💬 Connecting the Radio

hek

This thread contains comments for the article "Connecting the Radio" posted on MySensors.org.

mortommy

If you are powering the device by batteries, I'd suggest to avoid electrolytic decoupling capacitors and go for ceramic or film one since the latter have a smaller leakage current, avoiding battery drain.

FotoFieber

Don't forget the antenna if you use a RFM69 or you may damage your device.

sundberg84

@FotoFieber - Good one, I added the warning on the build site.

hek

Might be good with a antenna wire-cutting guide for different frequencies as well.

sundberg84

@hek - I can look into that.

DiverAlpha

Hi all,

I'm using the Arduino Micro with al NRF24L01 radio. With the micro it's not posible to use the pin config of the Nano.
I got it working with the connections below.

NRF24 > Micro
Miso > Miso
Mosi > Mosi
SCK > SCK
CSN > Pin D7
CE > Pin D8

Thereby I put the code below in my arduino code before de "#include <SPI.h>"

// Pin Confuguration for Arduino Micro
#define MY_RF24_CE_PIN 8
#define MY_RF24_CS_PIN 7

Maybe this is helpful for some other users.

Grtz Diver

carleki

"try adding a decoupling capacitor of 4.7µ - 47µF (the exact size usually doesn't matter)"

I can use 4.7µ or 47µ only ? or a size between 4.7 and 47 ?

arraWX

@carmelo42 Any size between 4.7µ any 47µ will be fine.

carleki

thanks @arraWX :)

gvorster

Can I use a RFM69HCW as radio?

drradkin

Can I use an arduino nano for this? If so, What pins do I use? Also, will I need to change the code?

hek

@drradkin said:

Can I use an arduino nano for this? If so, What pins do I use? Also, will I need to change the code?

Yes you can. Use the same pins for Nano.

gvorster

I used RFM69 with Arduino before and a library where I have to initialize the radio with the frequency (868MHZ in my case) Does the mysensors library work for all frequencies of RFM69 without telling it which frequency to use?

mfalkvidd

@gvorster 868 is the default so you don't need to do anything. If you want to change it, add

#define MY_RFM69_FREQUENCY

before including MySensors.h in your sketch. See https://github.com/mysensors/MySensors/blob/a31eff112e4895198bf6ec385fdeedb2910bb628/MyConfig.h#L588 for valid settings.

gvorster

@mfalkvidd said:

@gvorster 868 is the default so you don't need to do anything. If you want to change it, add
#define MY_RFM69_FREQUENCY

Great, thanks!

palande.vaibhav

@DiverAlpha said:

Hi all,

I'm using the Arduino Micro with al NRF24L01 radio. With the micro it's not posible to use the pin config of the Nano.
I got it working with the connections below.

NRF24 > Micro
Miso > Miso
Mosi > Mosi
SCK > SCK
CSN > Pin D7
CE > Pin D8

Thereby I put the code below in my arduino code before de "#include <SPI.h>"

// Pin Confuguration for Arduino Micro
#define MY_RF24_CE_PIN 8
#define MY_RF24_CS_PIN 7

Maybe this is helpful for some other users.

Grtz Diver

@DiverAlpha
Thanx a lot for commenting with that information. I was having problems with the Arduino Mega. I connected the NRF24L01+ to the appropriate SPI pins on the Mega and then just defined the CE and CS pins in the code an now it works. Thanks again

DiverAlpha

Hi all,

I tried a lot in the last coup[le of days but I can't get my network up and running...

I've got a Micro DHT sensor ans a Uno Ethernet Gateway.

The output of the Gateway:
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: 192.168.5.8

So I think this is nice but I'm not complete sure.

The output of the DHT sensor:
TSM:INIT
TSM:RADIO:OK
TSP:ASSIGNID:OK (ID=105)
TSM:FPAR
TSP:MSG:SEND 105-105-255-255 s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=bc:
TSM:FPAR
TSP:MSG:SEND 105-105-255-255 s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=bc:
TSM:FPAR
TSP:MSG:SEND 105-105-255-255 s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=bc:
TSM:FPAR
TSP:MSG:SEND 105-105-255-255 s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=bc:
!TSM:FPAR:FAIL
!TSM:FAILURE
TSM:PDT

To me it seems that the sensor cannot get a good connection to the gateway by the RF connection. The physical distance between de two RF modules is about 15 cm and I'm using a 10uF condensator on both of the RF modules.

Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Tnx in advance!

mfalkvidd

@DiverAlpha try moving the nodes further apart. It might be counter-intuitive, but many have had problems when nodes are too close.

Do you get nothing at all in the log of the gateway when the sensor tries to find parent?

DiverAlpha

@mfalkvidd, They are now 2 meters apart from each other but still the same problem. I was thinking in this direction also but because I build those two on the same breadboard, it was a bit difficult to separate them. I now build the sensor on another breadboard and moved is 2 meters away. It can't be any longer because of the length of my USB cables.

All the logging I got from the gateway is posted in my previous post. So there is nothing about any child in there.

💬 Connecting the Radio

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