For the BME280, if you use the standard library and setup it uses "forced mode" with a 1sec sleep between samples. This uses very low power, a few mico amps.

I found the problem. In an unrelated part of the sketch I was doing an analogue read from an input set up as a digital output. This apeared to generate some sort of error state that fouled up the interface between teh Arduino and the RFM69. After removing the offending statements everything works fine.

Not sure why you need esptool. I use the Arduino development environment with NodeMCU installed as a device and it connects to my ESP8266 just fine.

For the BME280, if you use the standard library and setup it uses "forced mode" with a 1sec sleep between samples. This uses very low power, a few mico amps.

@andre65 did you figure this out? I have the same problem! Thanks.

I use BME280 without regulator and 3Varduino, battery powered. Goes for months. BME uses very little power compared to radio so limiting battery drain is all about limiting the number of updates you send.

I struggled with RPi gateway for ages without success. The easiest solution by far is to run the gateway on arduino and interface it to RPI through a serial gateway. Its not a very elegant solution but works. I did some investigation and came to the conclusion that the problem with RPi gateway is to do with the low level library that communicates with the radio but never found a fix.

I found the problem. In an unrelated part of the sketch I was doing an analogue read from an input set up as a digital output. This apeared to generate some sort of error state that fouled up the interface between teh Arduino and the RFM69. After removing the offending statements everything works fine.

Hi,
That's what I thought. I've checked the datasheets and there appears to be no difference in the digital characteristics that would explain the problem. I will double check everything to makes sure there are no obvious errors.

Hi,
thanks for your response. I've two boards running side by side, one with the HW radio and one with CW. the only difference between the sketches is that MY_IS_RFM69HW is commented out. all the other parameters are at their defaults. The basic setup must be OK because the first few messages get through.

I take your point about logs. I'll set the flags to get RFM69 detailed debug and see if that helps.

I have an Arduino/RFM 69HW gateway which talks fine to a sensor node that also uses an RFM69HW. Another node which has anRFM69CW radio gets through the find parent and presentation stages OK but the data messages are not acknowledged and whilst the senso thinks its sending the data nothing is received at the gateway. Is there anything peculiar to the RFM69CW that might cause this?