Jee Labs Talk

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1. joepardue
   

   JC

   Let me start by telling you how much I like what you are doing. The JeeNode design, schematics, and PCB are excellent. Your website is masterful. I really liked what you said in your blog about Open Source Hardware, it was anodyne to the breathless hype we generally see about OSH.

   I’m volunteering with a couple of guys helping convert electronic toys for handicapped children. This involves mostly hacking the switches that require fine motor ablility and replacing them with large easy to hit buttons that the handicapped kids can activate. We are working on some ideas to apply RF to the problem. Since these are toys, the primary criterion is cost. So I bought four JeeNodes and loaned them to one of the guys, a retired Mechanical Engineer who has used Arduino. He built them. Got them where he could see the Help listing on the Arduino terminal and couldn’t get any further.

   I’m an EE with a lot of microcontroller experience so I figured I’d get it going without much problem. I spent an afternoon a couple of weeks ago looking around your site for something like a Quick Start Guide for Dummies but couldn’t find anything with enough cookbook style instructions so I decided to wing it and see what I could put together with what I could find. No Joy – gave up. Yesterday I spent another afternoon and found some more information so that I could compile the code without error and download it to the Jeenodes, but still no luck getting them communicating.

   Today – another afternoon gone and no progress.

   I was able to change the node numbers and I set the frequency to that marked on the bottom of the chip. One device now comes up as ‘i1’ and the other as ‘i2’. I think I’m following the format from the Help list that prints out to the terminal when you open the devices in the Arduino monitor, but I’m not getting any response.

   I’ve spent a lot of time searching the website and Googling, but I’m just not seeing anything that looks like a ‘from scratch’ guide. I can’t even find a listing of what it would look like on the Arduino serial monitor if I did successfully send a packet with either the ‘a’ or ‘s’ option from one device to another.

   So at this point you have two old engineers who can’t get this going.

   There must be a guide somewhere that neither of us could find. What are we missing?

   Joe

   Posted 11/05/2010 22:54:20

2. bvwelch
   

   Hi Joe,

   I'm new to Jeenodes also, but may I suggest you try the RF12demo sketch?

   Also, it took me a little while to figure out how to copy all of the Jeenode libraries into the proper place, such that the Arduino IDE could find them.

   -ports/>

   William

   Posted 12/05/2010 05:27:41

3. jcw
   

   I'm sorry to hear that it's not working out smoothly. No joy in that. Let me try to help. What I want to figure out is how to make a good starting point for everyone, coming from anywhere, and going off in any direction. Well.. Jee-related, that is :)

   Just adding another variant of -wirelesslightsensor/> would probably just make matters worse.

   Maybe a "Troubleshooting wireless" page with pointers and tips?

   @bvwelch - You can make your URLs live by enclosing them in <>'s (see Markdown syntax and [PDF](http://cdn4.libsyn.com/howtube/MarkdownCheatSheet.pdf)).

   @joe - Oh, btw, thx for your kind words (I learned a new one: anodyne!). Encouragement such as yours is what makes this endeavour so rewarding for me.

   Posted 12/05/2010 11:14:29

4. joepardue
   

   The guy I'm working with may have goofed something on the boards I'm using, so since I've got two more of the PCB kits that haven't been built, I'll build those tomorrow (slammed today) and start from scratch with the links you provide. I'm suspecting that I'm missing something simple and when I find it, I'll post back with suggestions on how to get folks like me started from scratch.

   Joe

   Posted 12/05/2010 16:58:00

5. joepardue
   

   I built two JeeNodes, my friend built two other JeeNodes. I’m trying every permutation of each. I’ve used the regular FTDI cables with my Developers Terminal and Brays, so that I can toggle the RTS to reset the boards. I’ve used the Modern Devices FTDI BUB which normally toggles the DTR line. I’ve used my own BBUSB that also has an FTDI chip set up to toggle the DTR line. I’ve used the latter two setups with the Arduino Serial Montor that sends a DTR pulse automatically. I tried a number of Ids and groups. This final trial I set one ID to 30 and the other to ID 20, both I reset group 212 to g5 (I tried 212 earlier)

   This is what my 20 terminal shows before the Available commands list:

       [RF12DEMO] ^ i30 g5 @ 915 MHz 

   This is what my 30 terminal shows including the Available commands list:

       [RF12DEMO] ^ i30 g5 @ 915 MHz 

       Available commands:
          i     - set node ID (standard node ids are 1..26)
                      (or enter an uppercase 'A'..'Z' to set id)
          b      - set MHz band (4 = 433, 8 = 868, 9 = 915)
          g    - set network group (RFM12 only allows 212)
          c      - set collect mode (advanced, normally 0)
         t          - broadcast max-size test packet, with ack
         ..., a - send data packet to node , with ack
         ..., s - send data packet to node , no ack
          l      - turn activity LED on PB1 on or off
       Remote control commands:
         ,,, f     - FS20 command (868 MHz)
         ,, k              - KAKU command (433 MHz)
       Current configuration:
        ^ i30 g5 @ 915 MHz

   Terminal for ID30

   I send:

       12 20 a

   The send terminal shows:

       > 196a
        -> 0 b

   Terminal for ID20 shows no change

   I’ve tried every permutation of the commands I could think of. Mind you, these permutations include three different terminals, three different kinds of FTDI converter boardss and four boards built by two different folks. I’m stumped.

   Posted 13/05/2010 20:28:23

6. jcw
   

   (FWIW, if you indent the code with 4 spaces and surround it by white lines, then this forum won't garble it)

   You need to separate args with commas, not spaces. I.e. "12,20 a" (spaces are ignored: 196 = 1220 modulo 256).

   So 20 term is not giving you the help screen on startup?

   Oh, wait - you've got an old "RF12DEMO" running. Can you upload a new one? (it's now "RF12demo", lower case).

   I'm going to introduce a version number, sorry. Should have done that ages ago.

   If you can see output, and the board responds to what you type, then I think the FTDI setup is ok - should't matter whether you use BUB or other types of interface boards. Please try updated RF12demo and commas.

   Posted 13/05/2010 22:05:29