Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?

[gohan]

@Bogus-Exception I don't know, I just could not figure out what you were trying to achieve 😀

[Bogus Exception]

With the inability to get signal strength from the nRF24, I'm open to any suggestions to fairly evaluate the boards I've collected. Don't think the wife will let me spring for a spectrum analyzer... :(

[gohan]

Well usually you could test how good they are by running a sketch that keeps sending data and, while increasing distance, look when you start getting NACKs on the serial monitor.

[NeverDie]

@Bogus-Exception said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

With the inability to get signal strength from the nRF24, I'm open to any suggestions to fairly evaluate the boards I've collected. Don't think the wife will let me spring for a spectrum analyzer... :(

Somewhere in the other thread I posted a sketch for automatically counting packet loss percentages. That's the best way that I've been able to think of. Signal strength, bit error rate, and packet loss rate should all be very strongly correlated to one another.

[gohan]

@Nca78 where did you get the ebyte modules? From aliexpress they are charging quite a bit for shipping.

[Nca78]

@gohan they don't charge me for shipping, but I'm in Vietnam so it's not far for them ;)

[d00616]

Some news. After playing with NRF5 and the NRF24 protocol. The red EBYTE modules are fakes.

Over the N of NRF is a dot. I have ordered these modules: https://aliexpress.com/item/Wireless-Module-NRF24L01-original-2-4-Ghz-RF-transceiver-SPI/32712174920.html they have an rectangle over the N and responding line an original NRF24L01. Maybe this helps to identify originals.

The difference between both modules is in NoACK attribute handling. Fakes always responding with ACK and sending inverse NoACK attributes. So fakes have problems communicate with original modules.

EDIT: This was an issue at the NRF5 side.

[Nca78]

@d00616 said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

Some news. After playing with NRF5 and the NRF24 protocol. The red EBYTE modules are fakes.

You mean you bought those red modules from Ebyte shop and they sent you some with a dot on the chip ?
The ones I received from them (blue SMD ones) have a rectangle, that's in fact made with very close lines.

The difference between both modules is in NoACK attribute handling. Fakes always responding with ACK and sending inverse NoACK attributes. So fakes have problems communicate with original modules.

Is there an "easy"/"not too hard" way to test that ?

[gohan]

@d00616 Are you sure about that?

[d00616]

@Nca78 said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

@d00616 said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

Some news. After playing with NRF5 and the NRF24 protocol. The red EBYTE modules are fakes.

You mean you bought those red modules from Ebyte shop and they sent you some with a dot on the chip ?

Yes. I had ordered the module in the form factor like this posted above.

@gohan said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

@d00616 Are you sure about that?

Yes, about the ACK/NoACK handling. With the NRF5, I see raw packages. I'm not sure about the dot vs. rectangle, but my modules with a dot violating the protocol.

[gohan]

how did you setup NRF5 "sniffer" ?
BTW, my red modules are working really great; the link you provided from aliexpress are really genuine?

[Nca78]

@gohan do you have rectangles/squares or dots on yours ?

[gohan]

I don't remember, I'll have to look tonight

[d00616]

@gohan said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

how did you setup NRF5 "sniffer" ?

At the moment, I reimplement the protocol for NRF5 chips to fix an NRF5 hardware issue. I don't have a "sniffer".

BTW, my red modules are working really great; the link you provided from aliexpress are really genuine?

My red modules are good working clones, but they are clones which violating the protocol. Using clones resulting in sending more packages over the air and never receiving an ACK package from original NRF24. So it looks like a duck, but not quacks like a duck over the air.

EDIT: Sorry, Cannot identify clones at the moment.

[NeverDie]

There's no reason to continue using nRF24L01's anyway, except for legacy situations. Their only virtue is cheapness, and the nRF51's offer a good substitute for that.

[d00616]

@NeverDie said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

There's no reason to continue using nRF24L01's anyway, except for legacy situations.

...when https://github.com/mysensors/MySensors/issues/949 is fixed. If not, a node requires an hard reset from time to time.

[Yveaux]

@d00616 said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

they have an rectangle over the N and responding line an original NRF24L01. Maybe this helps to identify originals.

Here we go again... Nordic is a fabless company. Therefore the laser marking on their genuine models can be different with each batch. There is no known way to tell if a module is genuine or not from the outside of the module.

[NeverDie]

@d00616 said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

a node requires an hard reset from time to time.

First I've heard of this. How often is "from time to time"?

[d00616]

@NeverDie said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

@d00616 said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

a node requires an hard reset from time to time.

First I've heard of this. How often is "from time to time"?

<0,1% of packages. I have three versions of the ESB protocol code. With the published version, the module hangs when PAN#102 is triggered. My second version was a try to fix this issue by adding some timer code. With this fix, the NRF5 looses more packages than before. The version I currently working on looks more stable, is easier to debug, supports the fast ramp up mode partially, but it's not complete yet.

[d00616]

Sorry for my NRF24 clone post yesterday. The ACK bit was an issue with the NRF5 platform. I had switched the memory region to handle TX/RX/ACK packages separately. Sometimes the received packages are written in the wrong region. I had seen my testing ACK bit. Now, I have changed my NRF5 code and I can't see no difference between the modules, I have. ACK and timing are exactly at the same level.