💬 MySensors NRF5 Platform

@d00616 Maybe you can just make it like it was before, where there was only one pair of I2c pins, not two as in your upgraded version? Maybe then it would work again.

Please give me some time. After an debug session with @scalz and @Yveaux, I think this is a tool chain (GCC 5.3) problem. The pin mapping array is part of the binary, but the Wire constructor gets an array with 0 while the Wire instance has pin mapping information.

Yesterday, I had a try to port ArduinoHwNRF5 back to the same tool chain (GCC 4.8) used by Arduino Primo and SAMD boards. I think for compatibility, this is the best option.

If I have no luck, I either remove the option of the pin remapping table or I go back to the old version. I think going back is no good idea, because the NRF52840 has more than one 32 GPIO, which requires advanced parameters.

d00616

@d00616 said in MySensors NRF5 Platform:
Back from the compiler hell. There is no chance getting the GCC 4.8 to work without forking the arduino-nrf5 code. Compiling with GCC 4.8 has the same result.

I have changed the templates a little bit and moved the code for pin mapping generation. Now it works for me. Please give me some time to clear the code and create a new package (0.3.0). With the new package, you have to add '#include <compat_pin_mapping.h>' before '#end" in MyBoardNRF5.cpp. You have to rename the '#ifdefs' and '#define' in both board files to match MYBOARDNRF5 instead of MYNRF5BOARD.

d00616

I have changed the templates a little bit and moved the code for pin mapping generation. Now it works for me. Please give me some time to clear the code and create a new package (0.3.0). With the new package, you have to add '#include <compat_pin_mapping.h>' before '#end" in MyBoardNRF5.cpp. You have to rename the '#ifdefs' and '#define' in both board files to match MYBOARDNRF5 instead of MYNRF5BOARD.

Now, there is a new Version 0.3.0 for MyBoardNRF5 available. It can be installed via the Board Manager. Please change the templates like described above. I think, now the board definition is stable and ready to support other Arduino variants without changing the board definition.

NeverDie

@d00616

I think I made the changes you recommended, but now I'm getting:

Board MyBoard_nRF51822 (platform nRF5, package MySensors) is unknown

Error compiling for board MyBoardNRF5 nRF51822.

d00616

I think I made the changes you recommended, but now I'm getting:
Board MyBoard_nRF51822 (platform nRF5, package MySensors) is unknown

Error compiling for board MyBoardNRF5 nRF51822.

I had the same message. In my case, I have uninstalled arduino-nrf5, cleared files, which are not removed from packages directory (the 0.2.1 MyBoard files) and reinstalled arduino-nrf5. After restarting Arduino it was fine.

NeverDie

@d00616
I'm still getting the error. I tried deleting arduino-nrf5 library and re-installing it fresh, but I don't know how, on Windows, to clear files and remove them from the packages directory. I'm not even aware of their being a "packages directory." Sorry.

NeverDie

@d00616 You mentioned that it works only with a particular version of GCC. Does that mean I need to have a particular version of the Arduino IDE installed? I'm currently running the latest version of Windows Arduino IDE, which is 1.8.5.

NeverDie

The irony of it all is that the earlier setup from 3 or so weeks ago seemed to work just fine. Unfortunately, I no longer have any idea how to get back to that.

scalz

@NeverDie
C:\Users...\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\MySensors\

NeverDie

@scalz said in MySensors NRF5 Platform:

@NeverDie
C:\Users...\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\MySensors\

Thanks!

The good news is that it compiles now. Also, the pin mapping for an LED is working. However, the bad news is that pin mapping for Serial Rx and Tx doesn't seem to be working, so I can't read any serial debug messages. Therefore, not sure if I2C is working or not.

NeverDie

I did another purge and reinsatall of the boards, and now serial is working.

NeverDie

Unfortunately, it does not appear that I2C is working.

NeverDie

Curiously, I2c does seem to work on a nRF52 DK using the myboard board definition.

