Hi @Kevin, how are your repeaters working?
Can you tell me how you made them?
I’m referring to how you powered the LR/XLR radios.
Working amazing! Can order cheap xbee adapter from Amazon to power. I also bought xbee adapters from ardusimple. Either one works fine. Mobile version made to mount to tripod with 5/8" nut welded to bottom plate
Permanent install
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I’m glad it works well, its configuration is very robust, it will be much easier to get corrections in all my fields this way.
My idea is to use the XLR radio, it requires more power than the LR, and apparently these xbee adapters don’t provide enough power, Ardusimple itself says no.
However, using a step down, setting it to 3.3V and feeding directly to the radio pins should work.
Thanks for the images.
Thanks. I haven’t seen that. Good to know. They’ve done what I need with cheap sockets. Would like to test to see how much difference it makes. Yes, perform pins would be best bet.
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Hi @Kevin , I ended up buying some USB-C to Xbee adapters, I want to power LR radios with them to do another repeat, I already have the XLR radio and the other board to power it and it works well, but with this one: it only works if I connect it to a tablet or notebook, if I put it in a power bank or put power there on the indicated pins of the board which are 5v and GND, it doesn’t work, it doesn’t repeat the signal. Did something similar happen or did it work the first time for you?
I haven’t experienced that. You are limited to how many hops or repeats. That’s not a factor is it? I think 2 repeats is all. Other than that. I would try different power supplies. I was powering mine with a small phone charger. I replaced it with a higher amp phone charger and it didn’t hardly work. Went to a large 5A 120v to 5V power supply. Power supply needs to have enough capacitance to deliver the sudden power for TX.
I’ve had success using these adapters for an xlr master radio on a tower without any issues for over a year now. Provides up to 2A which is more than enough for the xlr.
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Maybe that could be it, I just find it strange that if it is connected to a notebook for example, it works normally, and I believe that the notebook must not send a lot of power to the USB ports.
This XLR power supply is very interesting. I currently use the one from ArduSimple: https://www.ardusimple.com/product/rs232-to-xbee-everything-adapter-3m-cable/. It can be used for many other things, but if it is only to power the radio, paying less than half of this one from SparkFun seems very good to me.
And for the antenna, which one do you use? I also use the one from ArduSimple: https://www.ardusimple.com/product/lr-xlr-antenna-vehicle-mount/, but it is quite expensive. I would like to find a solution that works well, affecting the signal as little as possible, but is more affordable.
Just a word of warning though. If you plan on purchasing and using the XBee Explorer USB C board for the radio and are planning on powering it from the USB port of another computer MAKE SURE that port is AT LEAST USB 3.0 specification I tried powering this board from an old USB 2.0 port on a pi 3b+ and it simply doesn’t provide enough current for the radio to work reliably. USB 3.0 however seems to do the trick. Also try to keep the usb cable as short as possible between the usb port and the xbee board.
I use the very same antenna you have posted for the rovers, but antenna selection for your repeater would depend on how far you need to extend the signal. Look for antennas which are rated for 900 mhz and are marketed for IOT applications…
The idea is to use a step down to supply 5V directly to the VIN and GND pins on the SarkFun board. This should provide the necessary power.
I tried to research the IoT antenna that you mentioned, and I didn’t find anything specific, just some very cheap ones from Aliexpress that don’t inspire much confidence.
Yes, I agree. Power supplies have caused me many hours of troubleshooting thinking the one in use is sufficient. Has more to do with capacitance in power supply than total amperage or voltage. When it transmits. It needs higher amperage for just a few Miliseconds. Then very little power in-between. If you have an oscilloscope, you would see the issue. Good luck.
Does it work to add a capacitor on the output?
When it comes to purchasing an antenna I would recommend getting the antenna from a reputable electronics distributor such as mouser or digikey. But if you are not situated in North America then maybe find an online distributor that is equivalent to those I mentioned to save on cost. What distance do you need your repeater to cover exactly?
As an alternative to using the step down approach is to just go all in on POE setup using a POE+ switch to power a device which has the necessary usb port to power and manage your xbee board. It’s a more costly approach, but its also alot more convenient for managing the device and diagnosing any issues. There are all sorts of relatively cheap 8 port POE+ switches online, just need to do some research…
Capacitor between positive and negative output of power supply should help keep voltage at 5V during transmit to deliver enough power through cycle. I would recommend just trying a more robust power supply. But a capacitor should help. The tx led shouldn’t be really dim. I could barely see it on the 5Amp USB phone charger I tried. I haven’t tested it with capacitor, but I expect with the correct size it would’ve worked. The laptop USB doesn’t deliver a lot of amperage, but it’s robust battery and power conditioning makes it a better power source than the one that didn’t work.
Do you have a saved configuration files (Base, Repeater, Rover) for your Xbee (Digi SX) radios you could share?
You bet! I’m not sure when I’ll get time to send from computer though. We are having great weather for fall work right now.
With the repeaters right?
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From what I’m reading, the base and repeater config is the same? Please share whatever you have. I think I have something working but I’d appreciate comparing to yours.