Problem with NRF24L01 low current on some pins ! help ! [SOLVED]

MarkT:
I very much doubt you'll get 1.1km range at 2.4GHz. Far too much noise on the band from microwave ovens and WiFi. Think 30m or so is more practical.

To debug what is happening with several logic signals at once really needs a logic analyzer, a multimeter can only show time-averaged voltages and that's not helpful at the timescales involved in sending a packet at 256kbaud or faster.

Start with known good example code for the library in question to test the hardware.

I see, well for the sketches they work great on the other NRF24L01 without antenna

Then perhaps its a power issue, or interference from the transmitting antenna? Can you show a picture of how its all hooked up?

MarkT:
Then perhaps its a power issue, or interference from the transmitting antenna? Can you show a picture of how its all hooked up?

MarkT, well before asking me i removed the modules with antenna and placed modules without antenna the low range ones, so at first when i connected them a signal showed on the monitor but stuck at value of 2 of pot so i removed the connections and plugged them again and no signal :confused: so what do you think might happens ? seems some connection maybe broken or something ?

You are well away from any WiFi router?

MarkT:
You are well away from any WiFi router?

i am in the living room where there is no wifi rooter but in the next room there is but even that it should work as I built another project last year and all went great and i am in same place as last year and rooter in same place too

Did place the receiver 3 feet away from the transmitter and try the sketch without the long range antenna ?

raschemmel:
Did place the receiver 3 feet away from the transmitter and try the sketch without the long range antenna ?

yes i did tried that, but at the moment i am testing the low range modules and seems voltage is 0 on the CE and CSN pin 3 and 4 of the NRF24L01 on the controller but on the receiver there is voltage

The question was does it work ? (yes or no)
I can't tell what you answer was.
Please answer "yes" ir "no" , so we can rule out
range issues.

raschemmel:
The question was does it work ? (yes or no)
I can't tell what you answer was.
Please answer "yes" ir "no" , so we can rule out
range issues.

no it does not :confused:

"no it does not"

Tnen you can forget about range until it does, then you can do a range test with th he antennas
and test every 100 m until it stops working,
then reduce the distance testing every 25 meters
until it works reliably. For the time being
you should forget everything you thought
you knew about what is good and what isn't and
either reexamine the circuit in detail or tear it
apart and rebuild it from scratch after testing
every component first.
What ever you thought you knew is wrong
or you wouldn'tbe here.

They say the hardest part is "letting go"
( of a loved one or a circuit you loved")
We've all experienced that pain of loss as
you tear apart a circuit you spent hours or
days getting to work, only to start over from scratch and rebuild it. Anyone who hasn't
experienced that wouldn't understand how
it makes you feel doing a tear- down and
rebuild. Suffice it to say it's not "fun".

raschemmel:
"no it does not"

Tnen you can forget about range until it does, then you can do a range test with th he antennas
and test every 100 m until it stops working,
then reduce the distance testing every 25 meters
until it works reliably. For the time being
you should forget everything you thought
you knew about what is good and what isn't and
either reexamine the circuit in detail or tear it
apart and rebuild it from scratch after testing
every component first.
What ever you thought you knew is wrong
or you wouldn'tbe here.

They say the hardest part is "letting go"
( of a loved one or a circuit you loved")
We've all experienced that pain of loss as
you tear apart a circuit you spent hours or
days getting to work, only to start over from scratch and rebuild it. Anyone who hasn't
experienced that wouldn't understand how
it makes you feel doing a tear- down and
rebuild. Suffice it to say it's not "fun".

Ok i retested the range again to make sure no results, so i rebuilt the circuit, it is very simple anyway just the modules and 1 pot but i ignored the put and took a sketch from an online tutorial and tested it no results, by the way i showed my circuit picture in original post attached. I am using jumper wires with the modules might that create a problem a broken wire or something ?

Or maybe the layout of the pins is different which i hardly doubt it is the case, I got the modules from aliexpress from china by the way. The arduinos are both new out of the box still so it can't be the case of a broken arduino pin.

I took my multimeter and tested the pins of the module, all have voltages except pin5 which is the SCK has a voltage of 0.15V other pins from 1.5V to 3.3V

Robin2's simple rf24 tutorial has information and known good code that may help you to get the radios working. That tutorial helped me a lot.

One thing to note is that the Uno's 3.3V regulator often will not provide the current needed by the radios. Sometimes a 10uF cap across the 3.3V supply to the radio will help by supplying the required current when the radio transmits (but sometimes not). I always use a separate 3.3V regulator (LM1117 3.3) supplied by the Uno 5V regulator to power my radios.

groundFungus:
Robin2's simple rf24 tutorial has information and known good code that may help you to get the radios working. That tutorial helped me a lot.

One thing to note is that the Uno's 3.3V regulator often will not provide the current needed by the radios. Sometimes a 10uF cap across the 3.3V supply to the radio will help by supplying the required current when the radio transmits (but sometimes not). I always use a separate 3.3V regulator (LM1117 3.3) supplied by the Uno 5V regulator to power my radios.

thank you so much groundFungus !!!! IT WORKED !!
The problem was the capacitor, when I added it, it just fired up like a new engine !! Karma++ !

Good catch Groundfungus
+1

raschemmel:
Good catch Groundfungus
+1

raschemmel thanks for trying to help and thanks for everyone :slight_smile:

raschemmel thanks for trying to help and thanks for everyone

I have used the NRF24L01 many times but I never noticed this issue because I have been
automatically adding electrolytic caps to my power lines since I started in electronics 40
years ago so I would never have tried to use it before going through this routine ritual
when setting up the breadboard. I typically use 10uF for the Reset pin and 47uF or
greater for power rails. (100uF is a good round number that is usually enough). You
can never have too much capacitance on your power rails.

raschemmel:
I have used the NRF24L01 many times but I never noticed this issue because I have been
automatically adding electrolytic caps to my power lines since I started in electronics 40
years ago so I would never have tried to use it before going through this routine ritual
when setting up the breadboard. I typically use 10uF for the Reset pin and 47uF or
greater for power rails. (100uF is a good round number that is usually enough). You
can never have too much capacitance on your power rails.

So you suggest the best choice is to use 100uF between VCC and GND ?

I wouldn't think twice..

raschemmel:
I wouldn't think twice..

ok will use a 100uF, meanwhile karma++ :smiley: