Interference?
30 December, 2011 - 16:44
Hello!
I have a new Livebox / HAH and am working my way through a series of problems, one of which being the RF functionality, another being the LCD output. I realised the other day that i was being a bit of an idiot and was following the instructions to the letter! I plugged it in for the first time and the LCD didn't work. I then went on to get annoyed at why the RF wasn't working only to later realise that i hadn't plugged it in yet... because that instructions hadn't told me to!
Anyway, i'm still trying to fix the LCD issues but decided to crack on with the RF functionality. I turned off the livebox and plugged it in and turned it back on. I didn't notice any different ( and still tring to get my Home Easy 330v2's to work ) when i noticed that the normal HomeEasy remote didn't work. What was more strange was that my Current Cost meter was also not getting a signal. The only conclusion i could come to was that by plugging in the RF unit to the HAH it was interfering with the others so i took it out! Sure enough, as soon as i booted it back up both the remotes and the CC128 worked again!
This seems rather odd given that i can't be the first one that uses Current Cost and the RF unit. Any ideas?
Andy.
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30 December, 2011 - 17:34
#3
sorry
I do not have the wiring diagram for hah to hand or assembly instructions and cannot find them on wiki (not unusual)
using MM you can check voltages are correct etc.
one thing on lcd i seem to remember it has a contrast adjustment, if this is wrong it will disp;lay nowt.
Dean
30 December, 2011 - 17:49
#4
Schematic + assembly instructions
I've asked Derek to fix / amend the assembly instructions - if you can point out the exactly issue here it can be amended. This is also where you find the Schematic.
http://www.dbzoo.com/livebox/assembly
I had a bit of a clean up and moved some of the pages around to make it easier to find stuff and I've noticed many pages need updating.
Brett
31 December, 2011 - 09:53
#5
Bitter experience
I don't want to offend anyone so I'll just let you know my experience with configuring the LCD. I somehow managed to solder the potentiometer (variable resistor?) into the PCB back to front! :-P So it is possible. Just to confirm that you have, as suggested by Derek I think, powered up the box with the case open and put a small screwdriver in the potentiometer and tested the output of the LCD over the whole range of the potentiometer's travel. A poor contact or something would probably cause the LCD to remain blank.
2 January, 2012 - 15:32
#6
RF not working
Hi Andy!
No you are not the first one that uses Current Cost and the RF unit.
And no, you are not the only one with the described phenomenon on RF devices!
I have/had the same effects than you and also noticed, that all of my remotes didn't work any more until I took the HAH off power and on again.
Afterwards everything worked all right some days until the same phenomenon came back again.
Unfortunately nobody in this forum cound help me (believed me?), so I took many investigations e.g. other places for the HAH etc. - nothing helped!
One day I read about an other problem in conjunction with the 1-wire devices and RF. Because I didn't need the 1-wire devices (nice but not a must have),
I disabled it.
After this my problems with the RF-Devices and the absolute "freezing" of them was coming back only once since 3-4 months, obviously but for me not plausible why the two things have something to do with each other and disturb each other.
Give a try and tell me if this also helped in your case!
Greetings from Austria,
Markus
2 January, 2012 - 15:44
#7
RF/CurrentCost
For what it's worth, I use CurrnetCost (EnviR) and also RF. I didn't notice any problems when I had the 1-wire installed but I have removed the 1-wire from the PCB and I don't have any problems with my CC device.
2 January, 2012 - 16:03
#8
Solid here
I use 4off Lidl RF sockets/CC/two DS18B20s and a Joggler. Uptime is currently 29days (since my last planned reboot) and RF, with an external antenna) is flawless.
We did have a historic issue with the AVR when it was coded in Bascom ... however, the shift to Arduino has, in my experience, cleared this.
What versions of firmware (HAH/AVR) are folks using?
Derek.
2 January, 2012 - 16:09
#9
Setup
I use 3 Lidl RF sockets/cc/on PCB temp sensor. Build 301/3.4 currently uptime 3 days 15 hours
2 January, 2012 - 17:58
#10
RF and 1wire interactions
Firstly let me say I used to have massive RF issues with the older Bascom code as many regulars on here will know, such was the problem that I had to reboot every 2 hours to keep RF working. I never understood why this seemed to affect just a small number of us, not everone.
Anyhow, since moving to the C Code RF is very stable, I have never had it stop working once its up and running. That said I do have a strange 1wire/RF interaction which may/may not be related to the issues discussed here.
I have a very long 1-wire run across alarm cabling with 7 devices on it (inside my PIR detectors). This is frowned upon by anyone with any electronics knowledge but it seems to work OK for me once I get it stable. however, getting them and RF stable is the issue:
After a reboot with everything connected, my RF wont work. This persists even after a power off and on.
The only way to get round this is to boot up with 3 1-wire devices only connected and RF is then OK. Once up and ruinning I connect the other 4 devices and restart the 1wire bus, everything is then OK and very stable (I can run for weeks at atime with no reboots)
I dont know why this should be the case but I assume its something to do with the draw/resistance/capacitance on the 1-wire bus during power up?!.
This is a small niggle and since I dont reboot that often I just live with it, I also route the other 4 devices through a HAH relay so can connect and disconnect remotely giving me the ability to do all this messing away from home if I need to reboot "offsite" for whatever reason.
Just thought Id mention it as it might help explain some of the RF issues discussed here?.
cheers,
Garry
12 January, 2012 - 14:57
#11
Could it be...
My first reaction when reading some of the problems described above (wpmax , af199, garrydwilms) was is your HAH power supply (walwart) up to the task or perhaps is it or the on board 5V regulator possibly failing?
Perhaps measuring the 15v and 5v suplies would be a good starting point
kevin9
Double check all your connections.
RF should only fire in bursts when called not run contiuously.
i run RF, Currentcost, Doorbell and wx stn all on 433.925MHz (standard low power RF frequency)
it is a bit dissconcerting your LCD is not working may i suggest before you go any further a trip to maplins is in order and buy the cheapes multimeter you can
http://www.maplin.co.uk/domestic-multimeter-37279 for £5 you cant go wrong.
It will prove invaluable in checking voltages shorts etc.
where abouts are you? as diagnoising hardware remotely is a lot trickier than software diagnosis.