💬 Easy/Newbie PCB for MySensors

[Pierre1410]

Hello, i have built my first sensor based on your PCB. I am of course in learning mode so it refuses to work so far. it is motion detector. I suspect a problem on the radio nrf24 but does not know how to monitor the node with Arduino IDE serial monitor. If i connect the board to the USB the radio is not powered (built the node on battery). and if i connect the battery i have no access to serial monitor. I am afraid to connect both the USB and the batteries and burn the all thing...
so far i know radio receives power/ PIR receives 3.3 Volts (have configured the PIR to 3.3)/ arduino mini pro led comes on with battery connected.
Any advice would be really welcome.

[Stephen205]

The radio is only powered by the battery, the battery must be connected to test. Connect both the usb (set to 3.3v) and the battery, no damage will be caused by this.

[Pierre1410]

Thanks Stephen. connected both and i can now see what is going on :-)

[sundberg84]

@ElCheekytico - I dont know why they wont update to rev 10. I have uploaded the new revision to openhardware... nothing else I can do, sorry.

[sundberg84]

@pierre1410 - I would suggest you connect the battery, and then the usb/ftdi cable, but only GND, TX and RX fro the usb connection. This will have the node running on the batteries VCC and get you closer to the real deal. Using VCC from the usb adapter might be higher VCC than the batteries, and in worst case scenario it works great with that connected but not when you deploy and only use battery power.

[Pierre1410]

@sundberg84 that is exactly what i experienced. thanks for the tip. struggling in fact to have my PIR sensor running on 3.3V. when i connect to the pin on the right of the board (3rd from top).. Arduino IDE serial terminal does not outcome any coherent information.

[sundberg84]

@pierre1410 ok - well not to get your hopes down but a motion detector on batteries are one of the harder builds. If you are using a booster with the batteries it's harder due to false triggers from the booster noice. Also I believe the quality of your motion detector module determine if it's possible..I've had detectors running fine on 3.3v but several which didn't.

[Pierre1410]

Hello, Is there a way to solder a DC-DC booster 3.3V to 5V directly onto the Easy PCB or should it be connected separately to power a PIR for instance? and would that really prevent using 2xAA batteries to power the all thing? have tried to step down the PIR to work at 3.3V but it was not conclusive. Thanks a lot.

[sundberg84]

@pierre1410 - you can always use the prototyping area for a 3.3 to 5v booster but... booster + PIR might cause false triggers, so choose your booster wisely.

[Pierre1410]

@sundberg84, had to migrate my gateway to Ethernet in the meantime but now I am on the PIR/ battery case. i have my booster to 5V in.. will post the results of it...

[gohan]

@pierre1410 why do you need 5v? There are pir sensors working at 3v and you can even modify the standard pir sensor to work at 3v

[barrydou]

Hello

I think there is a mistake in your code (on github) to mesure battery.
The array have 4 values, but you divide by 3. So you get to high result.
https://github.com/sundberg84/HomeAutomation/blob/master/BatteryMeasurer/BatteryMeasurer.ino
On line 77

Everything else is ok in my case :) the board works well with 2 battery AA, and 47uF cap (not with 4.7uF) .

[mfalkvidd]

Nice catch @barrydou

The bat array is declared to hold 3 elements

int batArray[3];

but then 4 values are fetched

batteryPcnt = (batArray[0] + batArray[1] + batArray[2] + batArray[3]);

batArray[3] is outside of the array, so the ram here could hold any value.

The code should probably be changed to this

batteryPcnt = (batArray[0] + batArray[1] + batArray[2]);

[barrydou]

@mfalkvidd : I think you have to change the condition in if too :

if (batLoop > 1) {

With that, batLoop = 2 when entering in the if (so the 3 values of the array are filled : 0, 1, 2), calculating the average and reseting the batLoop to 0.
If not modify, the array will be set with batArray[3] just before entering the

if (batLoop > 2) {

Other way is to set the batArray size to 4 values, and divide by 4 (I'm actually trying that).

[sundberg84]

@barrydou @mfalkvidd - thanks.
Wouldnt it be easiest to just "+ batArray[3]" so it is

batteryPcnt = (batArray[0] + batArray[1] + batArray[2]

the declaration = 3 elements
batterypct = 3 elements
batloop > 2 should be correct (0,1 and 2)

I dont think the code has made any faulty readings since the declaration is only for 3 elements, making batArray[3] never used? (Or always been 0). The batteryPcnt is then divived by 3.

[mfalkvidd]

@sundberg84 batloop > 2 is incorrect, since that means batloop==3 and the code above has just written outside the array, corrupting whatever happened to be there.

[sundberg84]

We must be ordering EasyPCB alof from PCBway since they used it as an example board for this youtuber:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6YxwxtinrY&t=28s

[Nca78]

@sundberg84 haha gorgeous, I think they only sent open hardware boards, and ran some batches from boards available on openhardware, as except the perfboards they send as free gifts the other real PCBs are MySWeMosIRShield by @emc2 and the RollerShutterNode by @Scalz

https://www.openhardware.io/view/385/MySWeMosIRShield-IR-blaster-shield-for-WeMos-D1
https://www.openhardware.io/view/22/Roller-Shutter-Node

[emc2]

Looks nice in red ;)

[Pierre1410]

hello, i have a stupid question... on the 3 rows below VCC and GD on your prototyping area; are the rows connected horizontally like a breadboard? thanks