Hardware serial port Problem-Iridium satellite

Projects General Guidance
1

Good afternoon, I am developing a series of ocean buoys and for communication I am using the following shield with Arduino

The shield use serial port hardware (pin 0 and pin 1) to communicate with the Arduino.

// PinMode (0, INPUT); // RX
// PinMode (1 OUTPUT); // TX
// PinMode (2, INPUT); // RING
// PinMode (3, INPUT); // CTS
// PinMode (4, OUTPUT); // DTR
// PinMode (5, OUTPUT); // RTS
// PinMode (6, INPUT); // DCD
// PinMode (14, OUTPUT); // Shield_POWER_ON
digitalWrite (14, HIGH); // Shield_POWER_OND
// Serial.begin (19200);

The problem is the following:
• When I use lead acid battery 12V 10Ah, the system does not send me information, I see the LEDs flashing But I never get a message form the buoy.
• When I use lead acid battery 12V 10Ah and connect a serial terminal (to see how it goes the program flow) The buoy always works for me (send me a message every hour)

I had used different batteries, loaded well, and nothing works.

• When I use 9V DC (DC charger) the buoy sometimes send a message.

I think there is a problem with the serial port (which it shares with the Arduino shield) or the bootloader dont run well, but not sure, anyone have any suggestions?

I leave my next program

Thank you so much.

satellite_antrax.txt (4.23 KB)

2

What are you using for an antenna, and can it see the sky clearly?

3

CrossRoads:
What are you using for an antenna, and can it see the sky clearly?

http://www.taoglas.com/images/product_images/original_images/IP.1621.25.4.A.02%20Iridium%20Patch%20Antenna%201621MHz.pdf

I have only 1 of 12 bouys working. I dont know why only 1 is working at the sea (same program, same version of Arduino, same batteries, etc.).

4

It's possible that the voltage regulator on the Arduino is overheating from the power drain of the shield. 12V to 5V is a lot of voltage to drop. It's in spec, but can cause problems with bigger loads.

5

Also, please post your code using code tags. The code tags make the code look

like this

when posting source code files. It makes it easier to read, and can be copied with a single mouse click. Also, if you don't do it, some of the character sequences in the code can be misinterpreted by the forum code as italics or funny emoticons.

Unless the sketch is too large, it's better if you post your code, rather than attach it. When it's attached, we have to download it, create a folder then open your code in our IDE. And afterwards, the folder remains unless we navigate to the "Temp" folder and manually remove it. It's much easier to just view the code in your post.

6

Just curious, what powers the transmitter?
Dwight
r

7

I presume you are using an UNO.

You seem to be using Pins 0 and 1 (Rx and Tx) to communicate with the receiver AND with the PC Serial Monitor. It would make life much easier if you separate those functions.

Can you use SoftwareSerial to create another serial port and use that to communicate with the receiver?

Alternatively use the SoftwareSerial port together with a USB-TTL cable to communicate with the PC.

...R