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    Best posts made by NeverDie

    • RFM69HW temp-humidity node

      Not sure if others would have interest in this, but I'm designing a PCB for an easy-to-solder TH node. As presently conceived, it would have 3 surface mount components (an LED on the front and a resistor and capacitor on the back), plus a DIP atmega328p, a header to accept an inexpensive si7021 TH breakout board, an FTDI header, and an RFM69HW. The idea is that it would run at 8Mhz and be powered by two AA batteries, so it's sized to be compact but still easy to solder. The same thing could be achieved with wires and some of the other boards out there, but this might be a little tidier if a TH mote is what you want as either the starting point or the end-point.

      0_1474419735865_th_node.png
      PCB dimensions are 0.65x2.55 inches. i.e. it is narrower than a typical AA battery holder, but roughly the same length.

      The LED and resistor are optional, and you could forego the capacitor as well if you wanted a truly bare bones TH solution. However, the pads are there if you wanted to utilize them. Also, you could skip the si7021 BoB if you wanted just a generic mote.

      I had hoped that someone would make an easy to solder board like this for the RFM69HW, but I got tired of waiting and finally decided to just make my own.

      posted in My Project
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: Everything nRF52840

      I found a good place to do range testing.... too bad I didn't bring the gear!0_1574455725203_20191122_134558.jpg

      posted in Hardware
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: Where did everyone go?

      @OldSurferDude If I have a question about something I generally post the question. Sometimes someone will answer it, and all is good. But on those occasions where no one answers it to my satisfaction, and I later do figure it out myself, then I return and post the answer to my own question. I think if everyone followed this protocol, it would help. What I see across forums (not just mysensors, but just about all forums everywhere) is people who post questions with a "Thanks in Advance" attitude, but who never bother to close the loop if they do find the answer. Or they never confirm whether or not someone's suggestion worked or didn't work. The result is that when searching for an answer, one has to search through a lot of posts which don't contain any useful answers. So, I would encourage everyone to return and post answers to their own questions, if no one else already has, because in all likelihood someone else will have the same question in the future. I think that one small change might make a huge difference.

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: Powering mote 24/7 using only a supercap and solar

      Good news! Last night I did some accelerated load testing on the supercap. First I charged it to 3.6v and then I hooked up an RFM69HW mote which woke up once a second to do 3 things: 1. check the voltage level, 2. turn on an LED for 1ms to simulate a sensor load, and 3. transmit a packet containing the voltage data using the RFM69HW.. Bottom line: 14,111 packets transmitted before running out of juice.

      Not bad for a first attempt. 🙂

      posted in My Project
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      Yesterday received the PCB. Today assembled for testing this battery-powered nRF52-based passive infrared motion detector:
      0_1511459187973_PIR_02.jpg

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      Made this 12 button keypad. Requires only one analog pin to read which button is pressed, and any button press can also wake an arduino from sleep:
      0_1517277256612_12keypad.jpg
      Consumes no power when no button is pressed.

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • Where did everyone go?

      For sure, the store shelves are pretty much overflowing with smart home products and IoT these days, much more than in the past. Is it just diffusion of attention, or do people just buy what they need now in complete systems or something? Or buy stuff that has phone apps instead of a hub? Or has Home Assistant taken over? Or Amazon Alexa? Not much in the way of new postings compared to the past. If anything, I thought there'd be more activity due to more and more IoT interest generally. If anything, it seems like Mysensors has a more robust and complete system now than in years past, and it's broad enough to include just about everything. What gives? Have off the shelf prices dropped so far that the economics no longer favor rolling-your-own or something? i.e. buy rather than build? Where's the new frontier? Is it now AI and system level stuff? I'm really curious. I mean, not all that long ago Google bought a thermostat company (Nest) for over a billion dollars. There's clearly been a sea change, and I'm just wondering what changed.

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: Battery: pro mini @ 1mhz vs booster

      A pair of lithium AA primaries is hard to beat because:

      1. Unlike alkaline's, they don't leak.
      2. Have a look at the discharge curve: https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/l91.pdf By the time they drop to 2.4v, if not before, you'll want to replace them.
      3. Obviously much longer life, both shelf life (20 years!) and energy capacity.

      I think running 8Mhz from the internal RC is a no-brainer: wake up time is less than 4us. So, if your node wakes up often, you'll save a ton of energy over time.

      The best time to take your battery measurement is immediately after a Tx. That will give you the most conservative reading. Save that measurement in a variable and then send it in your next transmission. Switch on your ADC just before Tx and take your first ADC measurement during Tx, because you have to throw out the first measurement anyway. That way you can take a fresh (and valid) ADC measurement just after Tx before the voltage rebounds.

      Hope that helps!

      posted in Development
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: Powering mote 24/7 using only a supercap and solar

      Here's the version that I most recently assembled:
      0_1486148795626_v021.jpg
      As you can see, the 15F supercap is now on the board itself. It works fine.

      I've since made a few refinements and have sent the new files off to be fabbed. The newest version of the PCB will measure roughly 22mm x 22mm.

      posted in My Project
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      Put together this pro mini nRF24 shield for testing...
      alt text
      alt text

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • A power "platform" for Arduino Pro Mini's?

      I have a number of sensor projects that sit within the nice footprint of a Pro Mini. Now I want to find a kind of universal power platform--hopefully small--to power them. So far, what I came up with was this, which runs the Pro Mini from 2xAAA batteries, and where the Pro Mini (and whatever the project built on it) simply "plugs in" to it:
      0_1521561923282_platform1.jpg
      0_1521561956340_platform_bottom.jpg
      0_1521561987813_platform_example.jpg

      Is there anything better? Ideas? Comments?

      posted in Hardware
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: nRF5 action!

      It worked! After doing the above mass erase, the nRF52832 Ebyte Module successfully programmed from the NRF52 DK. I uploaded the mysensors lightsensor sketch, and the serialGateway running on the NRF52 DK is receiving its messages. 🙂

      Many thanks to mfalkvidd for his mass erase suggestion and for his link to the Roger Clark youtube video, which had further mass erase commentary.

      Also, many thanks to d00616 for his excellent guide:
      https://www.openhardware.io/view/376/MySensors-NRF5-Platform
      Without that, I would have been lost on how to set anything up.

      Thanks to everyone else too who made comments and suggestions. This has been a great group effort with a successful outcome. 🙂 🙂 🙂

      posted in My Project
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: Recommendation for PCB fab?

      FWIW, I received this micro-USB test board from PCBway today:
      0_1511409150412_slotted.jpg
      As you can plainly see, it appears they had no difficulty fabricating the plated slots. In fact, they didn't even flag it as a possible issue.

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • Everything nRF52840

      This thread is intended to be a collecting point for all information related to nRF52840.

      It turns out the nRF52840 dongle is very easy to solder with pin headers, and the format is breadboard friendly as well:
      0_1536863999498_nrf52840_dongle.jpg

      posted in Hardware
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: Say hello to Wakame Computer

      @madscientist Not to throw cold water on the idea, but why is it needed? Aren't there already enough SBC's around, like the Pi for instance? There's a lot to choose from that are already finished. What makes this stand out from all the rest?

      posted in My Project
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      My wine rack is at the store. 😉

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: Favorite hand solderable radio chip?

