[Barrow4491]

Hi,
I have built my receiver and transmitter boards but the receive LED is constantly on, and not communicating with the transmitter which seems to be OK
Any ideas
Thanks
Jim

[zitoune]

Hi,
I have built my receiver and transmitter boards but the receive LED is constantly on, and not communicating with the transmitter which seems to be OK
Any ideas
Thanks
Jim

Hi jim,

I had a similar issue lately. I assume the 3 digits on your RX LCD screen remain 000 at all time and the TX LED blinks at regular intervals?

1/ If so, like suggested by Werk, you can program your TX arduino to activate only one sensor at a time and see if for each sensor (temp/humidity, rain, wind) the TX LED blinks or not. This will make sure your TX works OK, but won't mean it actually transmit anything via the transceiver module.

2/ In addition, to detect if any transmission occurs, you can place nearby an AM radio and try to hear the artefact of each transmission when the TX LED blinks.

If 1/ and 2/ are successful, most likely your transmitter needs to be replaced. That happened to me a week ago.

Let us know.

[uncle_bob]

I'd be checking for shorts around the LED and D2 on the nano. You should have around 360ohms between D2 and ground too.

[werk_ag]

Hi,
I have built my receiver and transmitter boards but the receive LED is constantly on, and not communicating with the transmitter which seems to be OK
Any ideas
Thanks
Jim

On first boot or after any reboot, the receive LED on the RX unit will keep ON until it gets a full set of data from your TX unit (temperature / humidity, rain and wind).

Most likely your TX isn't transmitting or the receiver module is faulty. Firstly try to check the TX unit. Zitoune has described a good debug procedure.

If you wish, copy and paste here your RX_config and TX_config files along with some info about what type of sensors you are using (on the RX and TX unit) and I will give a look.

[spudstrawb]

Also, make sure that the TX and RX antennae are tightened sufficiently. I had a problem for a period where the units would communicate fine but when the temperature dropped sufficiently they would stop communicating. I nipped up the TX antenna a bit and everything has been fine since.

[Barrow4491]

Hi,
I have built my receiver and transmitter boards but the receive LED is constantly on, and not communicating with the transmitter which seems to be OK
Any ideas
Thanks
Jim

On first boot or after any reboot, the receive LED on the RX unit will keep ON until it gets a full set of data from your TX unit (temperature / humidity, rain and wind).

Most likely your TX isn't transmitting or the receiver module is faulty. Firstly try to check the TX unit. Zitoune has described a good debug procedure.

If you wish, copy and paste here your RX_config and TX_config files along with some info about what type of sensors you are using (on the RX and TX unit) and I will give a look.

I have an AM radio nearby and it gives a squark every time the Tx led lights at 648 Khz, and I would assume from that it is transmitting???
I check the nano as suggested by uncle_bob and then swap out the Rx module and advise the result
Thanks all for the advice
Jim

[Barrow4491]

Hi,
I am trying to understand what my station is telling me so I have some questions
If my RX station recieve LED flashes, that means that it has received data firm the Tx? (It does so quite regularly every 2 to 3 seconds)
If that is correct what triggers the Tx sequence from the receiver, Is it on a time basis or only if information has changed. ( it seems to transmit very randomly most times only once a minute)
My WD obviously updates when the RX sends data but because it only updates infrequently it doesn't retain the previous data but shows blank lines (ie:no values )
could you please explain to me what should be happening?
Regards
Jim

[werk_ag]

Hi,

I am trying to understand what my station is telling me so I have some questions

And it is trying to tell you some things...

If my RX station recieve LED flashes, that means that it has received data firm the Tx? (It does so quite regularly every 2 to 3 seconds)

In truth, it means that your RX unit is receiving data and is relaying it to the WD unit. If you disable the data relay function the LED will not blink despite the RX unit can be receiving data. So, if we have the data relay function enabled we can say that if the TX LED on the RX unit blinks we are receiving data from our TX units.

( it seems to transmit very randomly most times only once a minute)

First thing that your RX unit is trying to tell you: I'm with receptions problems!
Wind data is sent every 3 seconds (other data at different intervals), so if the LED on your RX unit isn't blink at least every 5 or 6 seconds your RF link is poor, and lots of data packets are being lost.

My WD obviously updates when the RX sends data but because it only updates infrequently it doesn't retain the previous data but shows blank lines (ie:no values )
could you please explain to me what should be happening?

Despite the WD unit be an optional part of the WeatherDuino Pro2 system, it is a very important part, with some interesting features, not always well known (certainly because I'm very bad on explaining some things)
Your WD unit is also trying to tell you that there are problems with the RF link, and that you are loosing lots of data packets.
I will try to explain:
The WD unit starts a timer every time is receives a type of data packet (there are several types). If the time since the last data packet of the same type is greater than a defined threshold, the display shows three dashes for the corresponding type of data.
If you see frequent dashes on your WD display, something is wrong with th RF signal. If the WD unit don't receive any type of data packet in a 5 minute interval, it will show you a big red display, alerting you about that.

Hope I have helped you, at least a little about how the system works.

Since the beginning that I have the feeling that almost all the issues reported by you are related with the RF signal. Focus your efforts in trying to get a reliable RF link.

As most as you can, avoid using any cable between the antenna SMA connector in the TX board and the antenna. Connect it directly to the SMA connector on the TX board, and leave some space around it free of metal parts.
If the use of a cable is absolutely necessary, make sure that its length is exactly a multiple of 1/4 the wave length of the TX frequency (~433.9Mhz)
Try to put the TX antenna in horizontal position, do the same in the RX unit, or try use (just on the RX unit) an antenna with a cable and try to find the best spot for reception (your metal roof certainly is not helping too).

[Barrow4491]

Werk

Thanks for the information (especially re the WD), very helpful. I am away for a couple of weeks minimum, but when I return my first project is to remove all antenna pigtails and connect the antennas direct to the board, replace the Tx module in the Tx unit and try to get my RF comms reliable.
Kind regards
Jim