Easy/Newbie PCB for MySensors

sundberg84

@sincze or a bad solder joint...

sincze

@sundberg84 as I am not a soldering king... we will check the work and report back...... applied a bit more solder to the vout and we have beep ;-) now let's continue the work.
Wow, 3,3 and 3,29v on the antenna. tnx.

sundberg84

@sincze no worries. Good luck.

SolderNewbie

Hi,
I‘m new to MySensors and the Newbie PCB. At the weekend I build my first sensor but I had one Problem. I want to use battery powered sensors so I’m using the 3.3V battery booster. I’m have connected/soltered everything and the Arduino was runing fine. But the NRF24-Module wasn’t working. I cheked it and there was no voltage at the Vcc pin of the NRF24. Then I found out, the NRF24 is only powered if the battery jumper is closed. If the battery jumper is opened there is not voltage at the NRF24 module and also not at the 3.3 pin of the MysX pin out. Ist this correct?I thought the NRF24 is powered by the battery booster by default. Or did I get it wrong?

gohan

@SolderNewbie of course you need to close that jumper since you are using batteries.

sincze

@sundberg84 tnx.
I looked at the FAQ and could not find an explaination how to use the pins TX/RX.

The following is now on my build list, but maybe if I can use TX/RX pins it will free something...

LED RX=A05
LED TX=D02
Relay_1=A00
Relay_2=A01
Relay_3=A04
Temp_D03 (total of 4, resistor currently already soldered into the wire)
Door_Switch=D05
Leakage_Switch=D06

I tested the sketch on a Arduino Nano and it is working, now I need to convert everything to the Easy/Newbie PCB. ;-)

SolderNewbie

@gohan
But i want to power the NRF24 with the battery booster and not directly with the batteries. Is this possible? The NRF24 modules is working with 1.9V than i have to replace the batteries. But with the battery booster i can drain the batteries down to 0.4 V each!

gohan

I think I did once a little mod for that case: I shorted Vin and Vout where the radio voltage regulator would be.

PS but I shorted REG and not BAT

SolderNewbie

@gohan Thanks for this hint!
I put a jumper into Vo and Vi of the voltage regulator pins and shorten it, that's all! Not needed to shorten REG or BAT jumper! The Vi pin is connected to the Vo of the battery booster and the Vo of the voltage regulator pin is connected to Vcc of the NRF24 module.

Maybe an idea for rev 10? Battery booster powered NRF24 module?

sundberg84

@SolderNewbie

If the battery jumper is opened there is not voltage at the NRF24 module and also not at the 3.3 pin of the MysX pin out. Ist this correct?I thought the NRF24 is powered by the battery booster by default. Or did I get it wrong?

This is correct because you dont want to feed 3.3v from the booster to the radio. The radio is very sensitive to noise (which will be the case with the booster) and since the radio can handle down to 1.9v the pcb is used like the description How?>Battery 3.3v @ https://www.openhardware.io/view/4/EasyNewbie-PCB-for-MySensors. This will feed the vattery voltage only (not from Booster) and therefore not give noise to the radio.

As mentioned above by @gohan its possible but not recommended... unless you got some really good modules you will end up with a 2m range on your radio (or no connection at all)

Maybe an idea for rev 10? Battery booster powered NRF24 module?

This is why Rev 1 and 2 never made it... I have been trying this out since 2014 and it just doesnt work. You might get lucky with 1 or 2 modules that works (or pay alot for low noise boosters which isnt my thought with EasyPCB).

I would instead suggest lowering BOD and/or change bootloader.

sundberg84

@sincze

use the pins TX/RX

what do you mean? You can find the pins on the MysX connector (bottom left on the PCB). Instructions on how to use the pins isnt my cup of tea. You need to google that or you have to look at the arduino homepage.

There isnt anything to convert from nano to EasyPCB (except to find the right pins). The sketch will work just fine as it is.

gohan

@sundberg84 my cheap alixpress booster and CDEbyte NRF24 worked fine on my solar powered outdoor sensor

sundberg84

@gohan as I said, I have been doing EasyPCB since 2014 and you might get lucky ;)

You need a great booster and a great radio - this works, but as we all know this combination when shopping from china is pure luck.

gohan

I had to do it because the supercap can go to lower than 1.9V, but I noticed it wasn't that bad, probably because I was generous on ceramic caps 😀

sundberg84

@gohan - trust me, I have tried all the caps there are on the booster. I also have now recently checked with a oscilloscope but I cant see any major difference (in less noise vs with or without 0,1-10uF cap). I must admit I have more test to do in booster - EasyPCB (cap) so any input is appreciated but im not sure a bigger cap equals less noise. A smaller cap can react quicker than a big one i think and with that it means you have to find a balance with response - capacity. If so, I can see with the booster I have (bad quality) varies a lot on noise, and with that means you should need a different cap on every booster (depending on the noise).

gohan

I have a 10uF ceramic on both booster output and near nrf24 socket and it has been working well. For battery powered nodes I'm moving to LiFePo4 batteries that have no need for booster and voltage divider. Much less hassle.

sundberg84

@gohan - yea, just as I said above. Moving to another battery or lower BOD/change bootloader is one good way to avoid booster problems. Good to hear its working well for you - lets hope it continues that way.

SolderNewbie

@sundberg84 Thanks for clarification! Do you have any idea how long i can power a NRF24 module with two AA batteries until the voltage is to low?

sundberg84

@SolderNewbie - it depends on many factors, but one example I have 2xAA, Pro Mini (Led and Voltage reg removed), DHT22, Voltage divider (for battery measurment), booster and sending temp & humidity + battery status every 15min should last 1-1.5 years.

sincze

@sundberg84 Got it. In the end it I did not have to use them.

All devices I was looking for to use are working except for my Dallas Temp Sensors.
The resistor is between the wires VCC and DATA in the connectors so not soldered on the board itself.

I checked if pin header
D3 had connection with D3 on the arduino (beep),
GND with GND on the arduino (beep),
VCC with VCC on the arduino (beep) at 4,7v.

So the connector should be okay (no soldering error this time). If I connect the wire to the old Arduino nano the temp sensors are found... Connect them to the PCB.. Nothing found. Well must be something stupid I am missing here right?.

To check D3, I made an RX tranmission Led attached and it flashed fine. So it should be okay.

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