Navigation

    • Register
    • Login
    • OpenHardware.io
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    1. Home
    2. vikingl
    3. Posts
    • Profile
    • Following
    • Followers
    • Topics
    • Posts
    • Best
    • Groups

    Posts made by vikingl

    • Radio does not send properly when battery-powered

      Hallo mysensors community!

      I am totally new to everything here but slowly making my way through the various posts on how to build sensors properly!

      My goal is to build battery-powered window sensors!
      My setup: 3,3v Mini Pro 8Mhz, nrf-radios, serial-gateway with arduino nano hooked to a raspberry pi with home assistant running!

      My problem:
      I´ve build a sensor based on the circuit from @petewill shown here: https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/6734/video-how-to-battery-powered-chair-occupancy-contact-sensor and the example binary-sensor sketch in the arduino mysesnsors library.
      When my 3,3v mini pro is still hooked to my pc via usb and ftdi-adapter, it works perfectly fine! I change the switch, the mini pro reacts instantly, sends a signal, the gateway leds green and yellow blink once and the state of the sensor in home-assistant changes within a second.
      BUT
      when I disconnect my mini pro from my pc and hook it up to the two aa-batteries (like in the circuit above) the whole process just refuses to work.
      When I change the switch in battery mode absolutely nothing happens! But sometimes, like every 30 seconds or so, the mini pro just lights up, sends something, and the gateway-leds green and yellow blink multiple times. This is completely different to the usb-powered mode!
      Also, the changed state of the switch is not transmitted to home-assistant within this automatic, untriggered, sending-phase!

      I don´t think it is a range-issue, since I am still having sensor and gateway right next to each other on my table.
      I´ve tried putting a 47 uF capacitor between vcc and gnd of the radio, too.

      So what could I do? I definitely need your help here!
      Thank you all in advance! Looking forward to your answers!

      posted in Troubleshooting
      vikingl
      vikingl