETRY=0
14872 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-109
15079 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
15081 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=13,RETRY=1
15085 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-105
15292 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
15294 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=13,RETRY=2
15298 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-107
15505 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
15507 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=13,RETRY=3
15511 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-106
15718 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
15720 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=13,RETRY=4
15724 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-109
15931 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
15933 !TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=1,c=0,t=0,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=6,st=NACK:
15939 MCO:REG:REQ
15941 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=13,RETRY=0
15947 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-105
16154 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
16156 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=14,RETRY=1
16160 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-109
16367 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
16369 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=14,RETRY=2
16373 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
16580 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
16582 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=14,RETRY=3
16586 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-107
16793 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
16795 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=14,RETRY=4
16799 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-105
17006 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
17008 !TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=255,c=3,t=26,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=7,st=NACK:2
17016 !TSM:READY:UPL FAIL,SNP

And while executing loop() every 2 seconds:

Loop
478496 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=80,RETRY=0
478502 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-107
478707 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
478709 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=81,RETRY=1
478715 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
478922 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
478924 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=81,RETRY=2
478930 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
479137 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
479139 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=81,RETRY=3
479145 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-105
479352 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
479354 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=81,RETRY=4
479361 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-104
479526 RFM69:SWR:ACK,FROM=0,SEQ=81,RSSI=-90
479533 RFM69:ATC:ADJ TXL,cR=-90,tR=-78..-82,TXL=11
479537 RFM69:PTX:LEVEL=12 dBm
479541 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=1,c=1,t=16,pt=2,l=2,sg=0,ft=1,st=OK:1
Loop
481548 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=81,RETRY=0
481554 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-109
481761 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
481763 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=82,RETRY=1
481769 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-109
481976 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
481978 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=82,RETRY=2
481984 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-106
482191 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
482193 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=82,RETRY=3
482199 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-105
482406 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
482408 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=82,RETRY=4
482414 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
482621 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
482623 !TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=1,c=1,t=16,pt=2,l=2,sg=0,ft=0,st=NACK:1
Loop
484630 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=82,RETRY=0
484636 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-109
484841 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
484843 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=83,RETRY=1
484849 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-107
485056 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
485058 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=83,RETRY=2
485064 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-108
485271 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
485273 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=83,RETRY=3
485279 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-105
485486 !RFM69:SWR:NACK
485488 RFM69:SWR:SEND,TO=0,SEQ=83,RETRY=4
485494 RFM69:CSMA:RSSI=-107
485662 RFM69:SWR:ACK,FROM=0,SEQ=83,RSSI=-88
485666 RFM69:ATC:ADJ TXL,cR=-88,tR=-78..-82,TXL=12
485672 RFM69:PTX:LEVEL=13 dBm
485675 TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-0-0,s=1,c=1,t=16,pt=2,l=2,sg=0,ft=1,st=OK:1

And my Sketch :

// Enable debug prints to serial monitor
#define MY_DEBUG

// Enable and select radio type attached
#define MY_RADIO_RFM69
#define MY_IS_RFM69HW
#define MY_DEBUG_VERBOSE
#define MY_DEBUG_VERBOSE_RFM69
//#define MY_DEBUG_VERBOSE_RFM69_REGISTERS
#define MY_RFM69_NEW_DRIVER
//#define MY_RFM69_ATC_MODE_DISABLED
//#define MY_RFM69_TX_POWER_DBM 20

// Enabled repeater feature for this node
//#define MY_REPEATER_FEATURE

//#define MY_NODE_ID 5

#include <MySensors.h>

#define OPEN 1
// Initialize motion message
MyMessage msg(1, V_TRIPPED);

uint8_t value = OPEN;

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(115200);
  pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT);
}

void presentation()
{
  Serial.println("Presentation");
  // Send the sketch version information to the gateway and Controller
  sendSketchInfo("RFM69 Sensor ", "1.0");

  // Register all sensors to gw (they will be created as child devices)
    present(0, S_CUSTOM);
    present(1, S_DOOR);
}

void loop()
{
  Serial.println("Loop");
  digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH);   // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
  delay(1000);                       // wait for a second
  digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW);    // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW
  delay(1000);                       // wait for a second
  //sendHeartbeat(); 
  send(msg.set(OPEN));

  
}

hlehoux

I'm also reading a few posts like this one trying to understand a bit more ....

electrik

Are you sure about ask your hardware versions? I bought rfm69 modules and I thought they were the HW version but they turned out to be the normal ones.
So important is

module version
frequency

It looks like even with a high rssi your reception is not good. But maybe I interpret this the wrong way. Can I've of the developers or more experienced help with the analysis?

