I went to the last link you provided and looked where it makes the connection. I've tried to find the description of signature of the call when it makes the connection and I don't see a definition for the signature being used below. The signature I've used and seen is using the first two parameters, but what are the 3rd and 4th parameters?

(void)WiFi.begin(MY_WIFI_SSID, MY_WIFI_PASSWORD, 0, MY_WIFI_BSSID);

@mfalkvidd Thank you

@TRS-80 My point was you didn't add anything constructive to thread. You could have said hey you might have a radio propagation issue and here's how you could troubleshoot it. That's a helpful comment. What's not helpful is sitting on the sidelines until the problem was solved and then making a comment like: You didn't solve it you just got lucky. I did pinpoint the problem to be the gateway hardware. Could I have spent hours to figure out exactly what it was in the ESP32 that was failing? Possibly, but I have parts on hand, they are cheap, and I just swapped it out and it eliminated the issue. So my approach wasn't lucky it was measured and methodical. I tried the suggestions given in the thread then I replaced one radio and tested with a known working radio. I did the same with the other radio and so on. No coincidence there that I was able to isolate where the issue was. And your comment was not based on any evidence it was just a feeling you had and you offered no solutions.

I'm not trying to cause an issue here and I'm trying to be as polite as possible to what I felt was a very 'troll like' comment. Be helpful and supportive in your replies. I came asking for help and everyone else on the thread gave some things to try and added value to the conversation. Be the same way as I'm sure you have value to add.

Is the NodeMCU an ESP8266 or an ESP32? I've had trouble with the ESP32 and getting the communication to work but have no idea why. I did what you did and swapped out the NRF24's and it didn't help. Then I swapped out the microcontrollers and that's when I swapped the ESP32 (gateway in my case) with an ESP8266 and everything worked fine.

Sometimes what I'll do to troubleshoot is replace the gateway with an UNO just to eliminate issues and go with a known working piece of hardware. Sounds like you may have done some of that already. You could try moving them a little farther apart and see if that works.

What does the message, GWT:TIN:CONNECTING..., mean? Connecting to what? Sometimes mine will just repeat over and over and I have to reset it one or more times until it connects to whatever it is it's connecting to. Assuming it's my wifi it's trying to connect to? My gateway is a Node MCU ESP8266.

@TRS-80 I have no idea what you're talking about. I changed out pieces one at a time until I found the problem. That's not called luck that's called troubleshooting. Please provide constructive comments not sarcastic non-sense.

I think I found the problem. I've been using an ESP32 for the gateway and hadn't had problems. For whatever reason I added this new node and I had the problems as described. I decided to try swapping the ESP32 out with an ESP8266 and things started working. I guess I'll stay with ESP8266 on the gateway.

@zboblamont Moved things around and that didn't work. I soldered up a new newbie pcb thinking maybe it was my solder job and tried that and I get the same result. I've swapped nrf24 radios out and still the same result.

@mfalkvidd It's powered from an outlet and it reads 3.3v when I put my meter on it, I don't believe this is the problem.

@zboblamont Thank you. I will try and report back.

@mfalkvidd It is. That's not a gw it's a sensor node. My problem isn't with the gw it's with the node. The gw receives the find parent message and responds. The node fails and says there is no response (see my original post)

@mfalkvidd Radio is getting 3.3v volts powered from a usb plug in. The capacitor on the radio is a 4.7uf. Here is a picture if this helps.!

@mfalkvidd no just the sensor

@mfalkvidd nrf24, 4.7uf, and it's powered at 3.3v, I put a meter on it. I'm using the MySensors board by sunberg.

I'll take a look at the guide, thanks.

I have a node that's sending a find parent request to the gw. The gw receives it and sends back a reply. The node never receives the reply and says parent not found. Any suggestions or help on how to fix/troubleshoot would be appreciated.

Node log:

18098 TSM:FAIL:RE-INIT
18100 TSM:INIT
18106 TSM:INIT:TSP OK
18108 TSM:INIT:STATID=1
18111 TSF:SID:OK,ID=1
18113 TSM:FPAR
18117 ?TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
20124 !TSM:FPAR:NO REPLY
20126 TSM:FPAR
20130 ?TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
22138 !TSM:FPAR:NO REPLY
22140 TSM:FPAR
22145 ?TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
24153 !TSM:FPAR:NO REPLY
24155 TSM:FPAR
24159 ?TSF:MSG:SEND,1-1-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
26166 !TSM:FPAR:FAIL
26167 TSM:FAIL:CNT=2

gw log:

8974 TSF:MSG:READ,1-1-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0:
8981 TSF:MSG:BC
8984 TSF:MSG:FPAR REQ,ID=1
8989 TSF:CKU:OK,FCTRL
8993 TSF:MSG:GWL OK
12351 !TSF:MSG:SEND,0-0-1-1,s=255,c=3,t=8,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,ft=0,st=NACK:0
13023 TSF:MSG:READ,1-1-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0:

@Psilin sounds good to me.

@pptacek Great, thank you.

I think all the replies highlight the challenges / difficulties with what happens. You read the thread and there are at least 3 or 4 different thoughts on each element (GW HW configuration, PCB recommendations, node recommendations, controllers, mqtt vs not, etc.) If you're coming to this for the first time you just see a bunch of what people have done and so you have to blindly pick a direction. Which then can lead you down a rabbit hole.

All of that discussion is great and this is what should happen in a forum is to share experiences. The problem, again, is that there is no baseline to start from that gives you the initial nearly guaranteed path to success when you're starting out. It that existed then you could tweak and adjust, try more advanced configurations, and experiment from a working baseline. Right now when you ask a question like what GW hardware should I use, you get multiple answers back and there is no consensus or "standard" to refer to. This thread has gotten way OT IMO because it's evolved into "here's what worked for me."

For me personally if I had the working baseline then I could add features on as I had the need or wanted to experiment. The challenge is you are experimenting from the start and then you get frustrated because you run into barriers all the time. There is no baseline and there are so many variants that it's a little chaotic. My suggestion is to come up with the baseline (hardware for GW, type of transport, ONE suggested controller) The KISS approach (Keep It Simple, Stupid) , publish it, and then clearly document other avenues as variants or advanced config. That at to me doesn't seem all that big of an update. The information is there as far as building and config just organize it and be more clear on the best path to success.

Again, MySensors is a great platform. I want to use it and promote it, just need to have that clear pathway.

@scalz not sure how to take the comment. I've posted and contributed (even developing a library) so it's not like I haven't participated. I bought parts from the links and still had issues with radios. Whether help was asked for or not that doesn't make the constructive feedback invalid. Feedback is a gift and in this case it should be taken that way. These are suggestions to make MySenors accessible to more people.

Yeah there is a good chance I would buy it. When I started my journey into home iot devices I was buying $45 light switches so if it was a good product I would.
I've looked at the MySensors gw but several of the comments mentioned issues so l steered clear. It's not the cost. What's being suggested here is not a huge criticism it's just asking to have a clear path to a high probability of success. Which is mainly cleaning up the documentation. If I had a solid working setup I'd help do it but I don't. I love the platform and the idea is really great, it's just too scattered and needs to be more focused. Don't try to be all things to all people.

@pptacek said in Started with MySensors and about to give up (some feedback):

jModule2

Do you have details on these sticks? What is jmodule2?