Next time you will arrive at this conclusion waaaay sooner. These are a little tiny nightmare and it is essential that you can get them to function reliably, usually ppl don't write the "hard"parts, so you need a good tutorial - I found these, there are others. I cannot find the Robin2 material, but that has helped everyone.
Also are you sure you have accounted for any variations in your specific part? There are many different boards and configurations and voltages, so just be sure you are dealing with what you have in front of you.
also separate the modules during testing, Imma guess 10 feet would do or someone will correct me, thanks.
Srsly, even with a deadline I would take the time.