Bad range

[n3ro]

Hey folks,

i have some problems with the rage of my nodes.

the maximum is only 3-7 meters and 1 wall.
i use 10 uA capacitors on each node and the gw.

Is it possible to change some settings to extend the range or set something that the node resend the signal if the gw dont get the signal?

Regards,
n3ro

Edit:
Some output from the Node:

Battery: 100
PIR: 0
send: 11-11-0-0 s=1,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1,st=fail:0
send: 11-11-255-255 s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,st=fail:
send: 11-11-0-0 s=2,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5,st=fail:51.3
Humidity: 51.30
Battery: 100
PIR: 1
send: 11-11-0-0 s=1,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1,st=fail:1
send: 11-11-0-0 s=4,c=1,t=23,pt=2,l=2,st=fail:77
Light: 77
Battery: 100
PIR: 0
send: 11-11-0-0 s=1,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1,st=fail:0
Battery: 100
PIR: 1
send: 11-11-0-0 s=1,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1,st=fail:1
Battery: 100
PIR: 0
send: 11-11-0-0 s=1,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1,st=fail:0
Battery: 100
PIR: 1
send: 11-11-0-0 s=1,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1,st=fail:1
send: 11-11-255-255 s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,st=fail:
send: 11-11-0-0 s=3,c=1,t=0,pt=7,l=5,st=fail:21.6
Temp: 21.60
send: 11-11-0-0 s=2,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5,st=fail:51.2
Humidity: 51.20
Battery: 100
PIR: 1
send: 11-11-0-0 s=1,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1,st=fail:1
send: 11-11-0-0 s=4,c=1,t=23,pt=2,l=2,st=fail:76
Light: 76
Battery: 100
PIR: 0
send: 11-11-0-0 s=1,c=1,t=16,pt=0,l=1,st=fail:0

[andriej]

10uA? should be uF and at least 47uF caps (remember about +/-)

You can also get te LNA+PA version with antenna...

I have much better range anyway... maybe your modules are too much from China? ;-)

[n3ro]

Hehe, yes :D 10uF. It's not good to write technical issues to late in the night.

I use the nfrs from banggood.com

Do you know better ones?

[n3ro]

is it possible that my wifi router make problems with mysensors?

[Jan Gatzke]

This must be a problem with your nrf modules. 3m is nothing. The cheap version you are u sing should have a range of about 10-15 meters in normal buildings. The better version LNA+PA works for ranges >20 meters with multiple walls in between.

[andriej]

@n3ro It is possible - try changing 'channel' in RF24 Config on every node (by reflashing it).

[n3ro]

@andriej this sounds interesting. what is to do to reflash it?

[andriej]

@n3ro just change the channel in config file (try to set it in higher values in example) and reprogram all sensors and gateway on your network.

[n3ro]

ah okay. So far I have this sketch to test the distance:
https://github.com/n3roGit/MySensors_n3ro/tree/master/test_sketch

tomorrow I'll reflash all nodes+gw and test it again :)

[Andreas Maurer]

Have you seen this new Video

[n3ro]

@Andreas-Maurer Cant play Video :(

[Sander Teunissen]

This post is deleted!

[Andreas Maurer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtM832Z0ujE

[n3ro]

i have still a band range. next i will test a gw with a nrf antenna version. i hope this helps

[rickmontana83]

If you're using the cheaper low-power variants of the nrf24l01+ on the gateway then make sure that your MyConfig.h file has RF24_PA_MAX for RF24_PA_LEVEL_GW.

I noticed the other day that the default value from GitHub is RF24_PA_LOW, which gave me only a couple of feet of comms. Changing the default made everything work much better. Seems like the default repos is set up for the high-power radio variants.

[n3ro]

@rickmontana83 YEAH!!!!! This has fixed my problem!!

Now i have much better rage with my nodes :+1:

Big THX!