RFM69 range issues

[mihai.aldea]

Souds great. I took a short pause because believe it or not, I was back to square one with the issues. A couple of days and one Adafruit Feather RFM69 plus one Sparkfun RFM69HCW breakout board later I still have no conclusion to what leads to the problems, at first I thought of bypassing the MySensor's directive and call the RFM69 drivers directly. It worked until it didn't, with no explanation whatsoever.
So I started from a couple of sketches I knew worked and slowly build up the correct configuration that's now working (partly but more on that in a separate topic). The most useful debug tool was an RTL-SDR stick so I could actually hear the nodes whisper :grin:
So, it appears that in order to use the 433/868/915 W/HW modules with MySensors, it's best to add theses at the top of your sketches:

// Select the RFM69 radio type
#define MY_RADIO_RFM69
// Enter your model's frequency
#define MY_RFM69_FREQUENCY RF69_433MHZ
// If you're using RFM69HW / RFM69HCW modules, they won't work until this is set.
// Leave it commented for the normal power modules.
#define MY_IS_RFM69HW
// Your network ID
#define MY_RFM69_NETWORKID 100

The library is pretty much preconfigured for RF24 so using the RFM69 modules is possible but with a bit of trial and error until all things are set.

[scalz]

sure! you have to set all your defines for your node. before the mysensors include.
for the possible defines you can take a look at docs
https://www.mysensors.org/download/sensor_api_20
i also have an rtl-sdr. can be useful. cool :)

[DavidZH]

I find it very strange you experience these kind of problems. I have been using the RFM69 (both W and HW) since I started with MySensors a year ago.
The only time I had trouble with the range (or any transmission at all..) was when I used double sided perf-board to build my circuits on. Somehow the extra exposed copper reflects the RF energy in an unpredictable way so the radio will not send at all.

Can you post a picture of your setup? Maybe we spot a tiny little thing that eff's up your testing.

[mihai.aldea]

I believe this one is on me. It wasn't clear to me that MySensors is actually wrapper of the original LowPowerLab's RFM69 lib and you can't mix #define's from MySensors and the embedded RFM69 driver.
MySensors is really plug&play if you're using the NRF24L01+ modules, follow the guides, upload the sketches and fire up the gateway, but if you want to use RFM69, I at least, needed some serious trial and error.
Maybe it's just my hectic style of trying new setups, or maybe because I found no concise guide on how to switch from RF24 to RFM69 or maybe something in between :yum:

[mfalkvidd]

@mihai.aldea great that you got it working. I believe many people would find such a guide useful. Would it be possible for you to summarize your experience? That summary could then be the base for a guide that we can add to the MySensors documentation.

[mihai.aldea]

@mfalkvidd I will definitely do that. I'll tinker with them for a while just to be confortable with stating the facts and I will compile such a guide. It'll take me no more than a couple of days.

[mfalkvidd]

@mihai.aldea great!

[maman]

I configure the ESP8266 MQTT gateway using RFM69HW.

I define as follows

#define MY_RADIO_RFM69
#define MY_RFM69_FREQUENCY RF69_433MHZ
#define MY_IS_RFM69HW
#define MY_RFM69_NETWORKID 100
#define RF69_IRQ_PIN 4
#define RF69_SPI_CS 15
#define MY_RF69_IRQ_PIN RF69_IRQ_PIN
#define MY_RF69_SPI_CS RF69_SPI_CS

For node side, I use Promini ATMEGA328
#define MY_NODE_ID 7
#define MY_PARENT_NODE_ID 0
#define MY_RADIO_RFM69
#define MY_RFM69_FREQUENCY RF69_433MHZ
#define MY_IS_RFM69HW
#define MY_RFM69_NETWORKID 100
#define RF69_IRQ_PIN 2
#define RF69_SPI_CS 10
#define MY_RF69_IRQ_PIN RF69_IRQ_PIN
#define MY_RF69_SPI_CS RF69_SPI_CS

But, the node (Promini) can not communicate with the gateway

1487370 !TSM:FPAR:NO REPLY
1487372 TSM:FPAR
1487503 TSF:MSG:SEND,7-7-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
1489510 !TSM:FPAR:NO REPLY
1489512 TSM:FPAR
1489643 TSF:MSG:SEND,7-7-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
1491650 !TSM:FPAR:FAIL
1491652 TSM:FAIL:CNT=7
1491654 TSM:FAIL:PDT

Is there any hint to do ?

[Yeitso]

@maman Try to downgrade to 2.0.0 if you are using any newer lib.
The newer libs over 2.0.0 does not work for my esp8266 mqtt gateway either.

[maman]

@Yeitso Thanks, I will try to downgrade the mysensors library.

Can you share the #define script that working on ATMEGA328 and ESP8266 board ?

Thanks for your help.

Regards,
Maman

[manutremo]

Hi @executivul ,

You mentioned in your post that the length of the antenna must be tuned to the circuit - would you mind sharing the process to do the tuning?

Thanks!

[Chester]

@manutremo said in RFM69 range issues:

Hi @executivul ,
You mentioned in your post that the length of the antenna must be tuned to the circuit - would you mind sharing the process to do the tuning?

https://www.mysensors.org/build/connect_radio

Down near the bottom of the page is the lengths of antenna needed for the three primary frequencies used by the RFM board.

[manutremo]

@Chester

I've seen that page, thanks. If you read the post I'm referring to, @executivul used some specific procedure to tune the antenna further than just using the theoretical length.