Author Topic: Introduction and some help please  (Read 1698 times)

JRoode35

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Introduction and some help please
« on: October 13, 2014, 05:41:19 PM »
Felix,

First of all I would like to commend you on the outstanding work you have done with Moteino, I've seen so many "projects" online and most come with halfway decent tutorials but you have taken it all the way to a very nice finished product, excellent work! I will be ordering a few this week.

My name is Justin and I've had a passion for electronics since childhood, I have an AA degree in electronic engineering from ITT Technical Institute and have enjoyed the hobby my whole life.

My dilemma, I have the hardware side mastered and have no problem reading schematics and hooking things up, I even make all my own boards using the positive photo method. On the other hand I have stayed away from programming because I was always intimidated by it. About 8 months ago I bought a few genuine Arduino's and started to learn programming, I have read everything I can find and have come a long way. I have been wanting to make a wireless security system with some home automation and have been working on it for months which eventually led me to your site. As of right now I have two RFm69HW hooked up to two separate Arduino Nano's I have loaded the Gateway sketch onto one and the Node sketch onto the other, I have all your library's installed and the code compiles and uploads fine, I un-commented the 915Mhz as well as the Rfm69HW only line. When I open up the serial monitor on the Node I get "Transmitting 915Mhz..." on the Gateway I get Nothing. I am using bidirectional logic level shifters on all the pins from the radios 2,10,11,12,13 I am also running the radios from a seperate 3.3V regulator because I know the Nano's can't supply the 130mA the radios need at full power. At this point all I really want to do is
1. Have a button (momentary) on the Gateway control an LED on the node. push once LED comes on Push again LED goes off.
2. I also want to have a MotionMote in my mailbox that lights an LED inside (Gateway) when mail is delivered.

I would be ecstatic if I could accomplish those 2 things for now. I would be so grateful for any help

thank you so much for your time.


Justin



 
« Last Edit: October 13, 2014, 05:50:00 PM by JRoode35 »

Felix

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Re: Introduction and some help please
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2014, 07:57:03 PM »
Hey Justin, welcome to this forum.
With the Gateway and Node examples all you should have to do is set the right frequency and set HW if the unit is one, and it sounds like you did that already.
On the hardware side it's where I'd take another look. You're interfacing to a 5V arduino so bidirectional should be fine as well. I've only ever used shift down buffers and I prefer voltage dividers for most things that don't involve very high speed signals.
If you don't see anything beyond the "Transmitting at 915mhz..." then your Node is never transmitting and there might be a problem there. Try to isolate the issue. Add more serial debugging statements before and after each call to radio and see where it gets stuck...
I will release the MotionOLED mote which among other things will do exactly what you are looking to do. It will be a kit. But I appreciate your effort to try and learn your way to making your own solution. I hope this helps and continue to post your progress here and hopefully we make it happen for you.

JRoode35

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Re: Introduction and some help please
« Reply #2 on: October 13, 2014, 09:44:35 PM »
Felix, Thank you for the quick response, I will go over all the hardware again tomorrow. In the meantime maybe you would answer a couple questions.

1. Are Moteino's overclocked? I know they are running at 3.3v are they also running at 16Mhz? just curious because I have a bunch of 16Mhz crystals on hand and just ordered some 8Mhz crystals, can I safely run it at 16?

2. In your Node and Gateway sketch there is a     radio.setHighPower(); //uncomment only for RFM69HW!
is there a value that goes in between the parenthesis?  I read somewhere on your site that you can set the power to one of 36 or was it 38 values? how would I tone it down a bit if I wanted to?

3. I'm sure you have heard of the RadioHead library, author Mike Mcauley. I was wondering if you have written documentation about your library like that I could look at to maybe start learning it. From what I can tell yours looks way easier to understand, but I am having a tough time learning any library's.

P.S. I spent the first half of my life up in Michigan, I grew up just outside of Grand Rapids in Wyoming. I now live on the Gulf Coast in Gulf Shores, AL I had to get away from those long cold dreary winters, lol.

Thanks for your help it is much appreciated.

Felix

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Re: Introduction and some help please
« Reply #3 on: October 13, 2014, 10:39:27 PM »
1. Yes its "overclocked" a little bit, but safe and no concerns.
2. No values in parenthesis. See the RFM69.h file for the definition of all the functions and their parameters (if any).
3. I always learn by example not by reading library comments, though I tried to document each function that was relevant. The examples are better documented anyway since that's what people will actually use.
I've grown up in a cold climate in eastern europe, then lived in the arizona desert for 6 years, then here in Michigan. Quite a swing ...