[Solved] MySensors 2.0 Ethernet gateway (ENC28J60) restart / IP issue

[intellium]

Hi all,

I'm new to the MySensors scene (and Arduino for that matter). I seem to be having an issue with the ethernet gateway setup.

My setup:

Arduino Nano v3 clone
ENC28J60 15/21 ethernet shield
The RF24 radio module.

It took me a while to get at least some output on this setup, which is probably due to my lack of experience. I have the system running, but the output is as follows:

0;255;3;0;9;No registration required
0;255;3;0;9;Init complete, id=0, parent=0, distance=0, registration=1
0;255;3;0;9;Starting gateway (RNNGA-, 2.0.0)
0;255;3;0;9;TSM:INIT
0;255;3;0;9;TSM:RADIO:OK
0;255;3;0;9;TSM:GW MODE
0;255;3;0;9;TSM:READY
IP: 183.4.241.184

This keeps repeating itself over and over again. The leds on the LAN port are blinking and loading up a simple test sketch works fine with this setup. In the gateway sketch however, not so much. It doesn't even seem to use the UP I have configured in the sketch :

#define MY_DEBUG

// Enable and select radio type attached
#define MY_RADIO_NRF24

// When ENC28J60 is connected we have to move CE/CSN pins for NRF radio
#define MY_RF24_CE_PIN 5
#define MY_RF24_CS_PIN 6

// Enable gateway ethernet module type
#define MY_GATEWAY_ENC28J60

// Gateway IP address
#define MY_IP_ADDRESS 10, 20, 1, 124

// The port to keep open on node server mode / or port to contact in client mode
#define MY_PORT 5003

// The MAC address can be anything you want but should be unique on your network.
// Newer boards have a MAC address printed on the underside of the PCB, which you can (optionally) use.
// Note that most of the Ardunio examples use  "DEAD BEEF FEED" for the MAC address.
#define MY_MAC_ADDRESS 0xDE, 0xAD, 0xBE, 0xEF, 0xFE, 0xEF

// Flash leds on rx/tx/err
#define MY_LEDS_BLINKING_FEATURE
// Set blinking period
#define MY_DEFAULT_LED_BLINK_PERIOD 300

// Enable inclusion mode
#define MY_INCLUSION_MODE_FEATURE
// Enable Inclusion mode button on gateway
#define MY_INCLUSION_BUTTON_FEATURE
// Set inclusion mode duration (in seconds)
#define MY_INCLUSION_MODE_DURATION 60
// Digital pin used for inclusion mode button
#define MY_INCLUSION_MODE_BUTTON_PIN  3

#define MY_DEFAULT_ERR_LED_PIN 7  // Error led pin
#define MY_DEFAULT_RX_LED_PIN  8  // Receive led pin
#define MY_DEFAULT_TX_LED_PIN  9  // the PCB, on board LED

#include <SPI.h>
#include <UIPEthernet.h>
#include <MySensors.h>


void setup()
{
}

void loop() {
}

I think this has something to do with the UIPEthernet library, but I'm not sure. I know currently a W5100 is recommended, but I only have a bunch of ENC28J60's, which as far as I can tell, should work too.

Anybody able to shed some light onto this ?

[TheoL]

@intellium As far as I can tell. It looks like your Arduino is continuously resetting itself. It should not repeat the first log you've posted.

This can be caused by some reasons:

1. A write operation to a memory location where it shouldn't be writing. I've experienced this last weekend why I used an strcpy wrongly. But since you're using tested software this is not likely.
2. The circuit isn't getting enough power. And the Arduino resets itself.

how does your circuit looks like?

[intellium]

@TheoL The circuit not getting enough power was something I ran into way before my current issues :)
Currently, the nano is feeding the RF24 module on the 3.3v line and the ENC28J60 module is fed from a separate 5v line.

It's connected as depicted in the ethernet gateway setup Ethernet gateway - Wiring things up. This same setup works fine with a simple test sketch for the ENC module.

I'm using the Arduino IDE 1.6.11 and the UIPEthernet library (v1.09) from here : Github - UIPEthernet

Does this info help ?

[TheoL]

@intellium I'm no expert. But does the simple example work when everything is connected (radio and LED's)?

[intellium]

@TheoL Yeah, it's exactly the same setup (hardware wise). Has to be something in the software part (MySensors / UIPEthernet) thats not working correctly.

Does anybody have a working setup using MySensors 2.0 Gateway with an ENC28J60 module ?

[TheoL]

@intellium Maybe @mfalkvidd ?

[Yveaux]

@intellium with w5100 we currently face an issue, causing the arduino to reset, caused by a bug in the avr gcc tool chain.
Until fixed in the tool chain and adopted by arduino there is not much more than trial and error to see if it runs stable. Reverting arduino ide won't help either, because this bug has been in for a long time.
I'm not saying this is what is happening to you, but it just might.

