Easy/Newbie PCB for MySensors
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I have ordered some boards and i am looking forward to play with them.
I tried soldering some part and a nano on a soldering board but apparently my soldering skills and patience isn't what it used to be in the past.
@sundberg84 it looks good. -
I have ordered some boards and i am looking forward to play with them.
I tried soldering some part and a nano on a soldering board but apparently my soldering skills and patience isn't what it used to be in the past.
@sundberg84 it looks good.@tlpeter thank you and good luck. Just give a shout if you have questions.
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I do have some questions :smiley:
I think i got it a bit. When i use a 3,3V mini then i do not need the 3,3V regulator and it is powered with a battery. If i use a 5V mini then i need the regulator. Is this correct?
Do i need the booster if batteries are used?
How about the RAW option? How does it go to 5V? i need the regulator to go to 3,3V so how do i loose the 6-12V :smiley:
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I do have some questions :smiley:
I think i got it a bit. When i use a 3,3V mini then i do not need the 3,3V regulator and it is powered with a battery. If i use a 5V mini then i need the regulator. Is this correct?
Do i need the booster if batteries are used?
How about the RAW option? How does it go to 5V? i need the regulator to go to 3,3V so how do i loose the 6-12V :smiley:
@tlpeter said:
When i use a 3,3V mini then i do not need the 3,3V regulator and it is powered with a battery. If i use a 5V mini then i need the regulator. Is this correct?
Correct!! You need to add the jumper to BAT if you go with 3.3 and battery or REG if you go with 5v and voltage regulator.
Do i need the booster if batteries are used?
No, you can bypass it with a jumper/wire - but it will give you alot of extra. Without the booster the arduino 3.3v will die somewhere between 2.8 and 3 volts, with booster you can go down to 1.9v.
How about the RAW option? How does it go to 5V? i need the regulator to go to 3,3V so how do i loose the 6-12V :smiley:
There is a voltage regulater on board the pro mini that handels from 6-12v (be cautious using 12 v, 9v is max i recommend on clones). This will convert your RAW to 5v and provide the board with this. Then the external regulator will go from 5 to radio 3.3v.
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Ok, very clear.
So now i have a new question, i want to use a solar panel and a battery but this will go above the 3.7V when there is light and the battery pack is 3.7V so i must use the raw connection.
I also want to measure the battery and i think this needs PWR :smiley:Can i do this?
I want to build the solar powered mini weather station:
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/841/solar-powered-mini-weather-station
Thanks already.
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Ok, very clear.
So now i have a new question, i want to use a solar panel and a battery but this will go above the 3.7V when there is light and the battery pack is 3.7V so i must use the raw connection.
I also want to measure the battery and i think this needs PWR :smiley:Can i do this?
I want to build the solar powered mini weather station:
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/841/solar-powered-mini-weather-station
Thanks already.
@tlpeter You can use raw for 3.7V and make it down to 3.3 with the internal voltage regulator onboard the arduino, but you can not connect anything to PWR then because this will allready be 3.3V! The internal voltage regulator vill output 3.3v to the PCB from the arduino.
However, I think you can connect the battery directly to the battery measurment on the board as long as you use the same ground for both. You will need to make some new calculations (most are based on 2xAA = 3.0V) for your battery.
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I didn't use your board in this case (the weather station) but i will do in the future.
I did connect the battery to the raw pin and it is working fine.
Funny, a solar panel with a battery powering the pro mini with DHT22 and BMP180.
For now i will keep it simple but later on i want a rain gauge and windmeter too.
Rain sensor is on a different Nano as this needs to be powered all the time.
It will control my sunscreen later on. -
This board looks great! Definitely going to order some.
Just getting started with MySensors. Waiting for over 20 orders from eBay with stuff. Should be fun!
Already running Domoticz (Pi 2) with RFXtrx433, 1-wire and z-wave. Going to build a serial gateway for direct connection to the Pi.My last name before I married (now divorced) was Sundberg btw. Could have had Sundberg82 as nickname. ;)
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This board looks great! Definitely going to order some.
Just getting started with MySensors. Waiting for over 20 orders from eBay with stuff. Should be fun!
Already running Domoticz (Pi 2) with RFXtrx433, 1-wire and z-wave. Going to build a serial gateway for direct connection to the Pi.My last name before I married (now divorced) was Sundberg btw. Could have had Sundberg82 as nickname. ;)
@NiklasO - Thanks! I hope it will suite you well!
