💬 RFM69 Livolo 2 channels 1 way EU switch(VL-C700X-1_Ver_C2)
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Some gerbers just seems to be rendered a bit weirdly using pcb-stackup. I will keep it updated when/if new versions becomes available.
It uses file endings to detect layer type. So it is important to follow the a "standard" naming (which isn't easy as there's a million ways these design pcb programs spit out names).
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Some gerbers just seems to be rendered a bit weirdly using pcb-stackup. I will keep it updated when/if new versions becomes available.
It uses file endings to detect layer type. So it is important to follow the a "standard" naming (which isn't easy as there's a million ways these design pcb programs spit out names).
Uploaded and public shared this plate design at OSHPark for anyone interested:
https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/wG8bXaBJ
PD: I'm not affiliated in any way to OSHPark and only uploaded and shared the @mtiutiu desing there for facilitation purposes for anyone interested that needed do a quick order of that plate boards in a good board build service at enough good price.
Best regards
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Hi @mtiutiu, i need your help ;)
The new board outline is perfect and the position of the connector too but my thickness board is too high (just an aesthetic point).
So, the mecanic is good and when i power the pcb with 12v by a battery all is ok.
But, there is a but :( when i power the node by the livolo, that's not working. The 12V goes to 3.15V.
I tried to change the tantalum capacitor localised at the input of the MCP16301 by a ceramic capacitor but i have always the issue.Have you any idea ?
Edit : one thing i didn't place it's the 470pF on the BYP MIC5205-3.3 because i haven't this value. I tried with 100pF and without capactitor but the issue still here
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Hi @mtiutiu, i need your help ;)
The new board outline is perfect and the position of the connector too but my thickness board is too high (just an aesthetic point).
So, the mecanic is good and when i power the pcb with 12v by a battery all is ok.
But, there is a but :( when i power the node by the livolo, that's not working. The 12V goes to 3.15V.
I tried to change the tantalum capacitor localised at the input of the MCP16301 by a ceramic capacitor but i have always the issue.Have you any idea ?
Edit : one thing i didn't place it's the 470pF on the BYP MIC5205-3.3 because i haven't this value. I tried with 100pF and without capactitor but the issue still here
Missing capacitor will not produce this effect, it will just not allow the low noise operation of the regulator. It might result in poor radio performance but nothing else.
@tonnerre33 do you have a load on the main to allow enough current to pass through ? @mtiutiu uses a capacitor for that. If you don't the board can't draw enough power and that would be a good reason to have voltage droping.
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Hi @mtiutiu, i need your help ;)
The new board outline is perfect and the position of the connector too but my thickness board is too high (just an aesthetic point).
So, the mecanic is good and when i power the pcb with 12v by a battery all is ok.
But, there is a but :( when i power the node by the livolo, that's not working. The 12V goes to 3.15V.
I tried to change the tantalum capacitor localised at the input of the MCP16301 by a ceramic capacitor but i have always the issue.Have you any idea ?
Edit : one thing i didn't place it's the 470pF on the BYP MIC5205-3.3 because i haven't this value. I tried with 100pF and without capactitor but the issue still here
@tonnerre33 @Nca78 is right. First you need to have a capacitor in parallel with the light bulb (a 0.47uF/275Vac type X2 is enough). This is needed because the power supply from the original Livolo board doesn't provide enough current in standby mode and this is obviously a good reason because otherwise the light bulb will flicker or maybe light up a little bit and this is not wanted. Remember that we talk here about a series circuit and that we need to take power not in the standard way - usually a power supply is made for being wired with both live and neutral and not live wire only as in the current situation.
If the capacitor across the light bulb still doesn't help then you need​ to follow the other steps I mentioned in the first project that I made for Livolo. One of the steps is to wire a bridge across that resistor marked with 104 - you can spot it easily as seen from those pictures that I made at that time. Then if it still doesn't work you need a second wire for the MOSFET biasing - this may be a little hard to see where it goes exactly as the Livolo manufacturer changed the board layout a little bit - not that much from the original one...but I need to figure out.
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@mtiutiu I wired a bridge across the resistor marked 104 and my node was powered well.
But after on or two command, the 12v doesn't work when the lamp is off. When the lamp is on (forcing command relay), the 12V appear and all run.
Is the CMOS broken ? Which component produce this 12V when the lamp is off ? -
@mtiutiu I wired a bridge across the resistor marked 104 and my node was powered well.
But after on or two command, the 12v doesn't work when the lamp is off. When the lamp is on (forcing command relay), the 12V appear and all run.
Is the CMOS broken ? Which component produce this 12V when the lamp is off ?Maybe the mosfet bias hack needs to be done also. The truth is that power electronics is not my thing and this power supply is a little bit beyond my understanding...well not that much but some things are not clear for me either. Those hardware modifications were picked from other thread in this forum. Maybe @Nca78 knows better than me this part?