NeverDie

However, it doesn't seem to be working on the nrf51.

d00616

@d00616 You mentioned that it works only with a particular version of GCC. Does that mean I need to have a particular version of the Arduino IDE installed? I'm currently running the latest version of Windows Arduino IDE, which is 1.8.5.

The GCC version is part of the arduino-nrf5 distribution.

Unfortunately, it does not appear that I2C is working.

I have I2C and serial running with a NRF52832.
You can try to remove the compat_pin_mapping line and add the 0.1.0 pin map at this place. Then the board definition is nearly the 0.1.0 version.

However, it doesn't seem to be working on the nrf51.

I check the NRF51 board. What do you mean with no working?

NeverDie

I hope that narrows down the likely cause of the problem. The fact that it's working on the nRF52 gives me some hope it can be made to work on the nRF51.

NeverDie

I check the NRF51 board. What do you mean with no working?

The nRF51 can't find the si7021 device, even though it's connected.

NeverDie

I have I2C and serial running with a NRF52832.

Yes, it does seem to work on the nRF52832. Just not presently on the nRF51822.

NeverDie

I check the NRF51 board. What do you mean with no working?

I'm running the sparkfun si7021 code. When I run it on the nrf52832, it yields:

Si7021 Found
Temp:70.51F, Humidity:40.71%

which is correct, but when I run it on the nRF51822, the result is:

No Devices Detected
Temp:-51.85F, Humidity:-5.81%

which is incorrect.

d00616

@d00616 said in MySensors NRF5 Platform:

I have I2C and serial running with a NRF52832.

Yes, it does seem to work on the nRF52832. Just not presently on the nRF51822.

Can you check, if the device works with the "Generic NRF51822" board? You can edit the variant files in the arduino-nrf5\variants directory.
C:\Users...\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\sandeepmistry\hardware\nRF5\0.4.0\variants\Generic

NeverDie

@neverdie said in MySensors NRF5 Platform:

@d00616 said in MySensors NRF5 Platform:

I have I2C and serial running with a NRF52832.

Yes, it does seem to work on the nRF52832. Just not presently on the nRF51822.

Can you check, if the device works with the "Generic NRF51822" board? You can edit the variant files in the arduino-nrf5\variants directory.
C:\Users...\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\sandeepmistry\hardware\nRF5\0.4.0\variants\Generic

I tried, but I guess I'm not doing it right. I couldn't even get it to blink an LED that way.

NeverDie

You can try to remove the compat_pin_mapping line and add the 0.1.0 pin map at this place. Then the board definition is nearly the 0.1.0 version.

So, I take it you are suggesting that in myboardnrf5.cpp, where it says:

#ifdef MYBOARDNRF5
#include <variant.h>
#include <compat_pin_mapping.h>

I replace

#include <compat_pin_mapping.h>

with what exactly? At this point I'm not even sure where 0.1.0 pin-map is, or even what it's called.

NeverDie

I tried, but I guess I'm not doing it right. I couldn't even get it to blink an LED that way.

After I modify the generic variant board definition, is there some trick to making it go "live"?

scalz

@NeverDie
there is no trick.. it should work.
d00616 said, for a test, to not use his defines, the method that you're used to.
So change the defines you need in the generic variant file, then in arduino:

NeverDie

I think this must be where the disconnect is happening. Where do I find the files or directory for Generic nRF51? The closest I see is a directory called just "Generic":

That's the one I tried modifying:

and it had no effect. So, I suspect there must be a different "generic nRF51" somewhere which is closely tied with the menu item you show the picture of. However, I don't see where.

Nca78

@neverdie did you check there ?

NeverDie

I didn't try that one, but it's a similar dilemma:

i.e. Does "Generic" do double duty for both "Generic nRF51" and "Generic nRF52"?

NeverDie

Aha! That did it. Thanks @NCA78. It's working now, including the I2C.

I had to switch nodes though. It's possible that the mysensors code does work, as the node I was testing it on may have had a bad si7021 module on it. I'll post again after I retry with this different node.

NeverDie

I'm back with the results. The same node where I2C works using the customized "Generic nRF51" does not have working I2c if using the mysensors "MyBoardnRF5 nRF51822".

So, I think I've taken this as far as I can. Hopefully this info helps you solve whatever the problem is.

I'm grateful I can keep moving along now using a modified "Generic nRF51822". Thanks everybody!

NeverDie

Ashes on my head. The mysensors code is working with I2c after all. I confirmed it on the second (alternate) node. I had switched two of the wires in the myboardnrf5 pinout, but hadn't on the generic nRF51 pinout. Correcting for that, it now works.

What threw me completely off was the defective si7021 module on the first node. Well, now everything is sorted.

d00616

Ashes on my head. The mysensors code is working with I2c after all. I confirmed it on the second (alternate) node. I had switched two of the wires in the myboardnrf5 pinout, but hadn't on the generic nRF51 pinout. Correcting for that, it now works.

Thank you for reporting this. Great news to hear this.

NeverDie

Thank you for reporting this. Great news to hear this.

You're welcome, of course. Though it was a little bit of a wild goose chase, at least your code is now pretty well tested and proven to be "known good," so others can start using it without fear.

With this now out of the way, please do continue your excellent work!

Omemanti

This post is deleted!

Yveaux

@omemanti Shot in the dark: did you swap Tx/Rx by accident?

Omemanti

This post is deleted!

Omemanti

I'm not sure if I destroyed something on the board.ill try another one.. to not fill-up this forum threat I'll delete my previous posts

monte

Hello, @d00616. Could you tell me which ESB library did you use to port it to arduino environment? The one that comes with Nordic SDK? After searching for few hours I haven't find any other realization of ESB mode for arduino IDE except your port included with MySensors. It's a pity. Are you going to release general purpose library, maybe?

d00616

Hello, @d00616. Could you tell me which ESB library did you use to port it to arduino environment? The one that comes with Nordic SDK? After searching for few hours I haven't find any other realization of ESB mode for arduino IDE except your port included with MySensors. It's a pity. Are you going to release general purpose library, maybe?

The ESB library is written from scratch. At the time of of starting the Nordic SDK license was incompatible with open source projects. I have no plans to release this as stand-alone library. At the moment there is only an subset of the ESB protocol implemented. Enough to be compatible with MySensors RF24 devices.

Feel free to use my code to create a stand-alone library. If required, we can talk about dual licensing to code with an additional open source license.

monte

@d00616 thanks for a reply. I will evaluate my skills for this task, when I actually will get a chip to try it on. I need some really small pcb for my project, and single chip with mcu and rf with the size of nrf51 fits perfectly, but it requires quiet simple communications and full MySensors library will be overkill and hard to adapt for my needs.

d00616

@d00616 thanks for a reply. I will evaluate my skills for this task, when I actually will get a chip to try it on. I need some really small pcb for my project, and single chip with mcu and rf with the size of nrf51 fits perfectly, but it requires quiet simple communications and full MySensors library will be overkill and hard to adapt for my needs.

You can use the MY_CORE_ONLY mode -> https://forum.mysensors.org/post/76627

monte

@d00616 great tip, thanks! I didn't know about that option, to bad it's buried on the deepest level of documentation. I guess this will do the thing. I greatly appreciate your help, it's a pleasure when people are willing to share their knowledge with others

monte

@d00616 one more question. Is your driver able to send broadcast messages, without defined address, or should I just use the same node address on multiple receiving nodes?

d00616

@monte Thank you.

@d00616 one more question. Is your driver able to send broadcast messages, without defined address, or should I just use the same node address on multiple receiving nodes?

