Hi, I'm having trouble with the Moteino & transceiver that just arrived...ordered Oct-4-24. I've been using your example TxRxBlinky and am unable to get two moteino's to communicate as expected. Below are the results of various tests I've done. I think there is a hardware issue with the device I just received...but am not sure. I'm new to using the transceiver and may be missing something simple.
setup: 1 older RFM69HW I believe works well (used in project with 2 moteino's communicating well). 1 new RFM69HCW from order #19843. I have 2 instances of Visual Studio going, one with TxRxBilnky as transmitter, and the other with it as receiver. The moteino's are on different com ports/serial monitors. Both getting power from the USB computer port. Both in the same room. I have RFM69_LowPowerLab Version 1.5.2 INSTALLED.
Test 1: old RFM69HW as Tx and new RFM69HCW as Rx ---> 'button pressed' seen on Tx and transmission received on Rx. RSSI consistently ~-90dBm
Test 2: new RFM69HCW as Tx and old RFM69HW as Rx---> 'button pressed' seen on Tx, but nothing received on Rx.
Test 3 & 4: repeat of tests 1&2 with frequency set at RF_868MHZ---> same results.
I'm concerned that the RSSI of ~-90 seen means there is a very weak signal. Unfortunately, I don't have a 3rd functioning moteino to definitively say which of the devices is causing the problem.
Any debugging / testing advice is much appreciated......jim
Hi jim,
Yes -90dBm is a pretty weak signal, -100 being the noise floor for these.
All units are tested with standard firmware to ensure they can TX/RX. Your Oct 4 is a "Moteino w/ RFM69HCW - 868/915Mhz"
1) Ensure proper antennas are soldered.
2) Ensure hardware has not been damaged in any way.
3) simplest test is against a working identical unit (same hardware, same firmware). If you have one working unit, and then another in question that does not work or underperforms, then we have a problem to look at.
4) If there is a problem, I will like to know why so the unit needs to come back to me and I will repair or replace it free of charge.
Felix, I found the issue....I did not set the transmitter power correctly......changed RSSI from -75 to -27. Also, I was having difficulty understanding the RFM69 library. I looked for documentation and could not find it....and reading the headers/code was not that helpful. If it exists, please point me to it. I was about to change to an Adafruit product and they recommended both your library and the RadioHead library. Before changing platforms, decided to try using the RadioHead library by Mike McCauley.....which does have documentation (https://www.airspayce.com/mikem/arduino/RadioHead/index.html). I tried their simple client/server example with the RH_RF69 radio driver and got it to work. In reading some of the RadioHead documentation, I was impressed by how highly they speak of LowpowerLabs and your Moteinos. Soooooo, I'm up and running again and will continue to use Moteino's as my go to for smallish devices. Cheers.....jim
Documentation is not the strongest point of my library. All guides are at lowpowerlab.com/guide
But I offer the examples which are a good starting point.
The RFM69HCW radios need to call radio.setHighPower().
Once the few quirks are learned people usually don't look back or have much trouble.