RFM69PI emonTx V3 problems on PI3 and raspbian

Hardware RFM69Pi
1

Hi! I am trying trying to use an emonTx V3 but I am having issues with the RF69PI on a PI3 running raspbian with linux v4.1.19. I have followed the setup instruction and tried all of the suggestions in this forum for similar problems including switching versions of avrdude from 6.11 to 5.11 and trying to reflash the firmware. I am starting to suspect a defective RFM69PI. Hopefully, the following information is enough information for someone to help me debug the problems

pi@raspberrypi:~/RFM2Pi/firmware/RFM69CW_RF_Demo_ATmega328 $ sudo rpi-serial-console status
Serial console on /dev/ttyAMA0 is disabled
pi@raspberrypi:~/RFM2Pi/firmware/RFM69CW_RF_Demo_ATmega328 $ sudo service emonhub status
● emonhub.service - LSB: Start/stop emonHub
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/emonhub)
   Active: inactive (dead) since Thu 2016-07-14 09:54:52 PDT; 7min ago
  Process: 1907 ExecStop=/etc/init.d/emonhub stop (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 431 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/emonhub start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Jul 02 06:17:04 raspberrypi emonhub[431]: Starting OpenEnergyMonitor emonHub....
Jul 02 06:17:05 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Started LSB: Start/stop emonHub.
Jul 14 09:54:52 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Stopping LSB: Start/stop emonHub...
Jul 14 09:54:52 raspberrypi emonhub[1907]: Stopping OpenEnergyMonitor emonHu....
Jul 14 09:54:52 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Stopped LSB: Start/stop emonHub.
Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full.
pi@raspberrypi:~/RFM2Pi/firmware/RFM69CW_RF_Demo_ATmega328 $ sudo avrdude -v -c arduino -p ATMEGA328P -P /dev/ttyAMA0 -b 38400 -U flash:w:RFM69CW_RF12_Demo_ATmega328.cpp.hex

avrdude: Version 5.11.1, compiled on Dec 17 2011 at 19:33:47
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2009 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "/etc/avrdude.conf"
         User configuration file is "/root/.avrduderc"
         User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping

         Using Port                    : /dev/ttyAMA0
         Using Programmer              : arduino
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 38400
avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x54

avrdude done.  Thank you.

pi@raspberrypi:~/RFM2Pi/firmware/RFM69CW_RF_Demo_ATmega328 $ sudo avrdude -v -p atmega328p -c avrispmkII -P usb -e -Ulock:w:0x3F:m -Uefuse:w:0x05:m -Uhfuse:w:0xDE:m -Ulfuse:w:0xE2:m -U flash:w:Optiboot328_8mhz_RFM69CW_RF12_Demo_ATmega328.cpp.hex:i -B 10

avrdude: Version 5.11.1, compiled on Dec 17 2011 at 19:33:47
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2009 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "/etc/avrdude.conf"
         User configuration file is "/root/.avrduderc"
         User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping

         Using Port                    : usb
         Using Programmer              : avrispmkII
         Setting bit clk period        : 10.0
avrdude: usbdev_open(): did not find any USB device "usb"

Thank you!

-Chad Coates

2

What are/were the symptoms of the original issue?

The first of the 2 firmware upload attempts above doesn’t show “avrdude-original” where it should in place of “avrdude” or show any “using autoreset” type messages to signify the rpi-avrdude/autoreset scripts are being used which would suggest they are not (correctly?) installed.

The second I am less familiar with, but it is saying the ISP programmer cannot be found, did you have a programmer plugged in? To use a ISP programmer with a rfm69pi would involve soldering in a 2x3pin header as it isn’t fitted as standard.

You should not need to use avrdude 5.11 if you are using the updated time in the autoreset script either, but before you try reprogramming again tell us a bit more about the original issue as it’s rare that these should need reprogramming.

3

Updating the RFM69Pi firmware should not be required. It should just work out of the box. Does the LED on the RFM69Pi light up when the Pi is powered up and does the LED flash every time the emonTx transmitted (every 10s) the LED on the emonTx should also flash every 10s.

We would recommend starting by using our pre-built SD card image, it includes the serial port setup for RFM69Pi as well as Emoncms, nodeRED, MQTT etc all setup and pre-installed.

See user guide setup:

4

Thank you for the feedback! I used the pre-built image as recommended and the emonTx V3 is communicating with the pi. However, I am still having some issues with the inputs. vrms and rssi are working properly but I am getting 0 for power 1-4. regardless of what process I am using. The clips are connected to standard household AC cords and I have tested them on several different appliances.

5

Do you mean current transformers? Have you read about their installation in Resources > Building Blocks?