Nrf24L01+ modules dying

Wireless & IoT
1

Hello all, posted this in the product forum but someone suggested it might get more attention over here. (link to original post here: https://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=33176).

I’ve got an arduino-based master-slave setup logging data across an RF link using the sparkfun nrf24l01+ modules (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/691). I’m using maniacbug’s RF24 library (http://maniacbug.github.com/RF24/) to drive the radios and it’s all been working very well for days.

A couple of weeks ago the link went down for no apparent reason and it seemed that one of the nRF24l01+ modules was dead. Fortunately I had another one (RP-SMA version) lying around so I swapped it in and everything was back to normal.

This morning I noticed that my link was down again and it appears that a second module has died. I’m starting to wonder what’s going on here and I don’t have an unlimited supply of these modules to keep swapping them in. Fortunately I had just ordered a few equivalent nrf modules from iteadstudio and the link is back up and running now that I have swapped one of them in.

Could there be something about my software/hardware setup that could be causing these modules to fail? Is this just chance or bad luck? They are running 5v from the arduino rail (arduino is powered from an AC adapter, so supply should be pretty steady) and there isn’t anything else on the SPI bus. Two dead units within a couple of weeks seems pretty suspect to me and I’m worried I’m doing something wrong here. A couple of replies to my original post suggested that the 5V supply was a problem but these modules have an on-board LDO regulator and are specifically listed as being compatible with a 5v supply so I’m looking for other possibilities.

Thanks in advance for any ideas, suggestions or solutions you might have!

ps. I’m able to identify the ‘dead’ one each time using the RF24 pingpair example on a separate breadboard… with the faulty unit in place the registers all seem to read correctly but it fails to send or receive packets. Swap in a fresh module and it’s happy again.

2

Could you check all lines with a multimeter, to make sure nothing’s overvoltage?

Also, are you driving the SPI at all times? Could be they’re heating up due to running continously?

(just hit me while reading your post, but is nothing but a first thought-kinda thing… )

3

If it responds over SPI but fails RF, my only shot in the dark thought might be the front end filter. If you happened to have access to them somehow, you might just try swapping the inductors and seeing what happens. If you get curious enough to want one looked at in an RF lab I’d be more than happy to fire one up in CW mode and check it out on a spec-an if you sent a busted one along. I’ll even send it back if I happened fix it haha.

Alternatively, if you have a multimeter and some through-hole components laying around you can at least see if any power is coming out of the thing: http://www.vk2zay.net/article/130

Good luck!

4

RF front ends usually are very prone to Static damage.

5

Kind of a old thread, but i was worrying about how hot one of my Nrf24L01+ chips got. Its entire purpose was listen for info. I found stop / start listening solved the heat issue. The heat issue may have been what caused yours to fail.

void loop(void)
{
  //wait for data to become available and receive all data
  radio.stopListening();
  //perform tasks
  radio.startListening();
  delay(20);
}