      I read somewhere that China calls the SI24R1 their "domestic" radio. It's a clone of the nRF24L01, but I like it better because it has a Tx power of 7db rather than the anemic 0db of the nRF24L01. Costs about 50 cents per chip, which makes it a reasonable compromise over opting for something cheaper but less compatible. If you haven't seen it, Ebyte has a parallel line-up that uses it (it's nice that they're careful to separate it out onto different modules from the real mccoy):
      si24r1.png
      (source: https://www.ebyte.com/en/product-view-news.aspx?id=1304)

      Worthy of note is that the range with the SMA-K connector is so much better, assuming their chart is accurate. I mean 2500m as compared to 800m for the same 20db Tx?

      Also pretty cool now is that ebyte shows the current traces for tx, rx, and sleep on their modules, so it's easier to directly compare the SI24R1 clone modules to the real thing:
      ebyteCurrents.png

      posted in Hardware
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      For this project box that I'm making (actually printing it as I type this), I found an easy way to add ventilation: use a hex infill and turn off the upper and bottom layers.
      0_1533393882820_ventilated_project_box.png
      As you can see, it can still have standoffs for screwing down a PCB and for securing a lid.

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      Here's the finished unit:
      alt text
      What it does is completely eliminate the audible PWM noise from the fan on the Prusa I3 MK3. Now it can run practically silent. 🙂

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: RFM69HW temp-humidity node

      This photo illustrates one of the original objectives, which was to have a node that's appropriately sized to be powered by two AA cells:
      0_1476161676927_sized_right.jpg
      I think either one meets that goal.

      posted in My Project
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: How best to find the "best" small solar panel of a particular size?

      @mfalkvidd said in How best to find the "best" small solar panel of a particular size?:

      @NeverDie thanks. How do you handle lead times för pcb manifacturing? Or is it possible to buy prototype pcb cards? I'm worried project lead times will 10x if I need to wait for pcb milling for each iteration.

      I'm not sure how others handle it, but what I do is solder each individual SMD part onto pre-made breakout board for SMD parts. Here's an example of one I use frequently: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100pcs-SOT23-SOP10-MSOP10-Umax-SOP23-to-DIP10-Pinboard-SMD-To-DIP-Adapter-Plate-0-5mm/32769473900.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.exgj0t
      Then I attach header pins to it and complementary header pins onto a general purpose protoboard, such as: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10pcs-3X7cm-3-7cm-Double-Side-Prototype-pcb-Breadboard-Universal-for-Arduino-1-6mm2-54mm-Practice/32655345057.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.exgj0t
      Then I literally plug the SMD part into the protoboard. I then solder wired connections among the various parts. Sometimes I'll use breadboards, but I prefer this method because the wiring on breadboards can get rather loose, which becomes a headache, whereas doing soldered wire connections on protoboard, the connections are great quality and "made" forever until you decide to change them. I do it this way first rather than going straight to PCB because of the long PCB fab time (on average around 2 weeks for me from OSH PARK). Once I verify the design is correct using the protoboard, then I'll translate it to PCB as the final step. Also, while I'm waiting for the PCB to arrive, I have a solid working prototype, so I can continue working on whatever is next and the turnaround time for PCB fabrication isn't quite so painful.

      Does that answer your question?

      posted in Hardware
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      Great idea! I just posted this on a different thread (https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/6961/nrf5-bluetooth-action/1196), but for the sake of helping to kickstart your thread, I'll repost it here:
      0_1508440876445_RFaxis3.jpg
      It's a fancy PA_LNA nRF52832 module that supports antenna diversity. I'm told that only 100 of them were ever made. I bought it from Aliexpress, and, of course, it came with no instructions. Anyhow, with some help from @Jokgi, I just now got the PA working on it, and the photo captures the moment. It affords a nice improvement in range/coverage.

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • nRF5 action!

      [Edit: skip forward toward the end of this thread for the bluetooth action. The thread started on a different topic. ]

      Objective: Start with the design of the Sparkfun SAMD21 mini board (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13664) , which is a TQFP48, and see if I can port it to the SAMD21 TQFP32. Why? Pitch on the TQFP48 is 0.5mm, whereas on the TQFP32 it's 0.8. So, I'm theorizing that the TQFP32 will be easier to solder.

      Motivation: If I can get this working, then I hope to use it as a basic building block for making wireless nodes.

      Approach for first attempt: I started with the Sparkfun schematic (https://cdn.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Dev/Arduino/Boards/sparkfun-samd21-mini-breakout-v10.pdf and tried maintaining the same pin mapping using the TQFP32. The result was:0_1496686682351_Schematic_for_SAMD21_TQFP32_Pro_Mini _v001.pdf

      From this it becomes evident that the TQPF32 version is lacking four pins that the TQFP48 version has, namely, pins: PA20, PA21, PB08, and PB09. However, the TQFP32 version has seven pins that aren't presently being used, namely: PA05, PA22, PA23, PA24, PA25, PA27, and PA28.

      So, I'm thinking I will simply use four of the seven pins to cover for the 4 pins which the TQFP32 lacks that the TQFP48 has.

      Questions:

      1. Does it matter which of the six pins I use for this purpose?
      2. What is the value for the inductor shown in the sparkfun schematic? It shows "30 ohms," but shouldn't the unit of measure be in Henries?
      posted in My Project
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • A MySensors Wristwatch?

      Anyone yet integrated a wristwatch with MySensors? A while back I read on the forum about how some of the nRF51 "smart watches" could be hacked....

      Perhaps less elegant, and much more steampunk, I ran across this:
      alt text
      Somehow I don't think you'd want to try boarding a passenger airplane wearing it though. 😆

      posted in Hardware
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      Made a small tool to simplify the extraction of serial debug data from a 10-pin IDC connector and reading it from a typical 6-pin FTDI module.
      0_1508982577055_serial1.jpg
      0_1508982589145_serial2.jpg
      The 10-pin IDC connector is what's most commonly used for programming nRF5x modules.

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: nRF5 action!

      On the 10F supercap, the infor-link module was losing about 0.025v per hour, and that included it reporting its voltage every 5 minutes. So, I've hooked it up to a mini solar panel now so that the supercap will charge during daytime, and with that it should run in perpetuity. 🙂

      posted in My Project
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: Everything nRF52840

      @heinzv Thanks for pointing that out. It sounds like lpercifield encountered the exact same problems as me, except two years earlier. But, then he hasn't touched his code in the 2 years afterward. Nordic's SDK has changed since then. I'm just not sure.

      I guess it's a question of whether these one person, piecemeal attempts are enough, or whether joining with a toolchain that has a lot more oomph behind it is preferable. I suspect the total amount of work involved is just too much for one person, in their spare time, to accomplish more than partial coverage. Again, not sure, but I can see what @scalz means.

