Hi, I bought an RF Nano a while ago and it’s pretty cool. It’s been working great for me. I found a GitHub site for an RF Nano 3.0 that has what look like some great features - like the ability to add an external antenna. The site is GitHub - emakefun/rf-nano: emakefun arduino nano V3.0 + nrf24L01+. It has a link to their store on AliExpress and I bought three boards. But the boards I received don’t seem to be the boards outlined on the GitHub site. For one, the markings on the processor chips have all been sanded off (red flag). At least one of the boards looks like it has been manually soldered - probably to correct problems in manufacturing They do load following the IDE configuration info on the site, but they run at 1/4 speed. You have to set the serial monitor to 1/4th the baud rate and the blink sketch flashes the LED at 1/4th the correct rate. I can fix this by adding code to change the clock prescaler, but this makes the code unportable. Perhaps there is a different approach, but it’s not documented in their instructions. Also, their page makes a big deal about how the V3.0 board uses DO 7 and 8 for the RF24 select and enable pins, but the ones they sent me use 9 and 10 - and reversed from the v1.0! I asked for help both through GitHub and AliExpress, but all I got back was “OK”. Quite a shame because these boards would really be great to have and I’d gladly pay more than I did for quality boards. Anyone have any ideas about where to get some?
Hi @swaine1615.
The Aliexpress listing has two different products:
RF-NANO
Processor : ATmega328P-AU
Operating voltage :5V
Recommended VIN input voltage :6V to 15V
Digital IO Pins :22 (6 of which are used as PWM output)
Analog input pin :8 (A0~A7)
IO pin DC current :40mA
5V pin current: 1000mA at VIN input
3.3V pin current: 50mA
Flash memory :32KB(of which 0.5KB is for boot loader)
SRAM: 2KB
EEPROM: 1KB
USB to serial port chip: CH340G chip with external crystal oscillator
Working clock :16 MHZLGT-RF-NANO
Processor: LGT8F328P-AU
Operating voltage :5V
Recommended VIN input voltage :6V to 15V
Digital IO Pins :22 (6 of which are used as PWM output)
Analog input pin :8 (A0~A7)
IO pin DC current :40mA
5V pin current: 1000mA at VIN input
3.3V pin current: 50mA
Flash memory :32KB(of which 0.5KB is for boot loader)
SRAM: 2KB
EEPROM: 1KB
USB to serial port chip: CH340G chip with external crystal oscillator
Working clock : up to 32 MHZ
The product you purchase is according to the variant (incorrectly labeled "Color") you select from this part of the listing:
From your review on the Aliexpress product listing, I can see that you bought the "LGT-RF-NANO" board. This board uses the LGT8F328P microcontroller instead of the Microchip ATmega328P.
My hypothesis is that that the timing problem you encountered is caused by you having selected Tools > Board > Arduino AVR Boards > Arduino Nano from the Arduino IDE menus before compiling and uploading the sketch. That is an appropriate configuration for the ATmega328P-based "RF-NANO" board, but not for the LGT8F328P-based "LGT-RF-NANO" board. The documentation for the "LGT-RF-NANO" specifies that the 3rd party "Nulllab AVR Compatible Boards" boards platform should be used:
https://github.com/nulllaborg/lgt-rf-nano#arduino-ide-software-package
Arduino IDE software package
The LGT8F328P uses Arduino IDE to program and requires independent software support package support
So follow the installation instructions for the "Nulllab AVR Compatible Boards" platform here:
After the platform is installed, select Tools > Board > Nulllab AVR Compatible Boards > Nulllab Nano/Maker-Nano from the Arduino IDE menus and then upload your sketch to the board again. Hopefully the timing issue you encountered will be resolved after you do that.
It looks like this is expected when using the "LGT-RF-NANO":
Pin connection parameters
LGT8F328P NRF24L01+ D9 CE D10 CSN
Wow! Thank you for such a comprehensive note! Yes, I want back and checked and I did buy the LGT boards. Boy, I wish AliExpress made it a bit easier to navigate when there are multiple “color” options!
I probably would have caught this if the chips had not been sanded. That one still puzzles me. I did wonder if the processors were what I expected and so I really tried to read them, but you can clearly see the scratches where they were sanded.
Also would have been nice if the seller responded with more than just “ok” when I asked for help. But perhaps just a language issue. Oh well, I did buy the wrong parts so on me.
The way they set up the listing is basically a "bait and switch". The product title specifies "ATmega343P", and nothing about the LGT8F328P, but the LGT-RF-NANO variant is selected by default. It would have been more appropriate for the seller to create separate listings for each of these products.
The product variant system is frequently abused on AliExpress and eBay. Shoppers often sort search results by "price: low to high", so if you add some cheaper product as a variant in your listing, then your listing shows up higher in the search results.
The LGT8F328P is actually an interesting microcontroller. It was designed as a drop-in replacement for the ATmega328P, but some of its specs are actually superior to those of the ATmega328P. Unfortunately the chip is not as well supported as the ATmega328P (I can't even find the manufacturer's website!) so it is perhaps not so easy to take advantage of those capabilities. Fortunately the Arduino community has done a pretty good job with the creation of multiple boards platforms for this chip and the other members of the family. In addition to the Nulllab AVR Compatible Boards platform (and the "Larduino_HSP" platform it is based on) mentioned in the documentation for the "LGT-RF-NANO", there is an alternative Arduino boards platform that seems pretty nice:
You might give that a try if you end up having any problems with Nulllab AVR Compatible Boards.
I use Google Translate every day and find it does an excellent job of translating technical writing. So I'm not sure that language is such an issue for this type of situation.
Even though the prices are attractive, I had to stop buying things on AliExpress because I had too many problems with my purchases and the customer service from the sellers. The prices are a bit higher on eBay, but eBay's policies heavily favor the buyer (which is rough when you are selling things on the platform, but great when buying) and so I had excellent experiences buying on eBay, even when buying from the same sort of super sketchy Chinese sellers of suspiciously cheap products that were treating me poorly on AliExpress. I also have good experiences buying on Amazon, but the prices are a bit higher than eBay (because Amazon's seller fees are outrageously high).
Thanks for the insights. I buy a ton from Amazon - deliveries almost every day. I also buy from ebay but mostly things other than electronics. I only recently have been using AliExpress but have been pretty pleased overall. You can’t beat Amazon for delivery speed, but if I’m working a big project and know I have time I’ve been trying AliExpress - the cost delta for the same products on Amazon is pretty amazing. I’ve even been pleasantly surprised by the shipping time on a few occasions. It’s amazing to me they can ship overseas to my door for such a low cost - it cost more for domestic shipping.
The color thing has almost tripped me up a few times and I just totally missed it this time. I think you are correct that they sometimes make it confusing on purpose to their advantage.
I wonder why you have posted this in the Classic Nano section of the forum, when you do not actually have a Classic Nano.
My experience with of AliExpress is that the vendors have absolutely no idea about what they are selling, and the build quality is appallingly low. This is opinion is also shared by a lot of members who answer the bulk of questions here.
We are getting fed up with acting as technical support for these vendors of rubbish, who often use components from the reject bins of semiconductor manufacturers. Hence the sanding off of parts, not to stop anyone seeing the chip number but to see the manufacturing date and lot number. As this would allow the tracing of bad or reject lots.
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Sorry if I posed incorrectly. When selecting the category I didn’t see an option for Namo that would fit better. What should I have picked?
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I understand your point and grumpiness. Note my topic question was not really technical - it was where to buy a quality RF Nano.
I would have gone for General electronics, but there are lots of others, like Project Advice. In general do not pick a specific section if you are not using what that specific section is all about.