💬 Easy/Newbie PCB for MySensors

[gohan]

there is a voltage regulator footprint on the pcb made for that

[markjgabb]

ahhh thats cool... so use regulated instead and it will pull down the voltage for antenna over that side
...and the board can handle the voltage anyway so it should be fine....

[dbemowsk]

@gohan The only voltage regulator that I know of on the board is mainly for the radio. Unless you are talking the one on the pro mini.

@markjgabb If you want to do them from mains power, you might wan t to look at the HLK modules like these
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1Pcs-Power-Supply-Step-Down-Buck-Isolated-Hlk-Pm03-220V-To-3-3V-Module-New-Ic-N/332047987473?epid=571729397&hash=item4d4f9a3311:g:nyMAAOSw4GVYPa8q
Otherwise an old phone charger should work.

[gohan]

@dbemowsk if I remember well the regulator Vout is also connected to the pro mini vcc

[dbemowsk]

@gohan Have a bare board right in front of me. Ran continuity and no connection from regulator V-Out to VCC. VCC goes to the REG jumper and V-Out goes to the BAT jumper. VCC ties to the V-In on the regulator.

[dbemowsk]

@gohan ayou wouldn't want to run the pro mini and the radio both off of that small regulator anyway. Takes too much from the radio.

[markjgabb]

@dbemowsk cheers for that...yeah i have a tonn of old 5v bricks lying around from old nokia chargers, so was just going to try use some of them up without having to buy anythiing else, as i have all of it on hand.... i have some LE33a's which should take care of any step down issues i think?

[dbemowsk]

@markjgabb If you connect your 5V brick to the RAW pin, the onboard regulator on the pro mini will do.

[markjgabb]

@dbemowsk cheers mate, thats awesome...now i can blitz out some room based designs

[hiddenuser]

@gohan @sundberg84
This is my setup. my battery reading is a constant 2.75v, this is not true the multi meter says ~4v

[sundberg84]

@markjgabb @dbemowsk @gohan - I dont have much else to add, thanks for the input here. Using mains power I would also use HLK-PM01 and input the 5v to the pro mini. If you only have 3.3v pro mini you need to input this to RAW. I have made a breakout board for the HLK module if needed as well.

https://www.openhardware.io/view/504/HLK-PM01-breakout-board

[sundberg84]

Well it looks like your battery goes to some sort of regulator before the Easy board? If so my guess is that that board is providing 2.7 v regardless of battery voltage? Have a look at @gohan and his posts about solar power and different batteries. EasyPCB is designed for 2xAA and it will not work with other voltages out of the box. The voltage divider is also dimensioned for 3.3v max and will not work with higher voltages. Again @gohan has made some experiments with this. Check his posts out. If you re-dimension the voltage divider it will work with your higher voltage.

[gohan]

@hiddenuser I don't know why you have a booster in place (unless it is a buck boost) and you need to change the voltage divider resistors if you want to read higher voltages (look at my solar project). In addition I'd put in place a LDO regulator if you want to use a lipo battery since a normal voltage regulator would require a higher Vin than a lipo battery can provide.

[hiddenuser]

@gohan said in 💬 Easy/Newbie PCB for MySensors:

Thanks @gohan for the feedback. Can I have the link to your solar project!

[gohan]

@hiddenuser look in the my project section (I'm on mobile now)

[Barna]

Hi Sundberg,

I have read there could be some problem about radio connection if the temperature is ~0C or minus, I have met this issue so I will replace the existing 4.7µ capacitor with a bigger, e.g. ~20µ.
The battery measurement contains a 0.1 uF capacitor, What do you think I do have to replace it with an another bigger one ?
thanks

Barna

[sundberg84]

@barna - i don't know to be honest. As I wrote I had issues last winter but never with that 0.1 cap. I'm running second winter now (have been as low as -8C so far) without issues.

[dbemowsk]

@barna check out this thread:
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/186/new-library-to-read-arduino-vcc-supply-level-without-resistors-for-battery-powered-sensor-nodes-that-do-not-use-a-voltage-regulator-but-connect-directly-to-the-batteries
It is a way to monitor battery voltage without the need for the 0.1 uf capacitor and resistor setup on the board.

[Nca78]

@barna said in 💬 Easy/Newbie PCB for MySensors:

Hi Sundberg,

I have read there could be some problem about radio connection if the temperature is ~0C or minus, I have met this issue so I will replace the existing 4.7µ capacitor with a bigger, e.g. ~20µ.
The battery measurement contains a 0.1 uF capacitor, What do you think I do have to replace it with an another bigger one ?
thanks

Barna

I don't think you need, it's made to stabilize the measured voltage, in the worst case the measured voltage will be a little bit unstable but your node will still run fine.

[markjgabb]

on the subject of batteries i have to say im really impressed with the setup of these boards....
ive got a DHT and lux resistor measuring every 10 minutes, and i cant even remember how long ago i last changed the batteries...i think its about 3-4 months now....nothing special, just aldi batteries (australian cheap shopping chain)

last check they are still 65%