💬 Button size radionode with sensors swarm extension

[Koresh]

Hi @bjornhallberg.
I've done many tests today with your code. All tested boards were the newer ones. So I completely had no ideas until I read your last message. Now all is clear for me. You have battery draining ~10-100ua, not 1-2mA. As I see your boards contain 107J capacitors. It was an absolutely failed batch of capacitors. We resoldered all of these capacitors on all the boards after we had found this problem with @alexsh1. Unfortunatelly some of these boards had been sent until we found this problem. We are so sorry you had to deal with these failed boards. I suggest I send you some new tested buttonsized v1 boards to you. Also I can send good capacitors to rework failed boards and some of my new interesting boards for free.

[alexsh1]

@bjornhallberg @Koresh That's what I wrote a few posts above - start with the capacitors :-)

My suggestion - get a decent DMM. Brymen BM235 or 121GW or any Fluke.
Measuring a sleeping current is challenging and some unexpansive Chinese DMM manage it just really well. BUT! You do not want to waist your time just because your meter is crap and was completely off on some readings.

[bjornhallberg]

@koresh Package went under the "Postnord" radar! Woohoo, perfect! I will start replacing the old capacitors and finally be able to deploy the sensors. Very nice of you to include some product samples as well. Really excited about these sensors!

[Christoph Blank]

Hi guys, quick question: I'm using a LiFePo4 3.2V battery directly on the board (sensors part removed).
Somehow the battery percentage always shows 100 - how should I change the default code to make this work?

Right now I'm using the code like here: https://github.com/EasySensors/ButtonSizeNode/blob/master/ButtonSizeNode.ino

[Koresh]

@christoph-blank Hi, thanks for using this board. In the first version of this board the divider is conected after LDO, so you can't measure voltage above 3.3V. In the second version the divider is connected to the battery directly. You use 3.2v battery so it is not problem for you. But LiFePo4 battery has very flat discharge curve so it can be hard to read this level with reasonable accuracy.

I will try to find LiFePo4 battery and add some piece of code soon. Yet you can play with followed code

  // Get the battery Voltage
  int sensorValue = analogRead(BATTERY_SENSE_PIN);
  // 1M, 470K divider across battery and using internal ADC ref of 1.1V1
  // ((1e6+470e3)/470e3)*1.1 = Vmax = 3.44 Volts
  /* The MySensors Lib uses internal ADC ref of 1.1V which means analogRead of the pin connected to 470kOhms Battery Devider reaches  
   * 1023 when voltage on the divider is around 3.44 Volts. 2.5 volts is equal to 750. 2 volts is equal to 600. 
   * RFM 69 CW works stable up to 2 volts. Assume 2.5 V is 0% and 1023 is 100% battery charge    
   * RFM 69 HCW works stable up to 2.5 volts (sometimes it can work up to 2.0V). Assume 2.5 V is 0% and 1023 is 100% battery charge  
   * 3.3V ~ 1023
   * 3.0V ~ 900
   * 2.5V ~ 750 
   * 2.0V ~ 600
   */

#ifdef  MY_IS_RFM69HW
  int batteryPcnt = (sensorValue - 750)  / 1.5;
#else
  int batteryPcnt = (sensorValue - 600)  / 3;
#endif

[Christoph Blank]

@koresh said in 💬 Button size radionode with sensors swarm extension:

@christoph-blank Hi, thanks for using this board. In the first version of this board the divider is conected after LDO, so you can't measure voltage above 3.3V. In the second version the divider is connected to the battery directly. You use 3.2v battery so it is not problem for you. But LiFePo4 battery has very flat discharge curve so it can be hard to read this level with reasonable accuracy.

I will try to find LiFePo4 battery and add some piece of code soon. Yet you can play with followed code

  // Get the battery Voltage
  int sensorValue = analogRead(BATTERY_SENSE_PIN);
  // 1M, 470K divider across battery and using internal ADC ref of 1.1V1
  // ((1e6+470e3)/470e3)*1.1 = Vmax = 3.44 Volts
  /* The MySensors Lib uses internal ADC ref of 1.1V which means analogRead of the pin connected to 470kOhms Battery Devider reaches  
   * 1023 when voltage on the divider is around 3.44 Volts. 2.5 volts is equal to 750. 2 volts is equal to 600. 
   * RFM 69 CW works stable up to 2 volts. Assume 2.5 V is 0% and 1023 is 100% battery charge    
   * RFM 69 HCW works stable up to 2.5 volts (sometimes it can work up to 2.0V). Assume 2.5 V is 0% and 1023 is 100% battery charge  
   * 3.3V ~ 1023
   * 3.0V ~ 900
   * 2.5V ~ 750 
   * 2.0V ~ 600
   */

#ifdef  MY_IS_RFM69HW
  int batteryPcnt = (sensorValue - 750)  / 1.5;
#else
  int batteryPcnt = (sensorValue - 600)  / 3;
#endif

Thank you very much, what are the other differences between V1 and V2? I believe I have V1 but I'm not sure.
The above code is what I currently use, and I removed the sensor part of the module. However, it shows 100% until the end (until it's not sending anymore).

Looking forward to your tests!
Christoph

[Koresh]

Hope will test the new version of this universal board soon. Now it has additional inexpensive accelerometer, magnetic sensor, led, reset button, multifootprint for lora/hw/cw radio without adapter and improoved 4layers design :)

[mahesh2000]

hi, this looks great -- is the assembled board, or just the board itself available anywhere? newbie here, i don't know what to do. if i can buy the assembled board, it would be so fantastic. thanks!!!

[NeverDie]

@mahesh2000 https://www.openhardware.io/view/299/Button-size-radionode-with-sensors-swarm-extension