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Grunge - getting started
#11

Hi Werk, thanks for the heads up.
Well I have replaced my Transmitter on the TX board. The piece of hook up wire which was about 200mm long was hit and miss, I finally cut a 1/4 wave length at 165mm and proved that no signal at 433MHz. Suspected the module as the surface mount components were not in the best state when viewed under magnification (I suppose when you buy cheap on eBay, expect it to be "cheap"). I hacked a spare FS1000A (much better board presentation) to suit the TX board and even with my little antenna (rubber duck type) worked first time and doesn't miss a beat. I'm getting data on a regular basis if I comment out ID0.
If I leave ID0 in, I get 2 pieces of data coming out and then just sits. So a little more debugging for me.

BTW, I uncommented out in the RX_TX.ino file the serial print so that I can monitor what is being received.

So once I sort out ID0, then I should get passed auto-reboot.

I have also noticed that the TX voltage sent, is higher than the measured batter voltage (yes I double checked my digital meter with my bench top power supply). So I will put that one on the back burner for the moment as it's only an indication.

All in all, I'm just happy to see data coming across, even though I have no sensors connected yet.

Regards
Graham
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#12

Hi Graham

Just before you start do dismantle part after part Smile, let me give you an hint... put the TX unit four or five meters apart from the RX unit (more is even better). When they are too close, the RF link don't work, most of the times the RX units just stops receiving.
Try this and let us know.

Quote:I have also noticed that the TX voltage sent, is higher than the measured batter voltage

Can you please give more details about this?

Thanks
Werk_AG

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#13

Hi Werk_AG,

Many thanks for the details on RF transmissions, I should have explained that I had at least 5 metre separation due to the possibility of too much signal and over driving the RX.
BTW I got pass the auto-reboot, and it was my bad, probably late night when typing email, I went back and read my responses. The temp/humid I'm using at the moment is DHT22 not SHT22 (1 letter place on the keyboard), my apologies for this. Anyway, I made the correction and viola! I see "wind calm" and "no rain days", which is good as they are not connected.

I'll sit down and gather my data and thoughts and write up a bit more re the Battery voltage.

Graham
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#14

Update.
After many false starts and learnings, I have got my system on the air, well website. The Raspberry Pi is doing a great job with CumulusMX and I figured out following Sandy's instructions and trial and error to get the data up to my ISP.

http://www.gjfoote.com
I'll probably think of a sub domain name, but for now it's there.

Further work
Put the TX into a nice housing
Mount the unit
Plug in the rain and wind sensors
Connect up the Solar panel
Put the Solar sensor into a housing

Graham
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#15

Nice one Smile Are you uploading to WeatherUnderground too?
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#16

(22-02-2016, 23:50)grunge Wrote:  After many false starts and learnings, I have got my system on the air...

It's always a pleasure be following the birth of a new baby...
Hope that some day I can receive from you a testimonial like the one I received two days ago from another user:


"Thank-you. I am always interested in the system's growth and check back on updates and what others are up to. I am so impressed with the stability of WeatherDuino. I virtually do not have to touch it, do not need to purposefully reboot. As the transmitter unit is powered by solar I could not even guess when it was last powered down."

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#17

(23-02-2016, 09:05)uncle_bob Wrote:  Nice one Smile Are you uploading to WeatherUnderground too?

Hmmm good point, I think I did have a WeatherUnderground account, I'll go through my old emails and see.
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#18

(20-02-2016, 22:01)grunge Wrote:  Hi Werk_AG,

Many thanks for the details on RF transmissions, I should have explained that I had at least 5 metre separation due to the possibility of too much signal and over driving the RX.
BTW I got pass the auto-reboot, and it was my bad, probably late night when typing email, I went back and read my responses. The temp/humid I'm using at the moment is DHT22 not SHT22 (1 letter place on the keyboard), my apologies for this. Anyway, I made the correction and viola! I see "wind calm" and "no rain days", which is good as they are not connected.

I'll sit down and gather my data and thoughts and write up a bit more re the Battery voltage.

Graham

Further to this voltage reading incorrect, whether it is tolerance of the components (measured) or the Arduino Nano, I made the simple decision it was easier to alter the maths and get the correct reading. So for sensor 5 in the RX module, I have changed (((RX_Data[2] * 20.23) / 1024) * 100.0) to (((RX_Data[2] * 18.63) / 1024) * 100.0) and this gives me the correct measured voltage on the LCD display and on CumulusMX.

Graham
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#19

Good job.
R1 and R5 on the TX board are a voltage divider, even using resistors with 1% tolerance, a small adjustment on the formula helps to get more accurate results.
Anyway, the voltage reported may vary 0.1V to 0.3V in relation to the voltage measured with a multimeter at the battery terminals.

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#20

Hi Graham,

Is your weather website still online @ http://www.gjfoote.com

Couldn't seem to get it to come up up..???

Mark R
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