Ren-W Feedback from 2010

[dirknerkle]

Folks, I'm looking for feedback from DIYC members who used a Ren-W in their displays during the 2010 season. Specifically I'm looking for information that might make it a better device. If you had trouble with it this past year, please post what kind of trouble you had and what your solutions (if any) were. Nothing is off limits -- if you had trouble building them, finding parts, too confusing, needed better documentation, built them but didn't use them, or whatever.

This is a no-holds-barred thread so let it all hang out... within the confines of decency, of course... I want all comments, both good and bad. Thanks in advance!

-dave

[stenersonj]

we used the Ren-W for two displays this year. I htnk 5 boards in all with no troubles at all. all worked flawlessly.

Thanks Dirk!

[RickeyS]

I built four, tried to use two at computer (two different com ports) and two in the field to receive. Didn't work for me and went to one at computer and one in the field, this worked great (same as I used for Halloween). Didn't spend a lot of time to figure out problem. With both hooked up a lot and I mean a lot of missfires. I did change address's of x-bees. Also two x-bees were pro verision and two x-bees regular verision. I did search forums and found a couple of things to try (change channel, ground power supplys together etc) but to be honest never got around to trying them. Will set something up and try when weather warms up. But all that being said I loved the wireless and the one that I used for Halloween and Christmas worked GREAT! So I'm sure with a little troubleshooting on my part I can get both to work at the same time.
As above poster stated Thanks Dirk

RickeyS

[Greg in Canby]

Had all the parts in time for the 2010 season, didn't have the time to build 'em.

After the season:
Finished the SS8 - but for one last part - ARRRRRRG.
Finished the Ren-W.
I believe I have programmed the X-Bees (fingers crossed).
Mouser has my stuff in the mail - full test in February - need to pass a test at work to stay employed (late January).

So far, everything has been well documented and straight forward to build.
Had a couple hour hiccup with the X-Bees but I think I'm past that.

I will report further progress in February.

Greg

Update: X-Bees not playing nice. With me OR each other. Trying to re-establish ANY communication with either1

[IdunBenhad]

Hi:
One XBee Pro and one regular. Both are on REV 6 boards right now. Did not get time to use them in the display, but I did test them. The range was excellent. The Pro was inside a wooden building using a short router antenna. The RX was about 100 feet away in a plastic box with a ground plane for the short router antenna in the lid. The ground plane was made from aluminum tape. It ran flawlessly from what I could see.

Had to make a modification to the REV 6 board so it would interface to a 16 channel XMUS, but the SMA version ran with no mods.

[dirknerkle]

It's been almost a month and it appears that the basic problems have been the understanding of how to get radios to talk to one another. There doesn't appear to much issue with building them at all or anything about calculating/flashing start addresses for controllers, so it gets down to basic communication problems.

Not hard to solve. For two XBee radios to talk to another, they must...

1. Be of the same type (i.e. Series 1 XBees will not talk to Series 2 XBees -- it's like the difference between AM and FM radio).
2. Have the same PANID (the default is 3332. This is like a "domain name" for the XBee network).
3. Be operating on the same channel (this is the actual frequency for communication to happen. The default is channel C).
4. Have the same MAC MODE (we use NO ACKS).
5. Have the same BAUD rate (57600 is as fast as you can go with XBees for our use).
6. Have the same PARITY setting (either NONE or some use MARK parity - whichever you use, they must be the same).
7. Have the same DEVICE SETTING (we use END DEVICE, the default. We do NOT use a coordinator).
8. Have the same PACKETIZATION TIMEOUT (we use zero).
9. Be close enough together so they can work. For testing, this can be as close as 3 feet. You can move them apart later on after they're working.
10. The cat5 connection cable must be good and properly made.
11. To receive with an SMA board, the radio must be in the RX side (right) and the right RJ45 (J2) must be connected to the RS-IN of the controller
12. To receive with a Rev6 board the jumper must be in RX mode and the RJ45 must be connected to the RS-IN of the controller.
13. To transmit with an SMA board, the radio must be in the TX side (left) and the RS485 input signal must be plugged into the left RJ45 (J1)
14. To transmit with a Rev6 board the jumper must be in TX mode and the RJ45 must be connected to the RS485 input signal.
15. Remember your RS485 pin assignments for Renard: GND = pins 1 & 2, -Data is pin 4, +Data is pin 5.

When TWO radios are used as transmitters, such as on two com ports, the radios MUST use both A DIFFERENT CHANNEL FREQUENCY and DIFFERENT PANID. Otherwise, it's like having a multiple walkie-talkies on the same channel with more than one person talking -- the transmission becomes garbled and won't work. The only exception to this is if one radio is forwarding to the next in a wireless daisy-chain design. In that case, they must be on the same channel using the same PANID, but you assign a specific radio ID address that you want the forwarding radio to talk to; there can be only one.

[Skunberg]

Did you copy, paste this into your manual?

[dirknerkle]

Did you copy, paste this into your manual?

It's all in there although not necessarily in one, concise list like this. Probably a good idea!

[Skunberg]

It's all in there although not necessarily in one, concise list like this. Probably a good idea!

That's why i mentioned it. A well layed out list. Maybe in FAQ or troubleshooting? Step by step to follow so you cover all the bases so to speak.