NRF24L01+PA+LNA distance problem

[flopp]

@yd-kim
Do you have nRF+LNA+PA on gateway?
Do you have nRF+LNA+PA on nodes?

[yd kim]

@fleinze
Thank you for your quick response. Well I use custom PCB which has plenty of GND area on the board.
Anyway will keep think how to make better ground for the module.

[yd kim]

@flopp
I use nRF+LNA+PA on both.

[flopp]

@yd-kim
Check that you have correct antenna.
I was using female antenna and the nRF was also female which resulted in very bad connection.
Nodes are not battery powered?

[MiKa]

Also check with RF scanner if its not a "jamming" from other RF device, or simply try to change channel to different one.

[yd kim]

@flopp
At the first time I use default antenna but it was same issue so I bought exactly same long antenna. It make a little bit better but not perfect..
I knew what you are talking about. It wasn't normal so a little bit expensive compare to normal wifi antenna.

Thank for your concern.

[yd kim]

@flopp

Whole system is Li-Ion battery powered system with solar.
Gateway has 3S2P Li-Ion battery with proper solar panel. Battery voltage never go under 11V.
Node has 1x18650 Li-Ion battery with small solar panel.
Node goes sleep mode for 10 minutes then wake up and send data within 10 second.

[yd kim]

@MiKa
Device is installed in rural area. There is only one wifi. I don't think there is jamming or interference..
I don't have RF scanner. If I couldn't find any other solution , probably I need to build RF scanner to check it..

[mfalkvidd]

@yd-kim https://www.mysensors.org/controller/sniffer might be an easy way if you want to scan.

[fleinze]

Sometimes we get shitty modules from china:
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/1153/we-are-mostly-using-fake-nrf24l01-s-but-worse-fakes-are-emerging
I made good experiance with these rather expensive ones:
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/2pcs-RF2401F20-2-4G-high-integrated-RF-module-with-Nordic-s-RF-chip-nRF24L01-For-Free/32302870943.html
But even with these I had to be very careful about antenna placement

[MiKa]

Another RF scanner with mini OLED 0.96 display
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2777178-Very-cheap-Arduino-based-2-4-GHz-band-monitor

[flopp]

@yd-kim said:

@flopp

Whole system is Li-Ion battery powered system with solar.
Gateway has 3S2P Li-Ion battery with proper solar panel. Battery voltage never go under 11V.
Node has 1x18650 Li-Ion battery with small solar panel.
Node goes sleep mode for 10 minutes then wake up and send data within 10 second.

What kind of Arduino do you use?

[yd kim]

@flopp
Gateway : ESP8266 ( use 3A switching step down power module)
Node : Arduino pro mini 3V ( Arduino use battery power directly and nRF24L01 use 3.3V LDO 800mA one with 0.3V drop down )

[gloob]

Why don't you connect the NRF also directly to the battery?

[yd kim]

@gloob
nRF module should not use over 3.6V and Li-Ion battery is 4.2V when it is full charged.

[flopp]

Quick fix may be to add resend if Failed.

See here

https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/3355/count-car-starts/19

[gloob]

@yd-kim said:

@gloob
nRF module should not use over 3.6V and Li-Ion battery is 4.2V when it is full charged.

I thought you are also powering the Arduino directly from the battery over the 3.3V pin.

[yd kim]

@fleinze

I keep reading the article.. interesting
The module which on the link is too expensive for my project;;

[yd kim]

@gloob
Arduino doesn't matter up to 5V so I don't mind for arduino.
If I feed same power to arduino, I need bigger LDO and also less efficiency.