@martinhjelmare I think you might be on to something, as I have noticed that other microcontroller modules point the antenna away from the PCB, where as the Sensebender and RF module are overlapping.
I will investigate by adding jumper wires from the SenseBender and the RF module to add some separation.
Thanks...
@tomkxy No signing on my modules...
Distance from a few feet to 20, 50, 100 ft. All yield the same result.
@mfalkvidd The bypass caps are already installed on the PCB.
The SenseBender Micro runs off 2 AA batteries and there is no extra cap on it (that was the design).
@sundberg84 The Sensebender does not have a capacitor, other than bypass.
Not a range issue either, close or further away does not make a difference.
It's pretty consistent with the st=fail debug output.
@mfalkvidd The gateway works fine as other sensors are being received.
Since I am using battery power on the Sensebender Micro, there is no capacitor as that would drain the battery.
What else could be the issue?
I am trying to troubleshoot the debug output below.
Any suggestions?
Sensebender Micro FW 1.3send: 44-44-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=15,pt=2,l=2,sg=0,st=fail:0
send: 44-44-0-0 s=255,c=0,t=17,pt=0,l=5,sg=0,st=fail:1.5.4
send: 44-44-0-0 s=255,c=3,t=6,pt=1,l=1,sg=0,st=fail:0
sensor started, id=44, parent=0, distance=1
So on the bus it is disabled with D8 high?
I need to disable the SPI Flash chip on the Sensebender Micro in order to troubleshoot an issue with the NRF24 module.
Is there a way to disable the flash chip in code to prevent it from communication on the SPI bus?
Thanks,
Tony
@Jokgi Hi Jokgi, do you think you can have a rep from Nordic send out some sample authentic modules to the MySensors community to those that can help solve the deficiency between the fake and authentic modules? I think that might help.
If there are community members that might want to work with the authentic module maybe reply here if interested.
@Jokgi So then why would these companies not use the authentic Nordic chips if there are distributors in China? Seems like a lot of trouble to go and produce fake chips when the real chips are readily available there already?
@alexsh1 I think that the folks that are getting unknown Nordic fakes are actually shortchanging themselves. First there is no way the Chinese can make an exact duplicate of the Nordic chip, all they can do is make a cheap facsimile (which is what they do best anyway). If you're like me an seriously want to utilize the work that the guys did on the SensBender module and get the longest battery life and best RF performance then you'd want to use the genuine Nordic chip.
Second, Nordic does not manufacture those chips in China anyway (according to Nordic). So if a reseller says they get them from a Chinese manufacturer then they are fake, no doubt.
I also received an email from Seeed Studio indicating they get their chips from a Chinese manufacturer...So probably fake as well.
@alexsh1 I believe the sketch works for the Chinese chips, as you say, but not for the genuine Nordic chips.
That said, I contacted ITead yesterday and asked if the Nordic Module they sell uses the genuine Nordic chip or another chip from a 3rd party. The response I got back was that the supplier they get the Nordic chips says they are authentic. Although, they did not indicate which supplier. So I replied back to ask which supplier they use and I am still waiting for a response from ITead on this question.
Let's say that ITead is using an authentic chip. I run the sketch with their module and it works. I replace the module with the Nordic sample I have and the sketch does not work. So now what?
Is ITead actually using the authentic chip or not?
@tbowmo Understand, any suggestions on another person to help. I think that in all honesty we should make this work and resolve the issue.
@tbowmo Hi Thomas, I am still having an issue with the authentic Nordic module and the mysensors software.
I was wondering if you has access to one of these modules and could test the software?
Or, if there is someone else that could help out?
If needed, I could ship a Nordic module out for testing as I have several that I got from a Nordic rep in the U.S.
Thanks,
Tony
I kind of got it working by manipulating the nRF24L01.h file.
By changing these two params:
#define EN_ACK_PAY 1
#define EN_DYN_ACK 0
to:
#define EN_ACK_PAY 0
#define EN_DYN_ACK 1
The Nordic module registered on the gateway and reported battery voltage, but failed on temperature.
Anyway, I am not an expert on this software, so maybe someone might be able to help, especially the folks which wrote it.
Thanks,
Tony
@Yveaux Yeah, no other modules available, except from China.
However, that might change. I think there may be a manufacturer in the U.S. that is going to make official modules at a reasonable price soon and pretty much duplicate the Nordic module.
I think that Nordic may have shot themselves in the foot by not making the module more available and at a much lower price. This opened the door for the fake chip market.
@hek said:
The sketch works. We can rule out that. I suspect the power requirement might differ from the clone. You could play around width extra capacitors on the module.
Well, not sure how you can say the sketch works when I have it here and it does not work with the Nordic module.
Have you tested the SensBender sketch with the genuine Nordic module?
Since these are battery powered adding a capacitor will not make a difference and it will further drain the battery over time.
Again, there is something else going on...
The genuine Nordic chips can be purchased for less than $3 in the U.S.
That is just the chip and not the module.
The actual parts which make up the module cost about $3-4.
If you are concerned about battery operation you'd want the genuine chips as they have a lower sleep current which would extend battery life, which is critical in my application. So cost of batteries is a factor as well.
@Yveaux I'm not a big fan of companies stealing the design of another company which has put time and resources into the development of a chip.
I only want to use genuine Nordic products in my sensor network. That said, I think that some work needs to be done on why the SenseBender appears to have an issue operating with the Nordic module. I hope that the responsible folks will step up and make this work.
Let me know if I can do any other testing as I'd like to get this issue resolved ASAP.
Thanks,
Tony
@hek I did the test here is the result.
While the Nordic radio is connected to the gateway it receives the data from all the Chinese radios, no problem.
When I connect the Nordic module to one of the SenseBender modules I do not receive any data according to the gateway debug whether it has the Nordic or Chinese module.
So it appears that the Nordic and the Chinese can communicate, but the Nordic appears not to work when only connected to the Sensebender module. So I suspect something going on there?