Home Made Moteino freezes when sending data [solved]

[gurari]

Hello all!
I have strange issue with the MOTEINO R4 I've built myself. This is my first ever smd board and it miraculously seems to be working. I've been able to upload the dualoptiboot on it. LED is blinking when MOTEINO is first powered. Then I've tried fade sketch. It was also working. Then I've tried something more "complex" - to read a DTH22 sensor - also working. So I've decided to solder and the RFM69HW chip on the MOTEINO. I've uploaded one of the sketches that I'm using in my remote temperature sensors. When uploaded I started looking in the serial monitor. The strange thing is that every time when the time to send the data to the gateway comes (30sec) MOTEINO freezes. I have to disconnect it and reconnect it to start working - until the time to send passes. If it is left like that ("frozen") the radio module - I think - becomes warm. I saw that if i send data to it (the problematic node) before these 30 secs all is OK but after that nothing is happening. So I wrote a sketch that only listens for all the messages (promiscuousMode = true) and it is receiving all the messages with no problem. Also I added some lines so I can switch on and off the LED of MOTEINO remotely and all is working flawlessly. The radio module was previously tested on some NANO clone and it was working with no problems.
I hope my description of the problem is not so messy but my English have some issues too
If someone had similar problems or can suggest me something to check I'll be very glad.

[gurari]

It looks like there was a problem with the bootloader. I desoldered the RFM69HW module from MOTEINO and tried with non high power RFM69 radio but still there were problems, like unexpected restarts of system and so on. Now I have uploaded standard bootloader and all is working OK. I have to dig around more to able to upload the dualoptiboot because I want to use the wireless programming and all the goods its gives me. Unfortunately I don't have AVR programmer at the moment so I have to find my way.
Thanks for the great product and keep the good work!

[gurari]

One question more - could this problem (with dualoptiboot) be related to that I havn't soldered the memory chip yet? I'm still waiting for delivery.

[Felix]

The bootloader works without the FLASH as well, so it doesn't matter if you got the chip soldered or not.

[gurari]

Yes it is working So finally I think I've kinda found where the problem is. 1st the bootloader wasn't compiled with the right pin_defs.h. I forgot to copy it in the right folder. After uploading the right dualoptiboot all started working good when the rfm modules were not soldered on the board but connected with wires to the pins. So I've decided all is OK and soldered once again the RFM69HW radio on the board and suprise! The same problem appeared again. So I desoldered the radio and installed RFM69CW module. Uploaded the sketch without high power and now all is working good. I think when I soldered the ATmega chip I've used a lot of solder paste and maybe some of the vias under it are shorted or something. I'll be more careful on the next "baking" process and I hope all will work

[gurari]

Well... finally the real problem is solved! I'm fealling so stupid! I've checked and doublecked thousands of things, replaced all kind of parts and all withouth real success untill now. The "big" problems always appears to be very small and stupid problems like in my case. I was powering the home made moteino from the FTDI adapter during all the test and that was my mistake! This adaptor was not capable to supply the circuit with enough power so alway during transmit the system freezes. Now when all is powered with proper power suply the system is working perfectly

[Felix]

What kind of FTDI adapter were you using and how exactly were you powering the DIIY moteino?

[gurari]

I'm using a very low cost FTDI adapter, something like that - http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-3V-5-5V-FT232RL-FTDI-USB-to-TTL-Serial-Adapter-Module-for-Arduino-Mini-Port-/380717046158 set to 3.3v because I'm not sure if I select 5v on what voltage the logic will work. I'm planing to do your FTDI adapter in the near future because it is more flexibe and reliable (when the parts are with know origin). So the DIIY moteino was powered directly from the FTDI adaptor in order to look the serial data. Now the two moteinos that I made are powered from an external linear power suply and they are talkin to each other all day without complaining