      I don't think Nordic has any interest in Arduino IDE support per se. If anything, it probably means a costly support burden to them without revenues to support it. Instead, Nordic is clearly targeting big commercial buyers , like phone manufacturers or the like, who will buy millions of chips just to have the latest features/capabilities. So, with nothing to pay for it on the Arduino front, except maybe a tiny bit by Adafruit or Sparkfun, it's necessarily just a bunch of individual, ad hoc efforts, or so it seems to me. Those individuals will solve whatever matters to them personally, but leaving spotty coverage on everything else. It' is admittedly better than nothing. Maybe for what I'm doing it's good enough. More than a little frustrating though.

      posted in Hardware
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      Here is my Wemos "Serial" wireless gateway that I just today put together and installed. Connects to Domoticz as an ethernet gateay over wi-fi. Uses a static IP address that I configured on the wi-fi router. By the way, it's powered (and physically supported) by an Ikea USB charger, as seen in the photo. 🙂
      0_1510588567991_Wemos_gateway.jpg

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: nRF5 action!

      OK, I found that adding:

        NRF_UART0->ENABLE=0;  //disable UART0
      

      brings the current consumption back down to 2.2ua during sleep. 🙂

      posted in My Project
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: Everything nRF52840

      Guys, let's move on from this tempest in a teapot. The way I see it: at this point in history what we individually want or don't want won't make any difference to the ultimate outcome in the big picture, because there are now much larger forces at work. Our best bet is to help each other identify the best trend to ride. If that's mysensors, then great, but if not, let's try to figure out just exactly what else might reasonably win so that we can avoid dead-ends and hopefully ride the trends with the wind at our backs. 🙂

      To my mind, the following have traction (in no particular order)

      1. LoRa (because it's simple and it just plain works)
      2. Bluetooth 5 Long Range (because smart phones, eventually, will make it so) with an integrated ARM MCU. That said, bluetooth per se has always seemed cumbersome to me, and I never really liked it. I'd probably be happier using a barebones version of it.
      3. MQTT

      Maybe Thread will happen or maybe it won't. I'm not sure what will catalyze it, so I'd have to see meaningful uptake before I bet on Thread.

      posted in Hardware
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      I received the next version of the leak detector PCB today. Putting it together, it checks out: thanks to a change in layout, it has the same board size as before, but now no clearance issues. i.e. No need for Kapton tape!
      0_1513028902071_leak_v6.jpg
      If I had had my own PCB CNC etcher, it would have saved me the time I lost waiting for the earlier version from the fab, only to find out that the clearances were too tight and that I would have to re-do it. Looking forward to not having such delays ever again.

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: nRF5 action!

      Here's one for the blooper reel:
      0_1512843096871_blooper.jpg
      I blithely put the photoresistor in one of the vacant leak detection slots. Of course, in retrospect, it's an obvious mistake: too close to the LED. So, when the LED lights, the photoresistor thinks it's suddenly bright out. 😆

      posted in My Project
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: Everything nRF52840

      I have basic radio code now working in micropython: https://github.com/rabbithat/micropython_nRF52840/blob/master/README.md

      So, I'm inching closer toward being able to do OTA code updates. 😃

      posted in Hardware
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: CNC PCB milling

      Sorry for all the noob questions, but maybe others can learn from this as well.

      How do I know when a bit has become worn-out enough that it should be replaced with a newer, sharper bit? Does the software provide any feedback (e.g. maybe the motors are drawing more current than expected due to dullness)?

      Or do you just wait for a bit to completely fail (i.e. snap or shatter), then insert a new one, and then re-run the job from the beginning when that bit was first used?

      Also, do you have a particular test board you like to use to check out the system and see if it's running up to snuff? i.e. something that would challenge the system to surface problems in advance of trying it on a a more serious board.

      And is feedrate arrived at purely by trial and error, or are there good magic numbers to use for that? Since we're running the same system, maybe I could use your magic numbers (i.e. the hardware-specific constants which must be entered into the software)? If so, what are they?

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: LoRa Nodes

      With the ATmega328p and LoRa radio sleeping, but the LDO and AM612 still working to find motion, I measure the current drain at 19.7uA. That's a little higher than I was expecting, but not by a huge amount, as the AM612 by itself consumes 14-16uA. So, adding about 1uA for the LoRa radio and about 1uA quiescent for the LDO and about 150nA for the ATmega328p, that gets us to around 18uA as the theoretical expectation for current drain. I suspect the 10K pull-up resistor on the DTR may add to the drain as well.

      In any case, if I were to use 3x Energizer Lithium AA batteries, which have 3500mah of capacity, that would give me around 20 years of sleep current, which is good enough for me. 🙂

      posted in My Project
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: Everything nRF52840

      I have my first pass on nRF52840 OTA updates working with micropython. So, proof of concept works. 😄 I feel I should improve the code a bit before posting it though. I should probably add a hash function like MD5 or SHA256 to make sure the transmitted update is valid before making it go live.

      posted in Hardware
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: CNC PCB milling

      @andrew said in CNC PCB milling:

      @neverdie unfortunately, as I mentioned, I don't have ER11 (yet), and I just read articles and vendor suggestions on the installation method, so I cannot provide experience based suggestions to that. as far as I remember nor concrete temperature was mentioned, so I would say you should not "overheat" it.

      I slipped it on, no problem at all. After freezing the motor overnight, what I did was heat the ER11 with my wife's crafting hot air gun. I held it with an insulated glove as I warmed it up. When it started to become uncomfortable to hold with even the insulated glove, I slipped it on without any resistance.

      Hopefully this info will help you when you receive yours.

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: nRF5 action!

      Even better news! The range is quite good. Not as awesome as my LoRa modules, but at 1mbps (I haven't yet tried 2mbps) and 8db Tx power, it easily beats the range of the nRF52832 for a comparable setup. So, to be fair, the LoRa's can use quite a bit more Tx power, and the LoRa datarate is far slower, so the nRF52840's seem likely to be quite a bit more energy efficient than LoRa for a home environment.

      There is a 250Kbps speed available if using the 802.11.15 mode (which I haven't yet explored), and it should have even better range than the regular Nordic proprietary modes (of which there are only two: 1mbps, and 2mbps). IIRC, 802.11.15 can automatically handle retransmits and the like, and it's a proven standard. It likely handles a lot of the drudgery.

      Then there's Thread, which is new to me but which it also supports and which is intended for home automation.

      It has built in hardware acceleration for SHA256, which is pretty cool. CRC is handled by hardware too. Also, lots of crypto stuff for those who are into that.

      So, although these are just early results, so far I'm liking it. 🙂 🙂 In contrast, I was rather disappointed in the range of the nRF52832's (even though they were better than the range of an unamplified nRF24L01).

      posted in My Project
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: Everything nRF52840

      By the way, I now have the micropython code in a state where it is more easily demoed: https://github.com/rabbithat/NRF52840_MicroPython_OTA_Updates

      Rather than continuing to post here about it, I'll just make future updates there. So, if anyone here is interested in it, you may want to check the github repository from time to time. 🖖

      posted in Hardware
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: CNC PCB milling

      I seem to be finished with the mechanical assembly:
      0_1513629200578_mechanicals_done.jpg
      However, these washers came with the kit, and I'm not sure what they're for:
      0_1513629228821_washers.jpg
      Anyone know? Are they for mounting the woodpecker board to the frame?

      Next I need to do the firmware upgrade and then wire things up.

      posted in General Discussion
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: nRF5 action!

