💬 Sensebender Micro

[flybysun]

Hi @mfalkvidd, thanks for the warm welcome!
So, tonight I'll give it another try. I soldered 1000uF above VCC and GND on both the sender and the gateway RF Links (that's all I could find here for now). Still got issues. Here are the logs from my gateway, when it starts up and receives values from my working sensor I had before:

0 MCO:BGN:INIT GW,CP=RNNGA---,VER=2.3.0
3 TSM:INIT
4 TSF:WUR:MS=0
11 TSM:INIT:TSP OK
12 TSM:INIT:GW MODE
14 TSM:READY:ID=0,PAR=0,DIS=0
17 MCO:REG:NOT NEEDED
580 GWT:TPC:IP=192.168.0.222
1583 MCO:BGN:STP
1584 MCO:BGN:INIT OK,TSP=1
1587 GWT:TPC:IP=192.168.0.222
2589 GWT:RMQ:MQTT RECONNECT
2797 GWT:RMQ:MQTT CONNECTED
2800 GWT:TPS:TOPIC=mygateway1-out/0/255/0/0/18,MSG SENT
20587 TSF:MSG:READ,1-1-0,s=0,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5,sg=0:32.5
20592 GWT:TPS:TOPIC=mygateway1-out/1/0/1/0/1,MSG SENT
55353 TSF:MSG:READ,1-1-0,s=1,c=1,t=0,pt=7,l=5,sg=0:27.3
55358 GWT:TPS:TOPIC=mygateway1-out/1/1/1/0/0,MSG SENT
55364 TSF:MSG:READ,1-1-0,s=0,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5,sg=0:32.6
55369 GWT:TPS:TOPIC=mygateway1-out/1/0/1/0/1,MSG SENT

This looks okay I guess, now this happens when I activate my SenseBender Micro:

139854 TSF:MSG:READ,3-3-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0:
139859 TSF:MSG:BC
139860 TSF:MSG:FPAR REQ,ID=3
139864 TSF:PNG:SEND,TO=0
139866 TSF:CKU:OK
139868 TSF:MSG:GWL OK
140512 !TSF:MSG:SEND,0-0-3-3,s=255,c=3,t=8,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=0,st=NACK:0
141940 TSF:MSG:READ,3-3-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0:
141945 TSF:MSG:BC
141947 TSF:MSG:FPAR REQ,ID=3
141949 TSF:CKU:OK,FCTRL
141952 TSF:MSG:GWL OK
142632 !TSF:MSG:SEND,0-0-3-3,s=255,c=3,t=8,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=0,st=NACK:0
144021 TSF:MSG:READ,3-3-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0:
144026 TSF:MSG:BC
144028 TSF:MSG:FPAR REQ,ID=3
144030 TSF:CKU:OK,FCTRL
144033 TSF:MSG:GWL OK
144746 !TSF:MSG:SEND,0-0-3-3,s=255,c=3,t=8,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=0,st=NACK:0
146101 TSF:MSG:READ,3-3-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0:
146106 TSF:MSG:BC
146108 TSF:MSG:FPAR REQ,ID=3
146111 TSF:CKU:OK,FCTRL
146113 TSF:MSG:GWL OK
146857 !TSF:MSG:SEND,0-0-3-3,s=255,c=3,t=8,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=0,st=NACK:0

I filled this logs into the Log Parser and found out that the Gateway receives informations on the sensor node, but when it responses it does not get the ACK from the sensor node.

May I have a faulty NRF24? I just received a new batch from AliExpress and this my first try with them.

My gateway is an Arduino Uno Board with the Arduino Ethernet shield and on top of that equipped with the long range version of the NRF24 Board (the one with the antenna).
The SenseBender is equipped with the "normal" smt version as suggested. The sensor nodes which are working right now were equipped with the smd version of the nrf-board.

I also found out that the initialization of the sensor and the gateway has a different Core initialization, different capabilities (CP). I looked through the API, but didn't find what CP=RNNGA or CP=RNONA stands for.

Any suggestions or ideas?

[mfalkvidd]

@flybysun information on capabilites is available at https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/7718/mysensors-capabilities-deciphering and https://www.mysensors.org/apidocs/group__MyCapabilities.html

[tbowmo]

@flybysun

what is the "official" firmware that you upload to the atmega? If it's the sensebender micro fw, then please observe that this is meant to run with a Si7021 sensor, and not DHT22, so unless you modify things, it won't run without that sensor onboard..