@tonnerre33 did you wired the capacitor across the light bulb as well?
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Maybe the mosfet bias hack needs to be done also. The truth is that power electronics is not my thing and this power supply is a little bit beyond my understanding...well not that much but some things are not clear for me either. Those hardware modifications were picked from other thread in this forum. Maybe @Nca78 knows better than me this part?
@tonnerre33 did you wired the capacitor across the light bulb as well?
@mtiutiu said in 💬 Livolo 2 channels 1 way EU switch(VL-C700X-1_Ver_C2):
Maybe @Nca78 knows better than me this part?
Haha, no way :D I did my board using NRF24 so I don't have to mess with the power/relay board ;)
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Maybe the mosfet bias hack needs to be done also. The truth is that power electronics is not my thing and this power supply is a little bit beyond my understanding...well not that much but some things are not clear for me either. Those hardware modifications were picked from other thread in this forum. Maybe @Nca78 knows better than me this part?
@tonnerre33 did you wired the capacitor across the light bulb as well?
@mtiutiu said in 💬 Livolo 2 channels 1 way EU switch(VL-C700X-1_Ver_C2):
did you wired the capacitor across the light bulb as well?
Nope, the light bulb i use contains already a capacitor 1.1µF (thx Nca ;) ) and the bulb is lighted a little even if the button is off.
I duno why but the mofset is HS, i have checked him with my multimetor.
He can operate with 1.5A max, i don't understand why he burnt and why after a command... Before this command all was ok ... Why i pushed the button :laughing:edit : @mtiutiu said
Those hardware modifications were picked from other thread in this forum.
Which thread ?
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@mtiutiu said in 💬 Livolo 2 channels 1 way EU switch(VL-C700X-1_Ver_C2):
did you wired the capacitor across the light bulb as well?
Nope, the light bulb i use contains already a capacitor 1.1µF (thx Nca ;) ) and the bulb is lighted a little even if the button is off.
I duno why but the mofset is HS, i have checked him with my multimetor.
He can operate with 1.5A max, i don't understand why he burnt and why after a command... Before this command all was ok ... Why i pushed the button :laughing:edit : @mtiutiu said
Those hardware modifications were picked from other thread in this forum.
Which thread ?
Here: https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/2775/livolo-glass-panel-touch-light-wall-switch-arduino-433mhz/62. I think that @Tigroenot and @jirm know better than me actually. Sorry @Nca78 to involve you on this part. But @tonnerre33 if you wait until next week I'll inspect the new Livolo power board in a little bit more detail and see if I can come up with something.
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@mtiutiu I wired a bridge across the resistor marked 104 and my node was powered well.
But after on or two command, the 12v doesn't work when the lamp is off. When the lamp is on (forcing command relay), the 12V appear and all run.
Is the CMOS broken ? Which component produce this 12V when the lamp is off ?@tonnerre33 well, the reason for that is that livolo switch power circuit board contains two power circuits :)
One is a standby power which feeds the MC while all lamps are off and another one is the circuit that powers the whole system while at least one of the lamps is on (for two lamps switch). -
@tonnerre33 well, the reason for that is that livolo switch power circuit board contains two power circuits :)
One is a standby power which feeds the MC while all lamps are off and another one is the circuit that powers the whole system while at least one of the lamps is on (for two lamps switch).@Tigroenot Thank you for your comment.
I understand there is 2 power circuits, but i don't understand why the mosfet burnt, after wire a bridge across the 100K resistor and after few commands (not immediatly).I did many simulations with LTspice and i didn't find the reason...
I think he has burnt when i have the lamp 1 on and i have pushed on the other button without lamp 2 connected on the livolo.
If someone have any idea, that's will be helpfull for not burn another mofset. ^^
Now i'am waiting the deliveri of the mofset and i am hoping that is the HS component ;)
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Good news everyone! I managed to set up a test board in order to verify the new Livolo relays/power board and with the required modifications IT WORKS!!! as the previous one did from my old project. This time only 2 modifications are required on the board instead of 3 because the 12-14V supply is already connected now to the 2x7 connector.
I expected this to work as the power/relays board didn't changed - they placed the same set of components but in some different places and I was able to recognize the base layout.
@tonnerre33 Maybe yo wired something wrong..but for me it worked from the start. I will post here images and test results so stay tuned.