The broad cast address is hard coded to 0xff (255). Each node must have a uniqe address, because it's not possible to send packages to a node with the same address.

d00616

@d00616 thanks for a reply. I will evaluate my skills for this task, when I actually will get a chip to try it on. I need some really small pcb for my project, and single chip with mcu and rf with the size of nrf51 fits perfectly, but it requires quiet simple communications and full MySensors library will be overkill and hard to adapt for my needs.

If possible use the nRF52 series. There are some improvements like better radio sensivity, lower current consumption, more RAM and flash, better ADC and a better CPU. Maybe in the future there is a Firmware update OTA functionality which is easier to adapt to the NRF52 than the NRF51 platform. Another reason to use the NRF52 is, that the official Arduino NRF5 port only supports the NRF52. This port has a lot more capabilities than the arduino-nrf5 port, but MySensors is not compatible at the moment.

Nca78

Should we worry about that ?

d00616

@nca78 said in MySensors NRF5 Platform:

Should we worry about that ?

No. There are some ports of Arduino for NRF5. At the moment MySensors is not compatible with the Primo Port, because it comes with the SoftDevice. It changes nothing for the current state.

Omemanti

What is the best way to use a pin interrupt to wake up form a sleep?

like for instance, I got some sort of motion connected to PIN 8.

NeverDie

The source code for the PIR project gives one possible answer.

Omemanti

@neverdie
I've been dealing with that code but for some reason, I don't get it to work, code-wise it seems I'm lacking..

First i get this error: struct NRF_UARTE_Type' has no member named 'TASKS_SUSPEND
And when I comment that out it seems like its not waking up.

I made a test sketch, which reported the status every 1000ms. this worked accurately for the last 3 days so it doesn't look like it is a sensor problem.

So my hope was that there was an easier methode available..

NeverDie

@omemanti Sounds like maybe you're either missing a library or else not linking to one that's required.

Omemanti

@neverdie

What am I missing, I just reinstalled the whole shabang.

Arduino IDE
Sandeep
Mysensors 2.2.0

thats all there is installed..

NeverDie

@omemanti You want the mysensors development fork.

NeverDie

Also, this: https://github.com/d00616/ArduinoHwNRF5

Omemanti

@neverdie

removed 2.2.0 => installed 2.2.1 Alpha.
boards check.

Still:

error: 'struct NRF_UARTE_Type' has no member named 'TASKS_SUSPEND'

   NRF_UARTE0->TASKS_SUSPEND = 1;

               ^

exit status 1
'struct NRF_UARTE_Type' has no member named 'TASKS_SUSPEND'```

alowhum

Let's say I've just bought a $2,50 NRF52 board.

Does anyone know a good tutorial for absolute beginners?

For example:

I have no idea what a softdevice is. Should I know?
I don't know what hardware I need. A normal serial adapter or an ST-link? Should I hack an STM32 into a black magic probe (whatever that is..), or is that for power users?
To what pins do I connect to upload a sketch?
How are you connecting wires onto the package? Just hotglue and very steady hands? Some cheap adapter or board? Any tips and tricks?
There's something about text files that define how the pins work? But the serial pins are always the same? Where does the text-file go? What flavours are there? Which is the most popular?
What boards should I enable in the Arduino IDE?
How do I debug my sketch? Does the serial monitor work?
Do I still need the development version of MySensors now that we are at V2.2?
Do I need to set anything in MySensors?
Are encryption, signing and the simple options to do this supported?
What can it do? Can I connect a 5v sensor to it? Can it power things in the way that an Arduino can?

Anticimex

@alowhum all security functionality currently available for MySensors is supported om nrf52. There is nothing in the security road map that will not be supported on nrf52. The MAY be features that work best with a security peripheral but there will always be software compatible alternatives for released features that can operate on nrf52 unless it is natively supported by the HW peripherals in the chip.

