Radio setup give: "check wires"

[hek]

I have tried to get some answers from the Alice1101983 the last 5 days... but they only seem to reply with new questions (at a 24h interval)... This has become a bit tiresome and I'm giving up on them.

I suggest that all buyers that received the non-plus NRF module to open a dispute immediately on ebay (if you haven't already accepted the delivery).
If you payed through paypal you could also use their dispute functionality after logging in to your paypal account.

I've decided to recommend another ebay seller for the NRF-module on http://www.mysensors.org/store now.

I'm really sorry for the problems and project-delays this has caused you.

[tbowmo]

hmm.. seems like it's a recent thing they are doing. Checkcing my ebay account, I ordered from "alice" back in september, and got the real deal..

But yes, they should be stopped with this behaviour, selling something and then shipping old products..

[sonicblaze]

Be prepared to argue with Alice even in the dispute. Guessing eBay themselves or PayPal will have to get involved.

I've told them over and over it's not the plus chip, even provided the rf24::printDetails output proving it. Message I just got was "i think you First impressions are firmly entrenched in this issue .
if you are willing to have a test it , you will find that the item you purchase from me even without the " + " can still in the same use . "

Idiot won't even acknowledge the chips do different things, even though I've told them the data rate difference and even linked the spec sheets from Nordic.

[hek]

@sonicblaze said:

Guessing eBay themselves or PayPal will have to get involved.

http://resolutioncenter.ebay.com/

[olaeke]

I have modified the excelent "ping/pong test" program from maniacbug so it compiles with the RF24 lib. that comes with MySensors 1.4

With this program it is very easy to test your radio if it works or maybe if it works bad (many timeouts) and you also get this info printed if it is a + or non + chip.

• Download attached zip
• Build ino file
• Uppload on two nodes
• Connect serial monitor (115200 baud)
• Press T in serial monitor and then you should se "
  Now sending 29788...ok...Got response 29788, round-trip delay: 23"

For the printout of chip details you need to comment out #define MINIMAL in RF24_config.h. I also recommend comment SERIAL_DEBUG so you get less debuginfo on serial.
MySensorsPingPongTst.zip

[boozz]

@olaeke:

Great remark: "comment out #define MINIMAL". I have searched for that quite some time.

THANKS!

Boozz

[sonicblaze]

FYI Alice's breaking point seems to be leaving negative feedback on their seller account. As soon as I did that, their messages immediately turned to "I'll do whatever, please change your feedback. Is a refund ok?"

[olaeke]

@boozz and @sonicblaze
Did any one of you get the non + variant to work?
It does work with the PingPong test program (posted above) but as Gateway and/or Sensor I can't get them to work.

[boozz]

@olaeke

Yes I got the non-plus versions to work at 1MBPS but the distance is much better with the +- version.
Writing this I realize that I had a problem with the serial gateway. Somehow it needed a plus-version for this specific sketch to get the network running. Max distance in house approx. 6 meters (through walls, no line of Sight.

Regards,

Boozz

[olaeke]

I can confirm that you can get non + variant to work on nodes but on the gateway you must have a + variant.

But it is not worth the effort, if you have got non + variant from the China, throw them away and by new one (and cross your fingers that you get correct next time)

[sonicblaze]

I finally got some + versions from AliExpress. Plugged them in, and everything came to life immediately. Amazing what happens when you receive the right parts.

[Squint]

@olaeke Can you explain why the controller needs to be "+" ?

If we follow the speed change from the post above, does it also effect the Controller speed?

I've just managed to get a sensor going ( non+, via the hack here at 1MB ).. ( My Chip actually shows a +, but printDetails(); shows no +
My Controller/Gateway also is supposed to be "+", however printDetails(); shows its not + either..

Is there a chance, I have it setup wrong and it defaults to non+ in the printDetails() output?
The Controller doest startup and say "Started!"..

[hek]

You don't have to have the + variant.