There you have it in action(sorry for my phone camera and delays): MySensors Livolo in action
Power/relays board required modifications(red lines represent wires - you could desolder those components too and just put some solder/wire bridges)
Next as seen in the video I wired a cheap dc-dc step down converter bought from Aliexpress to the 12-14V pin from the connector and ground and used its 3.3V output to power up the arduino pro mini board. The RELAY 1 - S and 1- R pins mean: channel 1(or 2 - it doesn't matter as the channels are identical) Set and Reset(because we have bi-stable relays). Those were wired to some digital outputs on arduino pro mini as seen here:
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Good news everyone! I managed to set up a test board in order to verify the new Livolo relays/power board and with the required modifications IT WORKS!!! as the previous one did from my old project. This time only 2 modifications are required on the board instead of 3 because the 12-14V supply is already connected now to the 2x7 connector.
I expected this to work as the power/relays board didn't changed - they placed the same set of components but in some different places and I was able to recognize the base layout.
@tonnerre33 Maybe yo wired something wrong..but for me it worked from the start. I will post here images and test results so stay tuned.
There you have it in action(sorry for my phone camera and delays): MySensors Livolo in action
Power/relays board required modifications(red lines represent wires - you could desolder those components too and just put some solder/wire bridges)
Next as seen in the video I wired a cheap dc-dc step down converter bought from Aliexpress to the 12-14V pin from the connector and ground and used its 3.3V output to power up the arduino pro mini board. The RELAY 1 - S and 1- R pins mean: channel 1(or 2 - it doesn't matter as the channels are identical) Set and Reset(because we have bi-stable relays). Those were wired to some digital outputs on arduino pro mini as seen here:
@mtiutiu Did you try with only a brige on the 100K resistor ?
Which type of lamp and power did you use ? -
@mtiutiu Did you try with only a brige on the 100K resistor ?
Which type of lamp and power did you use ?CFL - 15W. No, I wired both bridges.
Here's a quick block diagram for the whole circuit. I hope that I didn't missed anything or wired wrong there.
Well in reality the internal relay contact is not wired like in my diagram but to some extra circuits in order to provide voltage when the switch is closed - this is just a quick and dirty overview of the system.
The test circuit is working now for more than an hour with no problems. Oh..and the old project that I made for Livolo is in production now for more than a month and it works flawlessly.
I tested both CFL and LED bulbs - 5W was the lowest that I tried and it worked perfectly in both cases. The important part here is the parallel capacitor across the light bulb which gives the extra current that the standby circuit needs from the Livolo board in order to power the whole thing. The most sensitive part is the standby circuit because in that case the light bulb is OFF and it cannot provide enough current in this state - this is obvious because the load which is in series is turned off so only a small amount of current is present in the series circuit.
This works for the original board because the touch sensing part draws very little current(under a 1mA I think) and the radio receiver (in the RC variant) which they use draws 5mA or so. This compared with MySensors RFM69W which draws 60mA peak and on average 20-30mA or so.
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CFL - 15W. No, I wired both bridges.
Here's a quick block diagram for the whole circuit. I hope that I didn't missed anything or wired wrong there.
Well in reality the internal relay contact is not wired like in my diagram but to some extra circuits in order to provide voltage when the switch is closed - this is just a quick and dirty overview of the system.
The test circuit is working now for more than an hour with no problems. Oh..and the old project that I made for Livolo is in production now for more than a month and it works flawlessly.
I tested both CFL and LED bulbs - 5W was the lowest that I tried and it worked perfectly in both cases. The important part here is the parallel capacitor across the light bulb which gives the extra current that the standby circuit needs from the Livolo board in order to power the whole thing. The most sensitive part is the standby circuit because in that case the light bulb is OFF and it cannot provide enough current in this state - this is obvious because the load which is in series is turned off so only a small amount of current is present in the series circuit.
This works for the original board because the touch sensing part draws very little current(under a 1mA I think) and the radio receiver (in the RC variant) which they use draws 5mA or so. This compared with MySensors RFM69W which draws 60mA peak and on average 20-30mA or so.
@mtiutiu Thx for the answers ;)
I think you have a mistake on your picture. The GND pin is the second pin of the bottom when you start by the left side ;)Did you test both relays in Set position (simulate 2 lamps power on even if one isn't connected) ?
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@mtiutiu Thx for the answers ;)
I think you have a mistake on your picture. The GND pin is the second pin of the bottom when you start by the left side ;)Did you test both relays in Set position (simulate 2 lamps power on even if one isn't connected) ?
Yes it seems that the gnd pin is shifted by one position to the right. I will fix that - thanks for noticing. I will do the test with the other channel too. It's sufficient to have one light bulb and capacitor to trigger the other channel too.
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Fixed the diagram posted earlier and now the required solder bridges are visible(R3 and R13 needs to be replaced by a solder/wire bridge as seen in the picture).
This is valable only for the VL-C700X-1 VER: C2 livolo power/relays board hw revision only!