Nca78

@alowhum you can start with this:
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/6705/mysensors-nrf5-platform/1
and
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/7869/start-with-nrf5-is-very-simple/1

But you should also check the NRF5 information on Nordic website.
In short it's 3.3V max (so no 5V peripherals directly), you need to program through the 2 SWD pins (SWDCLK and SWDIO) and you have different options for that, for debugging use a FTDI adapter and connect it to the pins you have assigned as TX/RX.

Nca78

Hello,

has someone successfully used VisualMicro with the MySensors NRF5 boards ?
In the board selector dropdown list I can select any board, including NRF5 boards like "Generic NRF51" or "BBC Microbit", except when I select MySensors NRF51 or NRF52 boards, then it's not doing anything and keeping the previous selected board. I have a message in the status bar saying "the first available board has been selected" and that's all, I don't find anything related to VisualMicro with this error message in Google.
I have tried with both 0.1 and 0.3 versions of the boards, and with both "Arduino 1.6/1.9" and "Visual Micro (No IDE)" IDE selections.

nagelc

I like VisualMicro and think I got this to work but was mostly using plain Arduino to keep things simple while figuring it out. I haven't worked on an NRF5 board for a few weeks. I will check my setup. Might be a day or two before I can get back to it.

nagelc

@nca78
No. I was mistaken. I have the same issue as you. I used the arduino program with the MySensors NRF5. I would like to get this to work also. Please post if you find a solution.

Nca78

@nagelc thank you for taking the time to check, I'll go with Arduino for NRF5 at the moment and keep that for a moment when I'll be more keen on fixing technical problems

Shodney

What are people using for a gateway with these?

I'm currently using this from @NeverDie , which seems to work for the most part, but I'm getting a lot of connection errors:

[31m2018-04-18 18:27:35 ERROR (Thread-2) [mysensors.gateway_tcp] Receive from server failed.

[32m2018-04-18 18:27:35 INFO (Thread-2) [mysensors.gateway_tcp] Closing socket at ('10.0.50.100', 2323).
[32m2018-04-18 18:27:35 INFO (Thread-2) [mysensors.gateway_tcp] Socket closed at ('10.0.50.100', 2323).
[32m2018-04-18 18:27:35 INFO (Thread-2) [mysensors.gateway_tcp] Trying to connect to ('10.0.50.100', 2323)
[32m2018-04-18 18:27:35 INFO (Thread-2) [mysensors.gateway_tcp] Connected to ('10.0.50.100', 2323)
[32m2018-04-18 18:27:52 INFO (Thread-2) [mysensors.gateway_tcp] Closing socket at ('10.0.50.100', 2323).

They seem to come up about 75% of the time when the gateway receives a message from a node.

I thought it might be a power thing, so I messed around with a few caps and a separate power source for the hat but nothing seems to have made a difference.

Everything seems to work despite this, but I don't really want my log to be filled with these errors if I can help it.

Has anyone attempted to build a wired gateway or anything similar?

Omemanti

@shodney i used this one for a couple of tests. I resoldered the caps near the top and connected a new antenna. Works pretty well for testing purposes. I expect some pcb's a week ago for some further testing.

NeverDie

The gateway I've used has been:
https://www.openhardware.io/view/491/PA-LNA-nRF52832-ESP-LINK-Shield-for-Wemos-D1-Mini-ESP8266
I haven't noticed any problems.

nagelc

@nca78 I posted to the VisualMicro forum. They responded right away. They are going to fix it in the next release. Something to do with internal naming conventions.

alowhum

I've created a BME280 node along the lines of the NRF5 beginners guide I posted.

But something odd is happening. The node works great for about 8 hours.. and then it stops working.

I already changed the power supply, but the same thing happens.

Could it be a memory leak?

NeverDie

@alowhum I'm not sure the function call that reveals that amount of free memory available, but I'm sure there must be one. Logging that as a diagnostic would reveal whether you have a memory leak in your code.

nagelc

@nca78 I downloaded the latest update to VisualMicro last night and had mixed success. I can now pick the MyboardNRF5 boards, but run into a compile error where it cannot find the build directory. Have you tried it yet?