[flybysun]

@tbowmo
I have a 1:1 build of the sensebender micro, including the Si7021. Something I definetly will try tonight is to change the the radio modules with one of these I had before (and are working). I've just discovered this here:
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/1153/we-are-mostly-using-fake-nrf24l01-s-but-worse-fakes-are-emerging

With "official" firmware I mean the Arduino Sketch which is included on the hardware webpage:
https://www.mysensors.org/hardware/micro

[flybysun]

@mfalkvidd @tbowmo
So folks, I finally got it to work. It really seems to be a problem with my radio modules. When I change my PA module on the gateway against one of these I ordered for the SenseBender Micro, everything works fine. But I still don't understand why my pro mini with the smd radio was able to send the data to the pa module, while the sensebender connected to a smd version still didn't work.
Is there anything special on the PA Version, that I've missed? I wonder if I can live with that now, I thought the PA Version has a bit more sensitivity and gain and would be better as the central gateway unit.

[mfalkvidd]

@flybysun the PA version draws much more power than the non-PA version (5x more if I remember correctly). If the power supply can't deliver clean power (without ripples or sudden dips), the radio will malfunction.

[djbonet]

Hi team,
By curiosity running the Atmega328p at 8mhz down to 1.8v isn’t out of spec ?
Does it work reliable ?
Should we div8 clock speed than mesure vcc and set prescaler accordingly ?
Just by curiosity for further project I see a lot of info to not go above 4Mhz at 1.8mhz as the data sheet and other that it’s working stable even a 8mhz

Thanks all !

[mfalkvidd]

@djbonet yes, running the atmega328 at 8MHz and 1.8V is out of spec.
Yes, sometimes running out of spec doesn’t cause problems.

[djbonet]

@mfalkvidd
Thank you for your fast answer

[mfalkvidd]

@djbonet you’re welcome. If I remember correctly, the datasheet diagram shows the limit for 8MHz to be 2.4V

[marnej]

Hello
Can't compile skech .. .does anyone have updated ?

[martim]

Is there a way to order this board somewhere else. I have ordered now 3 times 2 boards. 2 times 1 board broken and it is very hard to communicate with them and almost never reply.

[tbowmo]

@martim

Unfortunately we do not have any other manufacturing partners, so all sensebender boards are produced by itead.

How did you confirm that the board where broken? Have you tried starting the self test in the standard firmware that the micro is delivered with?

The factory firmware is available at
https://github.com/mysensors/SensebenderMicro/blob/master/Arduino/SensebenderMicro/SensebenderMicro.ino

[SuperNinja]

@tbowmo I am using Sensebender Micro on an ATMega328p Barebones with internal 8MHz and RFM69 working good. Since I don't have quartz connected on PB6 and PB7, I would like to use these ports. I tried from 14 to 21 but unable to flash my led (connected to PB6).
With Minicore: PB6 and PB7 are 20 and 21 respectively.
With Sensbender Micro, what are the ports? (if they exist)

[keithellis]

Hello, really interesting in getting a few of these Sensebender Micros, but it does not seem to be available any more. Will they be coming back into stock?

[tbowmo]

@keithellis
They should be available here https://itead.cc/product/mysensors-micro/

[keithellis]

@tbowmo Thats great, thank you. The URL seems to have changed.

[keithellis]

Hi there,
Just received a couple of Sensebender Micro's, really excited to get them up and running. I'm trying to compile the sample code, but I can't find a library for the sha204, I'm getting the following error:

sha204_lib_return_codes.h: No such file or directory

Any idea how I can solve this please.
thank you.

[mfalkvidd]

@keithellis the file is in the same folder as the example sketch: https://github.com/mysensors/MySensors/tree/development/examples/SecurityPersonalizer

How did you install MySensors? How did you open the SecurityPersonalizer sketch?

[keithellis]

@mfalkvidd Thanks for the response. I was not trying to compile the SecurityPersonalizer sketch, I was trying to compile the Sensebender Micro example sketch, this apparently also needs the sha204xxx files. I copied these files over from the SecurityPersonalizer sketch and it works now. thank you.

I think sha204xxx files should also be put in the Sensebender Micro folder. Or some directions on the Sensebender Micro page on where to get these files.