      After running through a gauntlet, I managed to get micropython running on the nRF52832-DK! I posted the firmware here: https://forum.micropython.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5343&p=30756#p30756 to spare anyone else from running the same gauntlet. Just copy the firmware.hex file directly to the nRF52832-DK drive on your PC, and it will upload automatically to the DK and start running micropython. )

      posted in My Project
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: Everything nRF52840

      Andreas Spiess recently gave his review on on the two new Arduino "nano" 33 BLE offerings (which use the nRF2840):
      #298 Four new Arduino Nano Boards: Test and Comparison (Every, 33 IoT, 33 BLE, 33 BLE Sense) – 22:15
      — Andreas Spiess

      He seems cautiously optimistic about the BLE 33s. From his perspective, now that the hardware is being sold, the onus is on Arduino to make the Arduino hardware libraries run on it in a transparent way, just like all the other Arduino's that we're all familiar with. Hopefully that does happen. In the meantime, and even if it doesn't, there are the mBed libraries.

      The only reasons he gives for preferring the ESP32 over the Arduino BLE 33's are the ESP32's faster speed, larger memory, and the ability to do OTA firmware updates. As for where the nRF52840 scores big over the ESP32, the things he mentioned were that it consumes much less power and it can be a USB host.

      I'm hoping that BLE 33 OTA firmware updates will be solved by somebody soon and made available as part of the Arduino IDE, just as it eventually was for the ESP8266. I mean Nordic already has a highly secure FOTA, so it just needs to be exposed in a way that people can easily use it through the Arduino IDE. If that never happens, then I'd wager the lack of it will kill the BLE 33. Likewise, if it does happen, it may very well propel BLE 33's success.

      Interestingly, Andreas points to a $5 nRF52 Ebyte module as a cost equalizer, so he doesn't seem to see cost as a discriminator, especially not in the long term.

      By the way, and unrelated to the above, there is now yet another radio standard vying for IOT adoption. This one, made by Radiocraft: https://www.digikey.com/en/articles/techzone/2019/sep/how-to-quickly-start-low-power-wireless-iot-sensing The energy performance specs sound maybe better than LoRa or SigFox, so who knows? It can do OTA firmware updates by the way. With the marketplace becoming more crowded, FOTA is now an important must-have for being taken seriously. Why do I say that? Any vendor who has a FOTA is devoting at least one entire slide to it in their marketing presentations.

      posted in Hardware
      NeverDie
      NeverDie
    • RE: CNC PCB milling

      So far this new approach seems to be working. Here I probed every 1mm using a blunt bit before switching to a model 10 to do the cutting at depth z=-0.03 (which was the third pass):
      0_1515201867549_model10_depth0p03.jpg
      The first two passes were at z=-0.01 and z=-0.02 respectively.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: Introducing MySensors on nRF24LE1

      @ykhokhlov There are a ton of not just POCs but also fully functioning mysensors nrf51/nrf52 nodes on openhardware.io Just click and have a look for yourself.

      posted in My Project
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    • RE: AC-DC at own

      Regarding the OP, there's an easier way: if every time you throw out some broken, old, or obsolete gizmo or tool you hold on to just its AC-DC power-supply/charger, pretty soon you'll be up to your eyeballs in power-supplies/chargers and have a lot to choose from when you do a project. With a big enough collection, you'll likely find a match for your project straight away. If not, then in all likelihood all you'll need is just a DC-DC converter, which are cheap (as little as $1 or less for some of them), and there's nothing scary about them.

      Problem is safely solved for very little time and money. Even better, the AC-DC converter component is probably UL listed, which a purely homespun design won't be.

      posted in Hardware
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    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      Added a buzzer to my nRF51822 coincell device to make a locator beacon. Attach the device to an object you tend to lose and it will make sounds when you activate it, allowing you to find it.
      0_1515273198336_buzzer_beacon.jpg
      The buzzer is driven by a load switch, so that none of the nRF51822 pins are overloaded:
      0_1515273260885_buzzer_board.jpg

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: Everything nRF52840

      @xmonika I like the nRF52840 SDK. It includes an official j-link and can also be used to burn software to any attached nRF52840 by simply dropping the hex file onto the j-link virtual drive. Of all the options, I find it the easiest, but that's me. Other people use and seem to like the st-link or or black magic probe or dodgy copies of the j-link or clones of black magic probe. Different people seem to like/prefer different things. I read that Particle now has a programming tool as well for its Xenon device, which is basically their version of the nRF52840, and I think I may have read that it works with non-Particle nRF52840's as well.

      There's also BLIP, which is new and sounds kinda interesting: https://www.crowdsupply.com/electronut-labs/blip

      posted in Hardware
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    • RE: Is ARM the future of MySensors?

      @alowhum said in Is ARM the future of MySensors?:

      What is the platform that most people are switching to?

      I think an integrated MCU+radio, such as the nRF5, will be the inevitable winner for reasons of cost, size, capability, and efficiency. There may be cases, though, where you want to use a LoRa or other radio for superior range. It's not completely clear yet how well the nRF52840 will stack up in that department (since final silicon isn't yet available, and we can only speculate as to its pricing), but I'm guessing it will be capable enough for most home automation.

      That said, the atmega328p is just plain hard to beat as far as ultra low (~100na) sleep current goes, and it has the virtue of relative simplicity, so I think it will be around for quite a while yet.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: 💬 Adjustable Boost Converter with Pass-Through

      If you ask me, chip manufacturers should publish the PCB (gerber files, etc.) for their "typical" application circuit. It would save me from having to re-invent it just so I can take their chip for a test drive. As it stands, you have to buy their costly "evaluation boards"--or else go to the effort of creating your own--to help decide if you might want to possibly use their chip. It should be in their interest to make it as easy as possible for people to test drive their chips. What's the point in getting free sample chips if you have to create a PCB from scratch and wait two weeks for fabrication just to try it out? It makes no sense. Am I missing something?

      posted in OpenHardware.io
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    • RE: Is ARM the future of MySensors?

      @davidzh said in Is ARM the future of MySensors?:

      to pray to your deity of choice for HopeRF to start integrating an MCU with the RFM

      Even doing that doesn't give you all the benefits that tighter integration onto one chip gives you. For instance, on the nRF5:

      1. You don't communicate over SPI. Instead, the radio can share pointers directly to memory using easyDMA. Much faster, which translates also to lower power consumption.
      2. You can manage the radio and do other tasks (albeit in a limited way) while the MCU sleeps using the Programmable peripheral interconnect (PPI). This is maybe something that's hard to appreciate until you've tried it, but I'm sold on it and would sorely miss it if forced to return to a non-integrated MCU and radio, even if they were co-located together on the same module.
      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: 💬 Multi-Sensor: Temp/Humidity/PIR/ Leak/Magnet/Light/Accel

      Here's the latest version of the PIR sensor embodiment:
      0_1514738791273_compactPIR.jpg
      It runs from two CR2032's.

      Very compact! 🙂

      posted in OpenHardware.io
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    • RE: Your best advice on buying components?