The wait is a pain, but well worth it in the end. Sounds like got alof going already!Hehe, we can create a forum group - "sundberg dreamteam!" ;)
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Recived my boards today and I love them, I ordered the white ones and they are looking really great
Thanks @sundberg84 !
MySensors MQTT Client Gateway, Openhab, Dashing, Razberry, 1-wire
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Recived my boards today and I love them, I ordered the white ones and they are looking really great
Thanks @sundberg84 !
@Martin-Tellblom - good luck with your projects!
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@NiklasO - Thanks! I hope it will suite you well!
The wait is a pain, but well worth it in the end. Sounds like got alof going already!Hehe, we can create a forum group - "sundberg dreamteam!" ;)
@sundberg84 said:
@NiklasO - Thanks! I hope it will suite you well!
The wait is a pain, but well worth it in the end. Sounds like got alof going already!Hehe, we can create a forum group - "sundberg dreamteam!" ;)
hehe yeah, just need to change my last name back to my original one but I don't know if my kids likes that idea. ;)
Where do you get your x to 3.3v boost converter? Found some on eBay but they are quite expensive if comparing to x to 5v versions.
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@sundberg84 said:
@NiklasO - Thanks! I hope it will suite you well!
The wait is a pain, but well worth it in the end. Sounds like got alof going already!Hehe, we can create a forum group - "sundberg dreamteam!" ;)
hehe yeah, just need to change my last name back to my original one but I don't know if my kids likes that idea. ;)
Where do you get your x to 3.3v boost converter? Found some on eBay but they are quite expensive if comparing to x to 5v versions.
@NiklasO - they are quite expencive yes, but i order the ones in the mysensors store
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Has anyone tried one of these boosters:
- They are sometimes much cheaper than the 3.3v ones
- Since they are adjustable, I would think you could optimize the output voltage for maximum battery.
I'm not sure, is there a problem using them with the PCB boards? I imagine the input and output ground would have to be connected together.
Thanks!
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Has anyone tried one of these boosters:
- They are sometimes much cheaper than the 3.3v ones
- Since they are adjustable, I would think you could optimize the output voltage for maximum battery.
I'm not sure, is there a problem using them with the PCB boards? I imagine the input and output ground would have to be connected together.
Thanks!
@ileneken3 - sorry never tried them.
The footprint looks different from the PCB so you need to connect this with wires to the PCB.Controller: Proxmox VM - Home Assistant
MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - W5100 Ethernet, Gw Shield Nrf24l01+ 2,4Ghz
MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - Gw Shield RFM69, 433mhz
RFLink GW - Arduino Mega + RFLink Shield, 433mhz -
@ileneken3 - sorry never tried them.
The footprint looks different from the PCB so you need to connect this with wires to the PCB.I took a chance and tried these boosters. After adjusting the pot to boost to 3.3V, and using wires to connect, they seem to work the same as the "recommended" ones. I am hoping they produce less noise for the radio - I seem to have trouble with that, even with adding the capacitors. (Maybe my radios are not good).
Another experiment - boosting them to just over the 2.8V fuse limit. I would think that would be more energy efficient. -
@ileneken3 in my experienxe the 3.3v booster gives a lot of problem with radio :-)
@jumping - correct, if you can make a node without its better for the radio but its easier to do with a booster, radio and a pre-made Arduino pro mini.
Controller: Proxmox VM - Home Assistant
MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - W5100 Ethernet, Gw Shield Nrf24l01+ 2,4Ghz
MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - Gw Shield RFM69, 433mhz
RFLink GW - Arduino Mega + RFLink Shield, 433mhz -
@jumping - correct, if you can make a node without its better for the radio but its easier to do with a booster, radio and a pre-made Arduino pro mini.
hi @sundberg84, if you have some free time you can see my post about a "new" PCB
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/5314/pcbs-for-battery-based-sensor :-) -
@jumping - correct, if you can make a node without its better for the radio but its easier to do with a booster, radio and a pre-made Arduino pro mini.
It's definitely easier with a booster - but not cheaper or more reliable. (Why does the booster cost more than the Arduino?)
Everything is about tradeoff's. When you solve one problem, it can easily introduce another. At first, I ignored the whole booster thing. But after a lot of experiments, I ended up with a pile of 1.35 V batteries. So I tried the booster, and ended up with transmission problems (partially solved by capacitors). So then I tried changing the bootloader (1Mhz, no brown out), and it seems to be OK - but I know there will be other problems. Example: I now need to boost to 3.3V for sensors that require it. Also, are there compatibility problems with mysensors?
Even still, thanks for the great board - I've had a lot of fun and learned a lot with it!