To get the none+ variant started I guess you have to remove the sanity check ("check wires") in MySensor.cpp (besides changing the transfer speed to 1Mbit in MyConfig.h).

[olaeke]

@Squint I have problem with Ack and I have assumed that it has to do with the non + . I have a + variant on my gateway but non puls on my sensor node.

[Squint]

@olaeke I believe this is how I have mine setup as well.. Oddly enough both modules have the "+" printed on the chip but I cannot get the sensor code to initialize unless i take out the PVariant check. printDetails shows the following:

Gateway:
Data Rate = 2MBPS
Model = nRF24L01+

Sensor:
STATUS = 0x00 RX_DR=0 TX_DS=0 MAX_RT=0 RX_P_NO=0 TX_FULL=0
RX_ADDR_P0-1 x00 = 0x0000000000 0x0000000000
RX_ADDR_P2-5 x00 = 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
TX_ADDR = 0x0000000000
RX_PW_P0-6 x00 = 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
EN_AA = 0x00
EN_RXADDR x00 = 0x00
RF_CH = 0x00
RF_SETUP x00 = 0x00
CONFIG = 0x00
DYNPD/FEATURE x00 = 0x00 0x00
Data Rate = 1MBPS
Model = nRF24L01
CRC Length = Disabled
PA Power = PA_MIN

The odd part is, on the sensor - all of the values in printDetails(); are 0's.. So I suspect I have something wired incorrectly?
I've double & tripple checked the wiring..

Thanks.

[olaeke]

@Squint That seem even more tricky that the have printed + on the chip and then it still is non plus.

I really don't remember now if I run the getstatus() on the sensor node or it was only on the gateway, but it sound strange that you get zeros on all information. The only thing I can think of is either is the radio broken or is there som more #define in the code you have to comment out the get the status info to print correctly.

I will also remember that I had to fix some more issue in the code to get the non plus to work, I think a made a hack in the process method in the MySensor class, and still the acknowledge didn't work. But I'm not totally shure, I have had a lot of problem with my sensors and my Vera Edge.

Yesterday I received my new radios (yes + variant) and my Ethernet shield. I have now replaced my radios, replaced the serial gateway with Ethernet (the serial port is not working on Vera Egde, good work Mi Casa Verde!) replaced all my hacked library code with fresh from MySensors.org and...

NOW IT WORKS!

I will take the old non plus radio and burn them in the garden tomorrow!

FYI as sonicblaze wrote is Alice breaking point to give them bad feedback then they contact you within a week and offer you refund,.

[Squint]

@olaeke It turns out mine were actually + models. I had the sensors wired incorrectly because I had SOFTSPI enabled.. Once I realized the correct pinout ( After about 3 days of trial/error/code-digging ) its now reporting the + as it should and the radios are working as intended.

Thanks!

[MLs]

This post is deleted!

[MLs]

@olaeke

I can not get it to work.

The pins I use on nRF24L01 + / nRF24L01

Arduino NRF24L01 Radio Ethernet module
GND GND
3.3V VCC
13 SCK
12 MISO
11 MOSI
6 CSN
5 CE

And what I get is this

STATUS = 0x00 RX_DR=0 TX_DS=0 MAX_RT=0 RX_P_NO=0 TX_FULL=0
RX_ADDR_P0-1 = 0x0000000000 0x0000000000
RX_ADDR_P2-5 = 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
TX_ADDR = 0x0000000000
RX_PW_P0-6 = 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
EN_AA = 0x00
EN_RXADDR = 0x00
RF_CH = 0x00
RF_SETUP = 0x00
CONFIG = 0x00
DYNPD/FEATURE = 0x00 0x00
Data Rate = 1MBPS
Model = nRF24L01
CRC Length = Disabled
PA Power = PA_MIN

What am I doing wrong?

[axillent]

@MLs what else is connected to arduino?

i had the same result yesterday trying to build ethernet gateway using ENC based shield. I'm faced a conflict between radio and ethernet