      Try to have a lot of different projects going concurrently. That way you're less sensitive to ordering delays.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: 💬 Buck Energy Harvester

      I notice that there are now large parts databases with free downloads for a lot of electronic chips and components. These seem to be a recent development. I notice, for example, that I'm now able to download a free model for the LTC3388 from snapEDA to some of the more popular PCB cad packages without having to build it by hand. Mainly for that reason, I'm switching from Diptrace and now learning Kicad, which itself seems to have changed (well, at least its UI) quite a lot over the last year.

      For anyone else who wants to do the same, there's a 2 hour tutorial on Kicad that's free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVhWh3AsXQs that seems like an easy way to quickly learn Kicad. So far, so good, and I've just now completed importing the snapEDA part definition for the LTC3388.

      posted in OpenHardware.io
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    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      Assembled and tested final version of LoRa Leak Detector:
      0_1517532798060_lora_leak_detector_v15.jpg
      Thanks to an external watchdog (TPL5010), it consumes very little current while sleeping. Also, the external watchdog will reboot the pro mini should it ever become unresponsive, so, in addition, it should be highly reliable.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: 💬 Buck Energy Harvester

      All done! It works. I made some corrections to the silk screen, so everything should now be in order. 🙂

      posted in OpenHardware.io
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    • RE: Fewer home automation postings? What's behind it?

      I think what most people wanted wasn't actually HA but rather remote control. And now they have it, via the myriad of devices that can now be controlled via their smart phone or Alexa.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: 💬 The Harvester: ultimate power supply for the Raybeacon DK

      @Mishka This paper is a breakthrough of sorts: http://blaauw.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/342/2017/11/568.pdf

      Using dynamic leak supression, that university team has proven in real hardware that they're able to power a Cortex M0 using just 240lux with just a teeny-tiny, itty-bitty solar cell ( 0.09mm^2)that they fabricated onto the MCU die itself:
      dls.png

      No battery or supercap! It simply runs whenever there's at least 240lux light. The good news is that the DLS circuitry is just a variation on an ordinary ring oscillator, and it looks as though it would be easy to implement using discrete components.

      I have a first attempt of it working in simulation, using ALD parts, which oscillates however fast or slow as I want it to while consuming an average of about 20pa. That much is like a dream come true. It needs improvement to get a better voltage swing and a lower supply voltage, but it's a promising start.

      posted in OpenHardware.io
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    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      @dbemowsk Nice work!

      Now that I finally own a 3D printer, I can't believe I waited so long to get one. I encourage anyone who doesn't yet have a 3D printer to get one too. Sharing enclosure files in addition to PCB designs is the next level.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: Clean looking sensor node

      @scalz said:

      @NeverDie
      😮 not cool
      I hope your 2477 will work well 😉
      my little xp about coincells showed me that i can't trust ali coincells.. well i tried only few orders, but those wasted my time searching for bugs whereas batt were discharged and didn't check this in first place as i was using fresh ali coincells. I was thinking it couldn't be that! Then i checked their voltage in case...and was surprised!
      Changing for good and strong coincell was day&night.

      if it can help you to not run in dumb issue, for future 🙂

      Urban Dictionary: "get shanghaied"
      www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=get shanghaied
      Top Definition. get shanghaied. verb, ditransitive, passive (with to Be or to Get). to be swindled, cheated, lied to, robbed, stolen from, duped, conned, deceived.

      Not sure what I'll do with the "non-tabbed" batteries. Shipping costs between the US and China are asymmetric, and it would probably cost me more in time and money to ship them back with tracking to the seller than I would get in a refund. Oh well, I guess I'll be buying batteries from Digikey in the future. It will cost twice as much, but at least I'll get the real thing.

      posted in Enclosures / 3D Printing
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    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      @zboblamont Ah, you got bit by my main reason for not liking Domoticz: Domoticz would be so much more useful without that 5 minute minimum between recorded datapoints. It's a wonder they've never fixed that.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: Anyone using/tried the E28-2G4M27S 2.4Ghz LoRa SX1280 27dB module?

      I found an IPEX to SMA adapter, and so I changed the antenna selector to select the soldered on IPEX connector and then borrowed an antenna from an unused wifi base station and connected it to the Ebyte module, like so, just to see if it would work at all.
      antenna_selector.JPG

      Doing this yielded a big improvement in Link Budget. Doing the same type of conversion on the LoRa transmitter module should make a noticeable difference, though I'm doubtful as to whether it will make enough of an improvement that it will perform as well as my AI-Thinker LoRa modules. Nonetheless, I'll attempt another, different, antenna hookup tomorrow when more antenna parts arrive from Amazon, and after testing it, I'll endeavor to reach a final conclusion.

      Chasing down all these loose ends has been tedious, so if anyone finds this blog useful, please leave a thumbs-up to this posting. so that I know I'm not wasting my time writing it all down. At the moment I'm liking my AI-Thinker LoRa modules better: they have much better range and without all this fanfare they seem to "just work" straight out of the box.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: Most reliable "best" radio

      @Larson In this case, it's almost certainly the si24R1 chip, because if you look at the datasheet here: https://datasheet.lcsc.com/lcsc/1811142211_Nanjing-Zhongke-Microelectronics-Si24R1_C14436.pdf and zoom in on the electrical specification, you see that the specified currents are:
      si24R1_datasheet_currents.JPG

      which is a very close match.

      😄

      I've written about this before (here: https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/1664/which-are-the-best-nrf24l01-modules/285 , where it took me a lot of effort to finally figure all this out), but it's so buried at this point that I doubt anyone new to the game is even aware of it. So, I include it here, as bonus perk for anyone who happens to be reading this thread. Nice, ya?

      posted in General Discussion
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    • Using chatgpt to write code for the nrf52840....

      I haven't confirmed whether the offered solution will work or not, but it took only one second to generate, so on that basis alone I'm impressed.

      Anyone here using chatgpt for actual coding of any kind?

      By way of example, I gave this prompt:

      Without using zephyr, write a program for the nrf52840 to send a "Happy Birthday!" text message using the proprietary radio mode.
      

      and chatgpt's response was:

      To send a "Happy Birthday!" text message using the nRF52840 in proprietary radio mode without using the Zephyr RTOS, you can use Nordic Semiconductor's nRF5 SDK. Here's a basic example of how to create a custom radio communication program for the nRF52840. Please note that this code is a simplified example, and in a real-world scenario, you would implement error handling and more robust communication protocols.

