MYSBootloader 1.3.0-beta.3

[jkandasa]

@slt1 Thanks for the detailed information. If you have enough time would you mind to give a try to https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/4991/mysbootloader-1-3pre2-testing ?

Bootloader link: https://forum.mysensors.org/uploads/files/1475275020003-mysbootloader_v13pre2.zip

[slt1]

@jkandasa Using the bootloader in your zip file link I get the same result - around 15 minutes for a 60KB hex sketch file. I used MyController - not MYSController.
Can you please tell me how long it takes you to do an OTA update - the time + hex file size?

[jkandasa]

@slt1 Thanks for the report. I tested on two different nodes. Controller: MyController.org. Gateway MQTT(ESP8266), Radio: NRF24L01+

• 8 MHz internal crystal on the noisy environment: for 47K hex file takes 6 minutes and 42 seconds
• 16 MHz external crystal on clean environment: for 26K hex file takes 36 seconds

Bootloaders I use: https://forum.mysensors.org/uploads/files/1475275020003-mysbootloader_v13pre2.zip

Initial days I face coverage problem with NRF24L01+. I changed my antenna as per this specification, from this point I see notable improvement on coverage.

[slt1]

@jkandasa Thank you very much ! That is very helpful. It seems like you are getting excellent update speed.

For my testing of OTA the test sensor node is about 8m away from Gateway.

I am also using MyController.org, Gateway is ESP8266 (Ethernet), Radio NRF24L01+ (PA+LNA 1.1km range like the one shown here)

Current "live" sensor nodes are ...
Gateway (with PA+LNB) <------ 100 to 120m -----> Repeater Node / Pump Control Sensor (with PA+LNB) <-------- 120m to 150m -------> Water Tank Level Sensor (PCB antenna nrf24l01)

To get that range it needs good line of sight which luckily I have.

I will look into the antenna mod as well though, so thank you for the tips. I would be very happy if I can get about 1 to 2 minutes for updates on 16Mhz sensors.

[slt1]

@jkandasa I tried the modified antenna out and also removed the adapter board for the nrf and soldered a header in close to the arduino pro mini to insert the nrf24l01. And after doing, with all other sensor nodes turned off I can now get around 5 seconds for blink, about 30 seconds for TimeReporter and about 60 seconds for the 60kb custom sketch.
So thank you for the tip on antenna mod. That does help. The major issue I think though was the adapter board for the nrf24l01 - for some reason that was causing lots of pauses in the OTA updates.

The tests were all using MYSController - the windows app.

I am having a few strange issues MYController.org. It appears to be getting stuck when doing a few updates in a row and also I can't seem to roll back to a previous version.

[gohan]

What adapter were you using?

[slt1]

@gohan The manufacturer on the bottom of the board says robotdyn.com - lookinf at their website this is the exact one : http://robotdyn.com/catalog/adaptors/socket_adapter_for_nrf24l01_with_regulator_3_3v/

[gohan]

that is missing the decoupling capacitor. Did you solder one yourself?

[slt1]

@gohan I soldered a 4.7uF tantulum capacitor directly onto the nrf24L01. Didn't help !

[gohan]

did you try a bigger one like 47uF? Or maybe that voltage regulator is just rubbish :)

[Mark Swift]

I use these adaptor boards, I presumed they worked okay, what is missing @gohan, are the capacitors present on other adapter boards do you know? BTW the robotdyn stuff seems very well made but I've actually found their NRF's to perform very poorly.

[slt1]

@gohan The regulator is an AMS1117 on the one I got here. I will try them again as they are useful for prototyping. It was working fine for a regular sensor sending updates, but got into the issues when using OTA and trying to get some decent speed of updates going. I also thought perhaps it was a dud unit - so i tried a few others and all gave same results. So perhaps a bigger capacitor will do the trick.

[gohan]

I got some adapters on gearbest (there is only one model available) and they have also caps and so far they are working, but haven't stressed them much because my nrf modules are rubbish and I am waiting for some new ones

[jolo]

This is my first post in this forum - so hello everyone! And many kudos for all developers and contributors.
I am on my way of building distributed sensors and actuators system for astroimagers, and would love to have OTA firmware update possibility. I use nR24L01 radio and each node will be based on Atmega328 working at internal 8MHz and 3V, and have two questions:

• which bootlader hex should I write?
• does MYSbootloader support programming via serial? I tried several hex files with several fuses combinations and never succeeded to program Atmega328P via serial :(

[mfalkvidd]

Welcome @jolo !

All you need should be available at https://www.mysensors.org/about/ota
If it isn't, feel free to ask away :)

Sounds like a cool project. Can you share more details?

[jolo]

Ok, what I've done so far according to https://www.mysensors.org/about/ota:

• connected USBasp to Arduino Pro Mini and set fuses to 16MHz external oscillator (using AVRDUDESS)
• then tried to upload MYSbootlader using Arduino IDE (versions 1.6.11 and 1.8.1) but it failed with some "cannot set sck period"
• so I uploaded bootloader with AVRDUDESS
  Question is - at this stage should I be able to program Arduino Pro Mini with serial programmer, or now it can be done only using OTA? Because I am not able to do it with serial programmer and Arduino IDE.
  Burning bootloader with AVRDUDESS works fine because I changed it many times from original to MYSbootlader, also programming Arduino with precompiled sketch works fine.
  I will describe my project little bit later, when I will have more nodes working :) Currently I am on stepper motor controller node.

[mfalkvidd]

@jolo yes, MYSbootlader supports only ota. No serial.

I have updated the ota page to mention the lack of serial.

[gonzalonal]

@mfalkvidd actually looking at the code of mysbootloder, it does support STK500 protocol. I haven't test if it really works...maybe it doesn't.

[mfalkvidd]

@gonzalonal it did not a while ago according to this, but that might have changed. Maybe @tekka can shed a light?

[tekka]

@mfalkvidd The most recent MYSBootloader supports OTA and serial uploads via STK500, see here: https://github.com/mysensors/MySensorsBootloaderRF24/tree/development