Nca78

@nagelc not yet I will give it a try tomorrow.

NeverDie

@d00616 Will everything work the same on the nRF52840?

Has anyone tried it?

d00616

@d00616 Will everything work the same on the nRF52840?
Has anyone tried it?

Yes. At the moment, I have no time to finish my work on supporting the nrf52840. In my Repository https://github.com/d00616/ArduinoHwNRF5 you can find my last state. All 840 ports P0 (0-31) and P1 (62-64) should be usable as GPIO but there is no support using the P1 ports with any pin mapping component like UART, I2C....

The second change in my last commit is mcuboot. A bootloader compiled with Zephyr. Firmware can be upgraded OTA using MYSController with some enhancements (ask @tekka about the correct version). Firmware transmision works well but, at the moment my mcuboot port don't work. The memory layout between zephyr and arduino is different. The application cashes after start. I think it's a problem with different memory layout between Arduino and Zephyr.

For NRF52 MCUs the memory problem can be solved by moving the interrupt vector register to the IV location in the image and setting the SP register to the correct value. Maybe the starting code of ArduinoHwNRF5 is the correct position, so this mcuboot version can be used for Arduino and Zephyr Software.

If moving the SP to the correct position doesn't help, for NRF51 the Arduino linker scripts must be changed. I think there is only a small change required, but I have no idea about how to do this.

It's welcome if someone can finish this work.

NeverDie

@d00616 Argh, that's a pity if the pin mapping doesn't yet work, because it means I won't be able to do the drop-in upgrades from the Fanstel nRF52832 to the Fanstel nRF52840 as I had hoped to do. It means I would have to re-do all the PCB's if I want to upgrade to nRF52840. I guess I would have to figure out some other way to remap the pins.

nagelc

I have a couple of BT840s on order, also hoping for the easy upgrade. It looks like the pins have the same functionality as the BT832 except for pins 11, 12, and 13 (and 14 if you weren't using it for reset). I wonder why they did not just keep them all the same.

d00616

Sorry wrong wording. All P0 ports can be mapped. But to map P1 ports there is additional code required which does'n exists in the Arduino port.

d00616

If someone try to work on mcuboot compatibility. Maybe only the IV is the problem. For NRF52 the IV can be moved to the beginning of the image, but the nRF51 IV is in the mcuboot rage.

NeverDie

@nagelc According to the Fanstel documentation, "Except the 19 pins in solid black dots, BT840F and BT832F is hardware pin to pin compatible. " So, if I'm understanding correctly, it appears that the the castellated pins should be exactly the same, and those are the only ones I'm able to solder anyway.

This is quoting from their v1.1 datasheet, which is dated August, 2018: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/561459a2e4b0b39f5cefa12e/t/5b75e95daa4a99c02bbce364/1534454116506/BlueNor_BT840F_datasheets.pdf

NeverDie

Oh, I see now. p18 is the reset pin on the nRF52840 now, not p21 as on the nRF52832. However, both share the same physical location on the Fanstel modules. OK, so in that case, I guess it only matters if you want to use the reset pin as an gpio pin instead. Likewise, the LED has the same physical pin location on the module, but it's pin 020 on the nRF52832 and pin p13 on the nRF52840.

Well, if we can just somehow manage to upload a simple blink sketch to the nRF52840 from the Arduino IDE, then I suppose I can live with wherever else is different. It's getting some kind of "hello world" compiled, uploaded, and running that's always the hardest part with these things. Once that's in place, one can chip away at the rest of it. i.e. it looks like I can re-use my same PCB's with the nRF52840 and just make some software changes to make it work. I'd still count that as good news.

NeverDie

@d00616 I guess this is what you mean by Zephyr? http://docs.zephyrproject.org/boards/arm/nrf52840_pca10059/doc/nrf52840_pca10059.html?highlight=nrf52840

d00616