      Transmitter (TX) Code:

      #include <stdint.h>
      #include <stdbool.h>
      #include "nrf.h"
      #include "nrf_gpio.h"
      
      #define RADIO_CHANNEL 76  // Choose a custom channel
      
      void radio_init(void) {
          NRF_RADIO->TXPOWER = RADIO_TXPOWER_TXPOWER_0dBm;
          NRF_RADIO->FREQUENCY = RADIO_CHANNEL;
          NRF_RADIO->MODE = RADIO_MODE_MODE_Nrf_2Mbit;
          NRF_RADIO->SHORTS = 0;
          NRF_RADIO->PCNF0 = (1 << RADIO_PCNF0_LFLEN_Pos);
          NRF_RADIO->PCNF1 = (1 << RADIO_PCNF1_WHITEEN_Pos) | (3 << RADIO_PCNF1_BALEN_Pos);
          NRF_RADIO->BASE0 = 0xE7E7E7E7;
          NRF_RADIO->BASE1 = 0x43434343;
          NRF_RADIO->PREFIX0 = 0x55443322;
          NRF_RADIO->TXADDRESS = 0x00;
          NRF_RADIO->RXADDRESSES = 0x01;
      }
      
      void radio_send(const uint8_t *data, uint8_t length) {
          NRF_RADIO->PACKETPTR = (uint32_t)data;
          NRF_RADIO->EVENTS_READY = 0;
          NRF_RADIO->EVENTS_END = 0;
      
          NRF_RADIO->TASKS_TXEN = 1;
          while (NRF_RADIO->EVENTS_READY == 0);
      
          NRF_RADIO->TASKS_START = 1;
      
          while (NRF_RADIO->EVENTS_END == 0);
          NRF_RADIO->EVENTS_END = 0;
      
          NRF_RADIO->TASKS_DISABLE = 1;
          while (NRF_RADIO->EVENTS_DISABLED == 0);
      }
      
      int main(void) {
          nrf_gpio_cfg_output(20); // LED on pin 20
      
          radio_init();
      
          while (1) {
              // Message to send
              uint8_t message[] = "Happy Birthday!";
              uint8_t message_len = sizeof(message) - 1; // Exclude null-terminator
      
              // Send the message
              radio_send(message, message_len);
      
              // Toggle an LED to indicate a transmission
              nrf_gpio_pin_toggle(20);
      
              // Delay between transmissions
              for (int i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) {
                  __NOP();
              }
          }
      }
      

      Receiver (RX) Code:

      #include <stdint.h>
      #include <stdbool.h>
      #include "nrf.h"
      #include "nrf_gpio.h"
      
      #define RADIO_CHANNEL 76  // Should match the transmitter's channel
      
      void radio_init(void) {
          NRF_RADIO->TXPOWER = RADIO_TXPOWER_TXPOWER_0dBm;
          NRF_RADIO->FREQUENCY = RADIO_CHANNEL;
          NRF_RADIO->MODE = RADIO_MODE_MODE_Nrf_2Mbit;
          NRF_RADIO->SHORTS = 0;
          NRF_RADIO->PCNF0 = (1 << RADIO_PCNF0_LFLEN_Pos);
          NRF_RADIO->PCNF1 = (1 << RADIO_PCNF1_WHITEEN_Pos) | (3 << RADIO_PCNF1_BALEN_Pos);
          NRF_RADIO->BASE0 = 0xE7E7E7E7;
          NRF_RADIO->BASE1 = 0x43434343;
          NRF_RADIO->PREFIX0 = 0x55443322;
          NRF_RADIO->TXADDRESS = 0x00;
          NRF_RADIO->RXADDRESSES = 0x01;
      }
      
      void radio_receive(uint8_t *data, uint8_t *length) {
          NRF_RADIO->PACKETPTR = (uint32_t)data;
          NRF_RADIO->EVENTS_READY = 0;
          NRF_RADIO->EVENTS_END = 0;
      
          NRF_RADIO->TASKS_RXEN = 1;
          while (NRF_RADIO->EVENTS_READY == 0);
      
          NRF_RADIO->TASKS_START = 1;
      
          while (NRF_RADIO->EVENTS_END == 0);
          NRF_RADIO->EVENTS_END = 0;
      
          NRF_RADIO->TASKS_DISABLE = 1;
          while (NRF_RADIO->EVENTS_DISABLED == 0);
      
          *length = NRF_RADIO->RXMATCH;
      }
      
      int main(void) {
          nrf_gpio_cfg_output(20); // LED on pin 20
      
          radio_init();
      
          while (1) {
              uint8_t message[16]; // Adjust the buffer size as needed
              uint8_t message_len = 0;
      
              // Receive a message
              radio_receive(message, &message_len);
      
              // Toggle an LED to indicate a reception
              nrf_gpio_pin_toggle(20);
      
              // Process the received message (e.g., print it)
              if (message_len > 0) {
                  message[message_len] = '\0'; // Null-terminate the received data
                  printf("Received: %s\n", message);
              }
          }
      }
      

      This code sets up a transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) using the nRF52840's radio peripheral. The TX repeatedly sends the "Happy Birthday!" message, and the RX receives and prints any incoming messages. Make sure both devices are configured to use the same radio channel and have matching radio settings.

      Remember to adapt this code to your specific hardware setup and application requirements, and consider adding more robust error handling for a production-quality solution.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: Geeetech® Voice Recognition Module

      @ben999 Once you get it working, it would be nice if you could share your impressions about how well it works.

      posted in Development
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    • RE: Powering mote 24/7 using only a supercap and solar

      So, I just ordered this:
      https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3PCS-fala-capacitor-2-7v10f-super-capacitor-high-current-Low-ESR-fast-delivery-2-7V10F-ultra/32715563451.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.qFbHqn
      and this:
      https://www.aliexpress.com/item/CNIKESIN-2PCS-Fala-Capacitor-2-7v10F-Super-Capacitor-High-Current-Low-ESR-Fast-Delivery-2-7V10F/32804681189.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.qFbHqn

      from the same seller that gohan used. It's a risk, but if either of them check out, I may buy more of that brand.

      I'll make a posting after I receive them to say whether they seem to be good or not. 🙂

      posted in My Project
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    • RE: Clean looking sensor node

      @Nca78 said:

      That's why I selected it, best suited for temp sensor.

      Just received the first version of the PCB but it will need some improvements.
      But looks like it will work, not too bad for my first PCB ever 🙂

      Here's a newer evolution of my small TH node that includes a co-planar antenna. So, no long monopole antenna sticking out of the case. 😄
      0_1477927911055_smallTH_case.jpg
      I haven't attached the TH sensor yet because I've run out of them, but I'm pretty sure it will fit. 😉

      posted in Enclosures / 3D Printing
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    • RE: rewards for sharing

      I just now placed my first order with pcb.io. For four boards, it cost me $0.97. The exact same board, ordered from OSH PARK, would net me just three PCB's at a cost of $1.20.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: Battery: pro mini @ 1mhz vs booster

      @kiesel said in Battery: pro mini @ 1mhz vs booster:

      @zboblamont

      How do I know whether a booster introduces noise? I think so far I have been lucky with my three nodes because they work as expected. Or I don't know what to look for...

      If you wanted to play it safe (aka defensive programming), you could use your booster to charge a capacitor that's large enough to provide interim power, turn off the booster prior to doing your radio communications, and then turn the booster on again when you're done with tx/rx. That would effectively remove your booster from the equation as an interference source.

      Also, some boosters have a pass-through, so you can use your regular battery voltage for as long as it's high enough, and then when it no longer is, enable your booster, if that's what you want to do. Here's an example of one:
      https://www.openhardware.io/view/285/33v-Boost-Converter-with-Pass-Through

      For instance, CR2032's can have quite a voltage dip after volunteering some current, so this would be one way to keep wringing a useful voltage out of such a battery after its voltage may have temporarily dropped too low.

      Some of the ARM MCU chips include boost converters that can boost from as little as 0.5v....

      posted in Development
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    • RE: Double Micro (nano) Ampere meter

      Yup. That was my error. I had initially wired it using the sparkfun directions for the initial test. Sparkfun wired the DAT and CLK pins to different arduino pins. When I made the change to AWI's selections, it now works. 🙂

      posted in My Project
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    • RE: Why I quit using MySensors for actuators

      The real question is: why would there be any difference in reliability between a sensor and an actuator? In both cases, it's just a radio link, right? Unless maybe the actuator might do something (voltage spike from a motor maybe?) to put the radio/mcu into some undefined state. In that case, would doing a hard reset on the radio after each actuation keep it in line?

      Or is it more the case that we're more likely to notice an actuator fault than a sensor fault? e.g. If you miss a particular temperature measurement, odds are there will be another one coming along shortly--and you have the measurement you took a few minutes earlier to fall back on. But if you want to roll up the shades, and it doesn't happen when you command it, then that's admittedly more irritating.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: GUIDE - NRF5 / NRF51 / NRF52 for beginners

      Reporting back: Yeah, I just now contacted them. The price they're quoting now is $3.89 per module and they want $35 shipping. They said "Mass production is about 2.5-2.2 USD", which is higher than what their Alibaba listing says for quantity 3 sample pricing, which they now say is 2 years out date and should be ignored. Checking, I see that the quoted pricing is actually slightly worse than the $3.82/unit in their Aliexpress store. What a joke. I mean, given that this is allegedly the manufacturer talking, who can't be bothered to keep their own Alibaba listing updated even though it's allegedly two years out of date.... I guess the pricing indicated on Alibaba means nothing, which certainly explains a lot.

      posted in Development
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    • RE: nRF5 action!

      As final confirmation I did re-program the Ebyte module as an nRF52 DK, then connected its P0.06 to the FTDI RX, and, voilà , it worked as expected. @scalz Thanks for the idea! 🙂

      One small caveat: On the Ebyte module, P0.06 doesn't appear on the silkscreen (there's a typo where it's shown as P0.07 instead, resulting in there being two P0.07's on the silkscreen), so just pick the most obvious pin based on the numerical progression (or else consult the datasheet), and it will work.

      posted in My Project
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    • RE: Fewer home automation postings? What's behind it?

      Dean Roddey also observed a decline, and he had a plausible explanation for it: http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/30720-fewer-home-automation-postings-whats-behind-it/?p=258683

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: nRF5 action!

      @NeverDie said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

      @NeverDie said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

      This is strange: now when I do the timed sleep on the infor-link module, it shows a current drain of about 60ua, whereas yesterday it was around 6ua. Maybe I somehow damaged it by connecting a couple of the input pins (A2 and A4) to Vcc? I wouldn't think so, though, because the datasheet says it should be safe to Vcc + 0.3v.

      I have one unused infor-link module left. I'll try wiring it up, but without the input pins this time, and measure it. I'm wondering now whether the sleep current will measure out to be 60ua, or 6ua.

      The answer is.... neither. This time, with a fresh infor-link module, it measured at about 16ua.

      However, I'm guessing there's quite a lot of noise involved, because this time I noticed I could change the reading just by moving my hand closer or further away from the infor-link module. So, I may have to scope this to see what's going on.

      So, I decided to try running it from a 10F 2.7v supercap and see how long it lasts. It reports its voltage once every 5 minutes. I'm using Domoticz to log the values and graph them.

      posted in My Project
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    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      I changed the form of my integrated nRF52832-protoboard:
      0_1508869380903_newProto_1.jpg
      0_1508869489492_newProto_2.jpg

      Previously, I was using: https://www.openhardware.io/view/472/Ebyte-nRF52832-Prototyping-Board

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: nRF5 action!

      @rmtucker said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

      What you using for pcb design?

      However, if you have the time to invest, you might want to learn KiCAD instead (http://kicad-pcb.org/). It's open source and free.

      My only real concern about Diptrace is that sharing source files is very, very difficult. Eagle is much better for that, it seems. I'm guessing KiCAD is also good with that, but I can't say that I know for sure.

      posted in My Project
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    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      I made an nRF52832 board today with 5 different colored LED's on it: red, green, yellow, orange, and blue. Mostly I think it may be useful while debugging code. All the LED's except for blue emit light all the way down to 1.8v source voltage, so it's good for battery powered operation also. The blue lights up all the way down to 2.4v, and I had to grapple with a 0403 LED to get that low of a voltage for a blue LED. In the end it was so tiny that I couldn't see the polarity of it, so I hit on the idea of running a blink program and seeing whether it would light up just before I soldered it in place. That worked. 🙂
      0_1509041337509_5led.jpg

      Also, this board channels its serial output over the 10-pin IDC connector, so I used the tool I posted yesterday to read it. Works great, and now I don't have a six pin FTDI connector cluttering up the PCB. 🙂

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: nRF5 action!

      @NeverDie said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

      @NeverDie said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

      MY_PASSIVE_NODE,

      I found a shlocky workaround for the current problems with MY_PASSIVE_NODE. It turns out that if you have the gateway up and running before the passive node power up, then the passive node often gets stuck in a loop trying to register itself. However, for whatever reason, if you first power up the passive node, let it run for a bit trying to register and failing, and then power on the gateway, the loop is avoided. Then the passive node will broadcast one packet per cycle and the gateway will receive it and send it to the serial port.

      Unfortunately, Domoticz can't really deal with it.

      Soooooo... For now, I'm using Termite on the serial port to capture the packets and time stamp them. That at least allows me to continue with measurements as to whether MY_PASSIVE_NODE saves significant energy or not. It also has 1 second resolution, not the 5 minute time resoluton of Domoticz.

      Good news! Using the above method, I've established that the EByte nRF52832 module consumes an order of magnitude less current if "MY_PASSIVE_NODE" is defined. 🙂 🙂 🙂

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    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      I did a quick port of my earlier project to make a breakout board for the BC832:
      0_1509393019476_bc832.jpg
      What's interesting about the BC832 is that it is a complete nRF52832 system: 32-bit ARM Cortex 4, wireless, flash, memory, RTC, and antenna, and the whole thing is smaller than a dime:
      alt text
      Of course, my ported breakout board, being as large as it is, doesn't do it justice. That's OK, though, because its main purpose is just to take the BC832 for a test drive.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: nRF5 action!

      So, to move forward with this, I took a super-stripped down nRF52832, and loaded it with a super stripped down sketch that never initializes the radio and pretty much just jumps directly into a long RTC 12 hour slumber using the MySensors sleep routine. Measuring the current drawn while in that slumber using a uCurrent Gold, I'm reading about 9.3ua. So, to confirm that, I'm running the same stripped down setup from a 10F supercap, and I'll see at what rate the supercap voltage drops with time, and whether that appears to agree or not with these initial measurements.

      Hopefully the current draw will remain low, and there will be no surprises. In that case, I'll add stuff back in until I find the culprit that was previously causing the higher current draw.

      posted in My Project
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    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      I soldered together a prototyhpe for a small wireless temperature sensor powered by a CR2032 button cell:

      alt text

      alt text

      It works!
      0_1510260891332_chart (1).png

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: nRF5 action!

      Here's the mode that I'm most interested in: Putting the radio into Rx for about 1ms per 100ms interval to listen for remote commands. The rest of the time everthing (both radio and mcu) are in deep sleep waiting for the RTC to wake them up.