hlehoux

Thank you @electrik
My intent is to use RFM69HW 868Mhz
I compared with photos on the internet like here

mine is:

as far as i understand my reading my RSSI values seem to tell my signal is very weak and noisy ?
I tried to provide the pwr to the rfm69 with an external source instead of the esp8266 but i was not better.

hakha4

@hlehoux Hi!
I had quite alot of trouble with NRF24 modules with shaky connections despite doing everything that has been discussed in forum with power supply etc and have ordered a bunch of RFM69's to hopefully improve this according to others in forum claiming better stability with RFM''s. Haven't tested yet but reading this is a bit dissapointing.
One thing though. Readings in log shows very high RSSI values and if it is measured in dBm this is very bad. The lower value the better I believe. Antenna issue ?

electrik

@hlehoux can you take a photo from the back also? There should be a table telling which one it is exactly.

@hakha4 said in Help needed to setup a RFM69 & ESP8266 Gateaway on Adafruit Feather Huzzah:

Antenna issue ?

You could be right.

What antenna do you have?

hlehoux

Hello, here are 2 photos

one from the back:

I'm not sure what the "W" means, i read chinese copy don't have it ?

one from the antenna:

It should be the good size for 868 MHz

I don't use "ground plane" or sort of, would this explain so bad RSSI ?

Thank you again for your help and patience

hlehoux

@hakha4 i also have several NRF24 nodes and gateaway
After trying several antenna/tranceiver, i recommend using
"E01-ML01DP5 Long Range SPI nRF24L01P 2.4Ghz 100mW SMA Antenna IoT Wireless Transceiver Transmitter Receiver nRF24L01P RF Module"

as a repeater
It gives far better range results

Anyway i wanted to try RFM69 to avoid having many repeaters

electrik

The modules correspond to what it should be.
It looks like your ground is connected to the ANT pin on the picture, on the bottom side of the PCB?

hakha4

@hlehoux Hi!
I'm not sure what the "W" means, i read chinese copy don't have it ?

W means the low power output variant (+13dBm). There is another version named 'HW' which give a higher transmission output (+20 dBM). As elektik pointed out, check out the solder of the antenna. Did the antenna come presoldered or you did it yourself?
Another option for the coiled antenna is a straight copper wire (8,6 cm long) that gives better transmission according to many sources. Google! theres's alot information about this

electrik

@hakha4 said in Help needed to setup a RFM69 & ESP8266 Gateaway on Adafruit Feather Huzzah:

There is another version named 'HW' which give a higher transmission output (+20 dBM).

There is a black spot on the PCB after "69H" and after the "W" so this is the RFM69HW

scalz

@hlehoux
unfortunately, lot of devboards have non-optimized gnd plane for RF, especially for subghz (small or splitted gnd plane by routes..).
Moreover, devboard+dupont cable+external rf module is not ideal.
With rfm69, you should get a nice range.
Though, why on one of your picture, antenna seems shorted to gnd??
Imho I would have chosen something else than esp8266 (esp32??) in your case, but your choice :)

To check if this is related to your gnd plane and your build is ok, you could also try to hook two straight wires as a dipole antenna to your radio (one to ANA, the other to GND in opposite direction will replace a ground plane). Google for examples, it's simple to try

electrik

@scalz
Could you explain how to read these rssi reports, and how to adjust the configuration of the nodes so the reliability goes up?
I know there is a setting RFM69_TARGET_RSSI_DBM but it is not clear for me how to use this exactly.

hlehoux

@electrik Thank you! What you see is the "head" of the pliers i used to hold the RFM69. I will check again my soldering but definitly ANT and ground should not be connected

hlehoux

@scalz Thank you very much!
Unfortunatly, the antenna seems shorted to ground only because this is the "head" of the pliers i used to take the photo.

i use esp8266 because i received for free a lot of many adafruit huzzah feathers :-)

i will try your suggestion to hook two straight wires as a dipole antenna and report if this is better.

For sure my "development" setup is devboard+dupont cable+external rf and this should not be the final version ; anyway loosing 50% of messages with distance of 1 meter is disappointing.

hakha4

@hlehoux Here is a useful link how to do that: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/rfm69hcw-hookup-guide/the-antenna

Sasquatch

try adding :

#define MY_RFM69_FREQUENCY   RFM69_868MHZ

just in case....

My first prototype using dupont cables and piece of wire as antenna gave me 500m range with 3 or 4 houses between me and gateway.
Try old driver, no RSSI reporting, but my whole network runs on old driver.

@hlehoux 1m range is usually caused by radio type misconfiguration, like running HW radio as low power or other way round. Another possibility is faulty radio.

hlehoux

Strangely, i also have another bunch of RFM69s that are marked as H but not W. What does it mean ?

Help needed to setup a RFM69 & ESP8266 Gateaway on Adafruit Feather Huzzah

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