Easy/Newbie PCB for MySensors

[ErrK]

Thanks, then i will look in to it.

[nunver]

@sundberg84 Really nice work.

[Dylano]

I ordered the latest version...
What is the battery life?

[sundberg84]

@Dylano Depending on what sensor you wish to run and how frequent you want to get data!
One example: DHT22, sleeping 15min and sending Temp/Hum with a china/ebay booster is about a year.

[Dylano]

@sundberg84

Ok thanks for fast response..
I think i am going to build my whole house with your board, incl Domoticz, i got the best Home automation house of the world :-)
Give it a try, i hope i have ordered the good stuff, and i hope i get the boards..

Is there a latest or best working sketch, include the batterysave option from mysensors, you use?

[sundberg84]

You use any sketch you want. The PCB is just a platform for the arduino and radio and sensor input.
Then you upload your code to the arduino as usual (see the getting started and build section for code examples.

To save battery use the sleep function, you find all info in the battery page.
Good luck!

[jlehtinen]

Hi,
I also chose your PCB as "a base" for my mysensor network expansion. :-) Ordered 10 boards via dirtypcb, now it's just the wait that kills me. :wink: Thanks for your effort sundberg84 on designing this PCB, appreciated. :thumbsup:

[sundberg84]

@jlehtinen @Dylano - Thank you for the kind words. My reward is to see so many use it and it helps people out.

[dakipro]

as said, excellent design, should come as an option in the store, so that people can just get started.

Is there maybe a revision or version where radio is 180 degrees rotated, so that it "covers" the pins on the left (radio antena is looking down)? That way we can have radio on the stands, and after we solder pins then we just plug inn the radio, that would reduce overall footprint while still having all other benefits? I might try to modify the PCB when I find time, but just trowing ideas in the air :)

[mfalkvidd]

Having metal close to the radio antenna will likely mess up the reception. That's why the pcb is designed to have the antenna sticking out.

[sundberg84]

@dakipro - as @mfalkvidd said, i have learnt that the hard way.
Feel free to change and modify the design, it might work in some cases but as generic/general pcb having the radio sticking out some has worked best.

[dakipro]

ok, i was not considering that at all... I made few sensors in a "sandwich" of radio and pro mini and they worked fine (although they are pretty close to gateway now that I think about it), so it seamed like the logical choice to have radio in parallell with something else :)
But then I will not complicate my life and order package of the board, and ofcourse donate a few bucks to support hard work and your time! :+1:

[shabba]

I bought a pile of these too. Thanks @sundberg84 - Now for the RFM69 version ? :-)

[sundberg84]

@shabba - I dont use RFM69 but if you order and debug i can build it.

[shabba]

I ordered some. Just would need a pin layout and make sure only 3.3v to all pins.

[nunver]

@sundberg84 I am ordering the PCB's of Ver.8 today. Again, really nice and helpful work for newbies like me. Just one newbie question, though. I understand that both Arduino and NRF are capable of operating down to about 2V. Why do we need the booster in battery operation. I plan to use only Dallas 18B20. Thanks.

[sundberg84]

@nunver Some sensors are not able to work down below 3.3v, and the im really skeptical if you can operate the arduino 3.3v down to 2v... mine dies when it reaches like 2.8V. Also, with a booster you can operate down to 0.9v - so i highly recommend it.

[Anticimex]

@sundberg84 to get the arduino to operate at lower voltages you need to reconfigure a few fuses. Brown out reset and such things. I've seen the settings somewhere in the forum and a google search also works. There are online tools to set up the fuses (to get the values to write that is).

[nunver]

@sundberg84 thanks for clarification. From what @Anticimex wrote, I understand I have to tinker beyond my newbie hat :smile: to get Arduino to operate without booster. Thanks again.

[sundberg84]

@Anticimex Thank you for that input - i have not change the fuses.
But a small warning to new members - its not kind of newbie friendly.