💬 jModule
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OK, I "get it" now. The male pins that are sticking out are entirely optional.
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Did anyone do any power consumption tests on these? I cannot get it below 1.5mA. I think I need to mod my Pro Mini and remove the LED and the regulator.
@alexsh1
The regulator on the board (AMS1117) consumes several mA at idle. You may need to find an alternative that has uA level quiescent current. I modified the board to use a XC6206 serial LDO (1uA standby current, see my previous post). I have the board manufactured by dirtypcb and have made sensors. Will test the battery life soon. -
@alexsh1
The regulator on the board (AMS1117) consumes several mA at idle. You may need to find an alternative that has uA level quiescent current. I modified the board to use a XC6206 serial LDO (1uA standby current, see my previous post). I have the board manufactured by dirtypcb and have made sensors. Will test the battery life soon.@ted thanks for your prompt reply. I do not have AMS1117 as I'm running Arduino Pro Mini 3.3V. I figured out it was the Mini itself. I had to remove the onboard regulator and the LED and right now my consumption is 6uA.
I'm moving away from 5V boards as I think these will be phased out eventually.Good point on AMS1117 - this is not a battery friendly regulator
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I modified the design to use a XC6206 serial LDO (1uA standby current). I placed an order with dirtypcb. You can find the design here: http://dirtypcbs.com/view.php?share=19651&accesskey=2e5e31a83bf6fe21510c3bc438e12df7
Will update when I get the board on hand.
@ted said:
I modified the design to use a XC6206 serial LDO (1uA standby current). I placed an order with dirtypcb. You can find the design here: http://dirtypcbs.com/view.php?share=19651&accesskey=2e5e31a83bf6fe21510c3bc438e12df7
Will update when I get the board on hand.
Hello @ted, thank you for the link on dirtyPCB, I just ordered some boards. Do you have any feedback related to battery life when running at 5V ?
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@AWI said:
@Qu3Uk I can confirm (from measuring a sample) that the large pad is not connected to anything.
However :smirk: it is hard to beat the price of an AMS1117
Thank you very much for the link, I was about to buy less units for a higher price for another board, then I remembered about seeing a link with very cheap price on this thread :)
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Doh .. I just blindly orded this board but after checking the eagle layout .. could it be that your power wiring is messed up? The AMS1117 is chained behind the ProMini LDO which I guess is very weak. Would it be much better to put the raw-input on the jModule, power the NRF24 with the AMS1117 output and the pro mini?
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Are the boards uploaded to DirtyPCBs good and tested? I'd very much like to order a bunch of these but I am confused by the comments about missing pads. :? Can someone please confirm?
@zilog said:
Are the boards uploaded to DirtyPCBs good and tested? I'd very much like to order a bunch of these but I am confused by the comments about missing pads. :? Can someone please confirm?
What missing pads are your talking about ?
I used the panelized version modified by @ted to use XC6206 regulator and it's running fine (though without regulator at the moment as I have not received them yet, I use CR2032). And if you use a 0.6mm PCB thickness it's really easy to cut with regular cissors.
http://dirtypcbs.com/view.php?share=19651&accesskey=2e5e31a83bf6fe21510c3bc438e12df7 -
@alexsh1
The regulator on the board (AMS1117) consumes several mA at idle. You may need to find an alternative that has uA level quiescent current. I modified the board to use a XC6206 serial LDO (1uA standby current, see my previous post). I have the board manufactured by dirtypcb and have made sensors. Will test the battery life soon. -
How about a version with the SDA & SCL pins also routed to the header?
Sensors like the Si7021 are using the I2C interface@kted said:
How about a version with the SDA & SCL pins also routed to the header?
Sensors like the Si7021 are using the I2C interfaceI agree with you and I'm going to make a slightly different version of the board, to have both those pins available and to keep antenna away from the pro mini board.
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@EddyG said:
Any news on the new board? I am really interested.
I'm testing a first version right now :)
It's running fine but there are some annoying defaults.
I'm making improvements to the PCB now and I will publish on openhardware.io in the coming weeks.I'm using SMD NRF 24 with antenna outside for better reception. Radio capacitor is SMD also but big size (1206) so easy to solder.
This is what the assembled board will look like, it takes a bit more surface than jModule but as you can see it's really flat, around 7mm and less than 6mm if you remove the big reset button on the pro mini.
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Are these new boards compatible to the old footprint? I think the layout of the "high power"-rf24 versions did not change in the past coulpe of years and I can't rely on the "small"-boards .. got a solid home with conrete falls :D
@cimba007 the footprint is different.
I think I have finished the new version now, I changed the regulator from RAW to VCC to put an AMS1117 so you will be able to use high power version of the NRF24 if you want. They exist in SMD version (so, with the same footprint than I use on this board) and they are of better quality than the cheap "through hole" versions, in addition to beeing much more compact with their ceramic antennas.
From my experience even the non pa/lna nrf24 has better radio performance than the cheap through hole version. With addition of not having any connectors/part of board below the antenna (like on the jModule) maybe it could be enough for some of your sensors at home.I have 30cm thick concrete walls in my appartments and no problem with the signal on the sensors using SMD version, while it was not so stable when using the through hole version. Probably my appartment is smaller than your home and I think the signal just "turns around" walls here, but you should give it a try ;)
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I currently have 5 modules of the "old"-jboard and still 2-3 spare "high"-power modules left. I just recently noticed that most of my communication problems apparently came from RF24_PA_MAX settings. Currently running with RF24_PA_MIN I am very satisfied with the "high"-power modules. Was just inrested int he latest developement.
My recent focus switched over to make some nice housings for my nodes. Having a board+sensors is only half of the work ;-)
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I currently have 5 modules of the "old"-jboard and still 2-3 spare "high"-power modules left. I just recently noticed that most of my communication problems apparently came from RF24_PA_MAX settings. Currently running with RF24_PA_MIN I am very satisfied with the "high"-power modules. Was just inrested int he latest developement.
My recent focus switched over to make some nice housings for my nodes. Having a board+sensors is only half of the work ;-)