      Here's a close-up of the current drawn during that roughly 1ms interval:
      0_1504214970391_NewFile8.jpg

      I ran this just now, and my solar setup can easily handle this load during the daytime, even from deep indoors far from the windows. This was the scenario that really stressed the RFM69+atmega328p combo when I tried doing it using the RFM69's listen mode. I'll see tonight how the 10F supercap handles the load without any solar assist. 🙂

      Because of the nRF52839's 2Mbps datarate, I can probably cut the listen window down substantially from 1ms to much less (much less than would be possible with an RFM69, due to its maximum of 300kbps datarate), but for ease of programming I'm starting with this.

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    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      @gohan That would make for a very interesting project write-up, so that others might quickly replicate your work without a lot of head scratching.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: nRF5 action!

      Bingo! Added this, and it now works:

        NRF_RTC0->EVTENSET=1;  //enable routing of RTC events to PPI.
      

      🙂

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    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      Received the PCB today, so I put together this leak detector for testing:
      0_1512430579892_leak1.jpg
      0_1512430601719_leak2.jpg
      Looks as though some of the physical clearance tolerances are a bit tight, so I'll have to do another spin after changing the PCB layout. Some Kapton tape will compensate for now and allow for some initial testing.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: nRF5 action!

      @d00616 said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

      It looks like you are implementing a new radio protocol and you are coming forward.

      Yes, I'm presently focused on trying to reduce the amount of energy consumed by probably the hardest case of all: a battery/solar/supercap receiver that needs to be both highly responsive (within 100ms) and listening 24/7 without running out of juice. Of course, one can always throw bigger batteries or bigger solar panels at the problem, but I'm first trying to be as ultra efficient as possible so that won't be necessary. The benefit will be smaller size, not to mention lower cost.

      I am posting my findings as I go because there is precious little in the way of working examples, so I may yet still be of help to others in that way. From the view count, it does seem that people are reading this thread, even if not many are posting.

      posted in My Project
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    • RE: CNC PCB milling

      @vince I think it's meant for prototyping, not production. At least for that purpose, the reduction in turnaround time should be huge. If, instead, you send everything to the fab at every step, then you need the patience of a saint to iteratively evolve a PCB design.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: nRF5 action!

      I was able to reduce the active listen period to about 100us:
      0_1506303847635_NewFile3.png
      Now listening every 100ms yields a 10F supercap voltage measured decline of just 9mv per hour. i.e. a decline of 0.108v by the end of 12 hours.

      posted in My Project
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    • RE: Awesome tutorial on MQTT Node Red

      Right now I'm mostly interested in it for:

      1. dumping everything into a mysql database, so everything gets logged forever (storage is cheap). Then somehow graphing that at much finer granularitry than the 5 minute intervals that domoticz offers.
      2. dashboard capabilities.

      Haven't done it yet, but it looks like it might be easier than the alternatives.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: Say hello to Wakame Computer

      @Yveaux said in Say hello to Wakame Computer:

      @NeverDie how about for the fun of it? To learn from? To experiment?

      Well, sure. Go for it. I'm just wondering if there's more to it than that.

      Also, in my somewhat dated experience, it's not as easy as you might think to get linux to run on these things. It tends to require some custom patchwork that's non-trivial. That's what seems to sink most of them. I mean, consider the orange pi for instance.

      posted in My Project
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    • RE: CNC PCB milling

      Here's the current build status:
      0_1513549544809_build_status_1.jpg
      I'm guessing I'm something more than half-way done.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: nRF5 action!

      I tried out the sub-dime sized BC832 on a quick port of the BC832X breakout board:
      0_1509402087595_bc832.jpg

      What I'm finding is that the Rx range for the BC832 is about the same as for the Ebyte nRF52832 module: I'm hard pressed to tell which is better than the other. The BC832 is nonetheless impressive, given how small its antenna is relative to the Ebyte antenna.

      posted in My Project
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    • RE: CNC PCB milling

      It's hard to photograph these etchings. They actually look better by eye. I tested out the last one with a continuity meter, and it seems that it would be functional (in the sense that the traces were isolated from what they should be and they connected the pads that they should.

      However, without the solder mask, I'm doubtful those closely packed micro-usb pads on the middle left near the edge would be solderable without bridging.

      I really hadn't considered I would ever need to do solder mask, I guess because the demo boards I've seen other people make don't seem to have it.

      So, maybe a better question is: what is the minimum isolation width so that I won't need solder mask? Perhaps that becomes the limit for prototyping.

      Anyhow, I'll look into it, but I really hadn't planned on taking that extra step.

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: nRF5 action!

      @Nca78 I'm just taking what the datasheet says at face value. In practical terms, I think it's fairly rare to see >80% humidity in an indoor "conditioned space" (well, maybe a bathroom is an exception to that sweeping generality) but outdoors it happens by definition anytime the air temperature approaches the dew point. That certainly does occur in quite a lot of geographies.

      So, for that reason, I think of the si7021 as more of an indoor TH sensor. From what I can tell, the BME280 doesn't have this issue, so it would therefore seem to be a good choice for outdoors.

      Of course, the si7021 sensor modules are made in Asia, and if it's tropical asia (Thailand for instance?), it may have already been exposed to high humidity. So, that's a bit of an unknown factor hanging in the background.

      Anyhow, thanks for the additional insight that maybe the si7021 really needs to soak in high humidity for a long time before it gets ruined. Otherwise, it can spring back from brief exposures. I certainly hope that's the case. Running its heater does consume a significant amount of current.

      posted in My Project
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    • RE: CNC PCB milling

      Here's my first milled PCB that's standalone:
      0_1514650576252_firstPCB.jpg

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: nRF5 action!

      @scalz said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

      you could add some clearance for the antenna, better I think for antenna radiation.

      0_1510243932750_cr2030_proto2.jpg
      0_1510243941869_cr2030_proto3.jpg

      OK, I adjusted it. How about now?

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    • RE: CNC PCB milling

      I soldered on three 0805 components, but afterward I was surprised to find that all three were shorted (tested using a cotinuity meter):
      0_1514682102076_firstPCB2.jpg
      I thought I had been reasonably careful soldering them on too, so I'm not sure what went wrong.

      Scratch that. I found that the faults were measurement error. Re-testing it, it checks out 100%. No shorts. 🙂

      posted in General Discussion
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    • RE: nRF5 action!

      @Anticimex said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

      @NeverDie Nice stuff! Perhaps you could file a PR and include it as a example in the repo?

      I posted an enhanced version of it here as the demo sketch--it includes proper MySensors radio code as well: https://www.openhardware.io/view/499/10-years-wireless-PIR-Sensor-on-just-one-set-of-3-AAs#tabs-source

      posted in My Project
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    • RE: CNC PCB milling

      I'm now 4 for 4 with the sneak up method. Each time it worked, so I feel comfortable I can rely on it. I now start with a cutting depth of z=-0.03, and then, as needed, I "sneak up" on the final cutting depth from there. That yields the minimum cutting depth, which in turn avoids trace obliteration.

      I'm just glad it works. 🙂

      posted in General Discussion
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