RFM12Pi with RFM69c

mattltm · 12 August 2017 20:48

My old RFM12Pi (V1) has suffered an unfortunate accident (damaged RFM12) but rather than throw the whole lot away i’m thinking about replacing the radio with an RFM69C so I can take advantage of additional features like RSSI.

I know the newer RFM69Pi has an ATmega328 on it so I can’t run that code on my ATtiny equipped RFM12Pi but is is possible to edit the firmware for the RFM12Pi so that it recognises the RFM69C and so I can add RSSI to the mix?

I’m not sure which is the correct firmware to attempt to edit but I guess it may be this one…

github.com

openenergymonitor/RFM2Pi/blob/master/firmware/old/RF12_Demo_atmega328/RF12_Demo_atmega328.ino

// RF12Demo for Attiny84_RFM12b
// Configure some values in EEPROM for easy config of the RF12 later on.
// 2009-05-06 <[email protected]> http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php


#include <JeeLib.h>
#include <util/crc16.h>
#include <util/parity.h>
#include <avr/pgmspace.h>
#include <avr/eeprom.h>

#define LED_PIN     9

#define COLLECT 0x20 // collect mode, i.e. pass incoming without sending acks

static unsigned long now () {
    // FIXME 49-day overflow
    return millis() / 1000;
}

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I know I could just throw the RFM12Pi in the bin and get a new RFM69Pi but where’s the fun it that! I also have 4 separate systems (monitoring the rest of the family homes) so it would be great to upgrade them all.

Thanks

Robert.Wall · 13 August 2017 14:40

As far as I know, all you need to do to enable your RFM69C is recompile the sketch you are already using in the RFM12Pi, but with the RFM69 option in JeeLib enabled (#define RF69_COMPAT 1) before you include JeeLib.

I think your problem might be identifying that sketch. According to the Wiki, that sketch you have is hosted by Martin Harizanov. You also need to watch out for the serial baud rate it uses to communicate with the Pi - that’s been changed over time.

One other thing I’d be careful about - we use the RFM69CW, not the RFM69C. I don’t know what the differences are, or if they’re significant. It’s worth checking.

mattltm · 13 August 2017 19:15

Thanks Robert.

I’ve contacted Martin and he has sorted me out!

markb · 25 April 2018 14:31

Hi all,

I have the same situation as Matt - I have a RFM12Pi on which I replaced the RFM12 with an RFM69CW. I’ve tried contacting Matt and also Martin Harizanov to get the information on how to get it working again but unfortunately neither has come back to me.

Does anyone else have experience with this or know how I can get it working again?

Many thanks

Mark

mattltm · 25 April 2018 15:42

Hi Mark.

I can’t remember how I made it work but I’ll take a look through my notes and see if I left any clues.

I don’t use it anymore having moved to a LoRa system.

Matt