WeatherDuino Forum

Just wondering if anyone has worked on some code for the RX unit to show that it still has a connection and receiving data from the outside TX unit?

My thinking is this could be done either through and LED or the LCD screen with a simple character that flashes when new data is received.

This would be similar to what the TX unit already has when the LED flashes to indicate that it is transmitting data, and how the RX unit flashes to indicate that it has a connection to the computer weather software.

What do other users think of this concept?

I think it would be good to know at a glance that something may have gone wrong with the transmitting unit without needing to check outside (especially if it is run on a battery/solar system).

Hi, Palmyweather

We already have something that can be used for that purpose.
The TX_LED on the RX board!
This led blinks every time the RX unit sends a packet of data to the Wireless Display units, but as those packets are broadcasted as soon as they are received from the external TX unit, the info from this LED, can be used to monitor if you are receiving data.
In the absence of incoming data from an external TX unit, this LED blinks only once a minute, otherwise, when the RX unit is receiving data from a TX unit, this LED should blink almost every 5 seconds.
If you mount this LED in the front panel of the RX case, you have a good visual information about incomming data from the external TX unit. In the picture below, the red led is the TX_LED, and the blue one is the COM_LED.
This way I always know when I'm receiving data from outside, and when I have connections to Cumulus (COM_LED blinks).



We have very little memory available on a Nano, this leads me to take some options. This is one of them.

Of course you can change the code to meet your requirements, but do it very wisely, after compiling, you should always have at least 380 bytes of free memory for variables, or the system will become very unstable (stack corruption).
It may seem that a lot of global variables used could be made local (as recommended by general Arduino programming good practices), and with it freeing more variable memory space, but in this case, is a false solution.
If you gonna change something, also be in mind that execution time of each routine is important, execution should be keeped in the loop code, as many time as possible. Symptoms of not doing this, is poor reception, and lots of data packets lost.
Write to the LCD the less data as you can, and not very often, it is slow.

Hi Werk_AG

Thank you very much for this information; helpful as always.

I had not connected the TX LED up on my RX board as I was not planning on using the "Wireless Display" at this stage . I had assumed that the TX LED was only in place for this functionality. I will run off now and connect it up.

I hope when I come to housing my unit, it will look as smart as the one in your photo.

Thank you for your help!

(06-11-2015, 20:10)Werk_AG Wrote: [ -> ]We already have something that can be used for that purpose.
The TX_LED on the RX board!

For the LED to work, install also R7, R8 and T2 (RX v4.03 board).

Quote:I hope when I come to housing my unit, it will look as smart as the one in your photo.

Those plastic cases, make it easy to do.