Rooms code with PIR sensor, power consuption help

(9 posts) (2 voices)

Tags:

No tags yet.

matajumotors

Hi,
i tried to figure out, but no luck...

i have jeenode with latest rooms.pde , ds18b20, LDR and PIR.

rf12easyinit(5);

if node was idle for at least 5sec, and motion change is detected - everything is fine rf12 turns on, sends and turns back off.

but if previous packet was sent earlier than 5sec ago - then rf12 turns on and waits in this state rest seconds! then sends packet and turns off.

If the motion occurs quite often - rf12 is in ON state every other 5 sec and consupts 10mA+.

Is it possible to RF12 turn off while waiting time setted by rf12easyInit() if new data for sending is available earlier than seeted time?

I hope you will understand what i just wrote ... :p

Posted 17/02/2010 10:24:50
jcw

Yes - clear. It's probably a bug in the logic of the rooms sketch - don't quite understand what's happening here. The intention is that with rf12easyinit(5), packets are sent only at most once every 5 seconds (unless it's a retransmit, i.e. RF comms problem).

The logic currently in the rooms sketch is fairly complex, in an attempt to stay asleep as much as possible. It looks like it's still not quite right.

Posted 17/02/2010 12:15:38
matajumotors

Maybe we need to add a flag to rf12easySend() like "2" , if packet can be sent out immediately. Then it would be possible to write some additional "sleep" logic. Or to "integrate" transmitter sleep to rf12easyInit().

Posted 18/02/2010 10:44:54
jcw

Yes, improvements are definitely possible. My suggestion would be to use rf12easyinit(0) and then implement your own logic to do things only as often as you want. Once that works and it's clear how to do things like this, I can have a look and try to come up with some sort of refinement for rf12easySend - unless someone else beats me to it (hint, hint).

Posted 18/02/2010 12:34:51

matajumotors

I started to write some code using easyinit(0). Everything comes out nice. But i have one problem if no ack it sends out new pacet every sec but do not stop after 8 retries (set in rf12.cpp) could you please look?

------------------------------------------------------------------
static void wakeupToSend (const void ptr, byte len) {

if(timeToSend.poll(5000))

    canSend = 1;
    if(canSend){

      canSend = 0;

      char sending = rf12easySend(ptr, len);

      if(sending){

      aliveTimer.set(0);

      if (!radioIsOn){

        rf12sleep(-1); // turn the radio back on

        radioIsOn = 1;

        Serial.println("radioON");

      }

      }

    }

    // otherwise force a "sign of life" packet out every 60 seconds

    if (aliveTimer.poll(60000)){

      canSend = 0;

      timeToSend.set(0);

      rf12easySend(0, 0); // always returns 1

        if (!radioIsOn){

          rf12sleep(-1); // turn the radio back on

          radioIsOn = 1;

          Serial.println("radioON");

        }

    }

}
------------------------------------------------------

Posted 21/02/2010 16:29:50

matajumotors

I got it! every time i call rf12easySend() retries are reseted to 8 . ;( to make my logic work i need some "flag" that new payload data hasnt changed since last call.

Edit:

made it to work like this:

--------------------------------------------------------

static void wakeupToSend (const void ptr, byte len) {

    char sending;

  if(timeToSend.poll(5000))

    canSend = 1;
    if(canSend){

      canSend = 0;

      if(memcmp(dataold, ptr, len) != 0){

        sending = 1;

        memcpy(dataold, ptr, len);

        rf12easySend(ptr, len);

      }

      if(sending){

      aliveTimer.set(0);

      if (!radioIsOn){

        rf12sleep(-1); // turn the radio back on

        radioIsOn = 1;

        Serial.println("radioON");

      }

      }

    }
    // otherwise force a "sign of life" packet out every 60 seconds

    if (aliveTimer.poll(60000)){

      canSend = 0;

      timeToSend.set(0);

      rf12easySend(0, 0); // always returns 1

        if (!radioIsOn){

          rf12sleep(-1); // turn the radio back on

          radioIsOn = 1;

          Serial.println("radioON");

        }

    }

}

Posted 21/02/2010 17:53:35

jcw

Yes - calling rf12easySend() signals that you have something to report, so it resets the retry counter to 8. But there is some logic in the RF12 code which detects that the data hasn't changed - then nothing gets sent (at least that was my intention).

Posted 21/02/2010 23:38:57
matajumotors

Yes, the logic in RF12 code works, but RETRIES are reset also when new data has not changed, and as in rooms.pde rf12easy send is called every second, node keeps resending until ack is received, and rule to stop after 8 never happens. But i foud "memcmp" in Your code and used it outside in my logic and its working like a charm. ;)

Posted 22/02/2010 07:12:36
jcw

Hm, I wonder if I can improve that.

Here's the logic of rf12easySend() on line 321 of RF12.cpp:
- if buffer ptr or size is zero, force resend
- else if last send got a good ack and data is the same, do nothing
- else copy data to send buffer, reset to 8 retries, and set up for sending

I wonder what the problem is. I'm still seeing some unwanted battery drain in the rooms sketch.

Posted 22/02/2010 10:17:21