[intellium]

@Yveaux Hmm, thats annoying. So, if I'm experiencing this issue, I'm basically S.O.L. ? :(

[tekka]

@intellium The avr toolchain bug is related to variadic arguments used for debug prints. If you comment MY_DEBUG, do you still have the issue?

[intellium]

@tekka You sir, are my new best friend :)

Sure enough, disabling the debug and uploading the code seems to make everything work. The gateway outputs the correct IP and is now pingable !

[tekka]

@intellium excellent :) Have fun

[TheoL]

@intellium @Tekka is actually the best friend for most of us ;-)

[tekka]

@TheoL haha, that's the MySensors spirit :sparkles:

[intellium]

May have spoken to soon....

Although the gateway now runs, after a few mins it seems to die. LAN leds keep blinking everything seems in order, but it's not pingable anymore and Domoticz starts logging messages that the gateway is unreachable. Is this somehow related? Or is this a whole different issue?

@tekka probably knows what to do, right? :D

[tekka]

@intellium can you add a serial print in loop() to see if the GW or the lan module freezes?

[intellium]

@tekka Sorry it took a while.

I gave it a try, but ever since adding print statements to the gateway loop(), the sensor nodes stopped communicating with it given FPAR failures. Even when I remove the print statements and return to the previous state, it keeps on giving FPAR failures on all sensor nodes... What would cause this ?

[tekka]

@intellium hmm, hard to diagnose without additional information - could be power-related. Can you add a better/stronger power-supply?

[intellium]

@tekka Before I go the route of messing with the power supply, I did some fiddling...

I added the following statements to both the gateway and the sensor sketches:

//LOW POWER MODE RADIO
#define MY_RF24_PA_LEVEL RF24_PA_LOW

//DEBUG FOR RADIO
#define MY_DEBUG_VERBOSE_RF24

//RADIO THROUGHPUT
#define MY_RF24_DATARATE RF24_1MBPS

Next I put them a little bit closer together (around 80cm apart). The FPAR:FAIL message are gone now. I see in the output on the Sensor node that it communicates with the gateway. Currently, the gateway is running with this setup and the controller (Domoticz) gets values. So this seems to be working OK.

However, on the sensor node, the log sometimes indicates an error. Something like this :

RF24:write register, reg=0, value=14
RF24:open writing pipe, recipient=0
RF24:write register, reg=10, value=0
RF24:write register, reg=16, value=0
RF24:send message to 0, len=12
RF24:flushTX
RF24:write register, reg=7, value=48
RF24:MAX_RT
RF24:flushTX
RF24:start listening
RF24:write register, reg=0, value=15
RF24:write register, reg=10, value=1
!TSP:MSG:SEND 1-1-0-0 s=1,c=1,t=0,pt=7,l=5,sg=0,ft=4,st=fail:29.0
T: 29.00
RF24:write register, reg=0, value=12
RF24:power down
RF24:write register, reg=0, value=12
RF24:power down
RF24:stop listening
RF24:write register, reg=0, value=14
RF24:open writing pipe, recipient=0
RF24:write register, reg=10, value=0
RF24:write register, reg=16, value=0
RF24:send message to 0, len=12
RF24:flushTX
RF24:write register, reg=7, value=48
RF24:start listening
RF24:write register, reg=0, value=15
RF24:write register, reg=10, value=1
TSP:MSG:SEND 1-1-0-0 s=0,c=1,t=1,pt=7,l=5,sg=0,ft=5,st=ok:36.0
H: 36.00
RF24:write register, reg=0, value=12
RF24:power down

From what I've read, the st:fail means there was an error transmitting the value. Could this still be power related ? It seems so intermittent to me that my gut tells me power isn't the issue.

[intellium]

@tekka Next I tried is adding a capacitor to both the gateway and node RF module. I added a 10uF capacitor to both of them. This seems to have stabilized RF communication. I'm not seeing any failures anymore and data is flowing...

Back to the original issue... The gateway that seems to die...

I've added some debug statements to the loop() to see if this would keep on running when the gateway seemingly dies.
After 2 hours of operation, the gateway stopped responding to pings, and the controller also noticed the gateway was not alive anymore. When this happens, the output of the serial console is :

New loop iteration: 21734
New loop iteration: 21735
New loop iteration: 21736
New loop iteration: 21737
New loop iteration: 21738
New loop iteration: 21739
New loop iteration: 21740
New loop iteration: 21741
New loop iteration: 21742
New loop iteration: 21743
New loop iteration: 21744

As you can see, my loop code keeps on running at this point, suggesting it's just the ENC interface thats no longer reachable or has an issue. When I close and re-open the serial port monitor from the Arduino IDE, the gateway springs back to life and everything starts working again.

[intellium]

The next run it only took 20 mins. before the gateway stopped responding....