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A project log for Wireless soil moisture sensor

NRF24L01 ATTINY85 work together to measure and broadcast soil moisture sensor data

andriymalyshenkoandriy.malyshenko 08/12/2020 at 22:120 Comments

Rev. A PCBs just arrived. As you would expect I've messed up pinout for nrf module. But still plan to do series of tests, and hopefully finalize fimware based on this design. 

Next task would be a fight for power consumption, therefore i took some time to prepare tooling for that. 

I've assmbled INA219 based power meter additionaly to standard multimeter tool. Later has better resolution for sleep mode currents (talking few uA here), first one i plan to use to capture consumption on longer runs. 

I replaced 0.1 Ohm resistor with 1 Ohm to have 10 times better resolution, so instead of ±800uA it should be ±80uA. It is not quite enough for sleep mode capturing, but should give good enough overview on total power consumption on longer run.

Here is the firmware for it

#define SERIAL_SPEED 115200

#define DISPLAY_CONTRAST 120
#define DISPLAY_PIN_RST    3
#define DISPLAY_PIN_CE     4
#define DISPLAY_PIN_DC     5

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <Wire.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include "main.h"

#include <Adafruit_GFX.h>
#include <Adafruit_PCD8544.h>
Adafruit_PCD8544 display = Adafruit_PCD8544(DISPLAY_PIN_DC, DISPLAY_PIN_CE, DISPLAY_PIN_RST);

#include <Adafruit_INA219.h>
Adafruit_INA219 ina219;

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(SERIAL_SPEED);
  while (!Serial)
    _delay_ms(1);

  display.begin();
  display.setContrast(DISPLAY_CONTRAST);
  display.setTextSize(0);
  display.setTextColor(BLACK);

  if (!ina219.begin())
  {
    Serial.println("Failed to find INA219 chip");
    while (1)
      _delay_ms(10);
  }
  ina219.setCalibration_16V_400mA();
}

uint32_t last_measurement = 0;

void loop()
{
  uint32_t started = millis();
  update_power_display();
  Serial.println();
  // _delay_ms(100);
}

float total_mA_ms  = 0.0;

void update_power_display() {
  // Read voltage and current from INA219.
  float shuntvoltage = ina219.getShuntVoltage_mV();
  float busvoltage = ina219.getBusVoltage_V();
  float current_mA = ina219.getCurrent_mA() / 10.;
  if (current_mA < 0)
    current_mA = 0;

  // Compute load voltage, power, and milliamp-hours.
  float loadvoltage = busvoltage + (shuntvoltage / 1000);
  float power_mW = loadvoltage * current_mA;

  display.clearDisplay();

  display.setCursor(0, 0);
  display.setTextColor(BLACK);
  display.print(F("VCC, V= ")); 
  display.setTextColor(WHITE, BLACK);
  display.println(loadvoltage); 
  Serial.print(loadvoltage);
  Serial.print('\t');

  display.setTextColor(BLACK);
  display.print(F("CUR,mA= ")); 
  display.setTextColor(WHITE, BLACK);
  display.println(current_mA); 
  Serial.print(current_mA);
  Serial.print('\t');

  display.setTextColor(BLACK);
  display.print(F("PWR,mW= ")); 
  display.setTextColor(WHITE, BLACK);
  display.println(power_mW); 
  Serial.print(power_mW);
  Serial.print('\t');

  uint32_t passed_ms = millis() - last_measurement;
  Serial.print(F("+"));
  Serial.print(passed_ms);
  Serial.print('\t');
  last_measurement = millis();

  uint32_t total_sec = last_measurement / 1000.0;
  uint32_t sec = total_sec % 60;
  uint32_t min = (total_sec - sec) / 60;
  display.setTextColor(BLACK);
  display.print(F("TIME  = ")); 
  display.setTextColor(WHITE, BLACK);
  display.print(min); 
  display.setTextColor(BLACK);
  display.print(F(":")); 
  display.setTextColor(WHITE, BLACK);
  if (sec < 10) display.print(F("0")); 
  display.println(sec); 
  Serial.print(total_sec);
  Serial.print('\t');

  total_mA_ms += current_mA * passed_ms;
  float total_mAs = total_mA_ms / 1000.; // 3600.0;

  display.setTextColor(BLACK);
  display.print(F("CP,mAs= ")); 
  display.setTextColor(WHITE, BLACK);
  display.println(total_mAs); 
  Serial.print(total_mAs);
  Serial.print('\t');

  // Serial.println();
  display.display(); 
}

Started with library example I tried to reduce time between measurements to possible minimum, since total power use is calculated based on assumption that current doesn't change between measurements. Currently i have ~33 ms between probes, will see later on if this would be enough. Basically it should be at least one order of magnitude lower than wakup time of my MCU.

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