SPI clash between LCD and nRF24L01



  • Hi,

    Created a protoboard with a nRF24L01 board on it which uses SPI.

    RF24 board is close to 100% successful before I include the M5Stack library, now it it's maybe 3% successful. When I "disable" the LCD and TFCard (by conditionally removing the code in the M5Stack library) then the RF24 is good again.

    I'm wondering if the LCD is "locking" the SPI bus?

    I am running the SPI devices in parallel and have set the RF24 CS/CE pins to GPIO5 and GPIO17.

    Any ideas? Thanks! ... love your stuff!



  • Been reading some of the issues in the RF24.h git repo and someone is having similar-ish issues. It was suggested that I write the LCD CS high (disable) high before using the RF24, then write the LCD CS pin low again (or maybe write LCD CS low-high when I want to update the LCD display).

    I should also point out that the M5Stack device is the master, and the slave is receiving the data ok, the M5Stack device is just not getting the ACK/getting the reply.



  • Ah, I think I got it. Guessing it's going to be related to this line (in /src/utility/Display.h): https://github.com/m5stack/M5Stack/blob/fdedf5fd901963068a0ec6a4b2270c239a21b29e/src/utility/Display.h#L60

    Should get back to work... looking forward to having a hack tonight :)



  • For what it's worth commenting out the two lines in the post above didn't fix it. I also tried writing LOW to LCD_CS (before writing) then HIGH to disable (after writing) and that did not fix it either.

    Going to try using a different LCD library.



  • @m5stack any ideas about this? I shouldn't have any issues using other devices that use SPI should I?

    Thanks!



  • Hello, It seems like I have a problem similaire has yours... I would like to use à MAX6675 to get temperature from a Thermocouple K, but this board use SPI.

    When I test my code in a ESP32, it's OK. When I test my code in the M5Stack without the M5.begin(), it's ok, but when I include de M5.begin, the value returned by the MAX6675 are 0

    Is there any solution ?



  • @sibtcha Hi Sibtcha,
    I haven't tried using a thermocouple with the M5Stack..... I don't think Skelstar has been here in a while.... Perhaps post your code... someone may notice a problem.



  • @JimiT You're right. Here is my code and the result when M5 lib is included or not

    #include <Adafruit_MAX31855.h>
    //#include <M5Stack.h>
    
    // Example creating a thermocouple instance with software SPI on any three digital IO pins.
    #define MAXDO   19
    #define MAXCS   17
    #define MAXCLK  18
    
    Adafruit_MAX31855 thermocouple(MAXCLK, MAXCS, MAXDO);
    
    void setup() {
      //M5.begin();
      Serial.begin(115200);
      Serial.print("Internal Temp = ");
      Serial.println(thermocouple.readInternal());
      
      while (!Serial) delay(1); // wait for Serial on Leonardo/Zero, etc
      
      Serial.println("MAX31855 test");
    
      // wait for MAX chip to stabilize
      delay(2000);
    }
    
    void loop() {
    
      // basic readout test, just print the current temp
      Serial.print("Internal Temp = ");
      Serial.println(thermocouple.readInternal());
      
      double c = thermocouple.readCelsius();
      if (isnan(c)) {
        Serial.println("Something wrong with thermocouple!");
      } else {
        Serial.print("C = ");
        Serial.println(c);
      }
     
      delay(1000);
    
      //M5.update();
    }
    

    And the result is

    Internal Temp = 32.50
    C = 17.25
    Internal Temp = 32.56
    C = 15.25
    Internal Temp = 32.56
    C = 18.25
    Internal Temp = 32.50
    C = 16.50
    Internal Temp = 32.56
    C = 17.25
    Internal Temp = 32.63
    C = 18.50
    Internal Temp = 32.56
    C = 18.25
    Internal Temp = 32.63
    

    But if I uncomment the line 3 lines to include M5 to the projet, the result is:

    Internal Temp = 0.00
    C = 0.00
    Internal Temp = 0.00
    C = 0.00
    Internal Temp = 0.00
    C = 0.00
    Internal Temp = 0.00
    C = 0.00
    Internal Temp = 0.00
    C = 0.00
    Internal Temp = 0.00
    C = 0.00
    

    I think is something about the SPI, but I'm not sure. I try to use other pins but unfortunately unsucessfully



  • @sibtcha At the very top of the code it should have:

    #include <SPI.h>
    

    That file should already be on your system if you followed standard setup for the M5Stack - it should be located in:

    C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\Documents\Arduino\hardware\espressif\esp32\libraries\SPI\src

    Perhaps give that a try with the M5Stack commands enabled.

    Further tweaks may be required....



  • Thank you @JimiT

    Indeed I forgot to include the SPI lib, but unfortunetaly the result isn't good. The values jump between positive and negastives and I do nothing.

    Internal Temp = 68.12
    Something wrong with thermocouple!
    Internal Temp = -111.87
    Something wrong with thermocouple!
    Internal Temp = 33.75
    Something wrong with thermocouple!
    Internal Temp = -120.00
    C = 1548.50
    Internal Temp = 32.63
    C = 530.00
    Internal Temp = 33.56
    Something wrong with thermocouple!
    


  • @sibtcha , try to initialize Adafruit_MAX31855 library only with CS pin:

    Adafruit_MAX31855 thermocouple(MAXCS);
    

    as You see at library source: https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-MAX31855-library/blob/master/Adafruit_MAX31855.cpp
    when You declare SPI CLK line then library try read this device by software SPI implementation!

    also You are forgot thermocouple.begin();



  • @reaper7SPI clash between LCD and nRF24L01 中说:

    thermocouple.begin();

    Thank you for the reply.

    Wich pin do you think I have to use for the CS ? No matter wich one ? In the MAX31855 I've 5 pins

    • GND
    • VCC (3v3)
    • DO
    • CS
    • CLK

    If I only initialize the object with the CS, what must I do with the other pins (DO and CLK) ?

    Sorry for this question, but I'm a begginer



  • Phisically connect Your MAX to SPI lines and CS leave connected as is!
    M5Stack pinout:
    https://github.com/m5stack/M5Stack#pinout

    MAX DO -> M5Stack MISO (GPIO19)
    MAX CS -> M5Stack GPIO17
    MAX CLK -> M5Stack CLK (GPIO18)

    Looks like You have connection prepared corectly...

    Change only Your sketch like this:

    #include <SPI.h>
    #include <Adafruit_MAX31855.h>
    //#include <M5Stack.h>
    
    // Example creating a thermocouple instance with software SPI on any three digital IO pins.
    //#define MAXDO   19
    //#define MAXCLK  18
    #define MAXCS   17
    
    Adafruit_MAX31855 thermocouple(MAXCS);
    
    void setup() {
      //M5.begin();
      Serial.begin(115200);
      Serial.print("Internal Temp = ");
      Serial.println(thermocouple.readInternal());
      
      while (!Serial) delay(1); // wait for Serial on Leonardo/Zero, etc
      
      Serial.println("MAX31855 test");
    
      thermocouple.begin();
    
      // wait for MAX chip to stabilize
      delay(2000);
    }
    
    void loop() {
    
      // basic readout test, just print the current temp
      Serial.print("Internal Temp = ");
      Serial.println(thermocouple.readInternal());
      
      double c = thermocouple.readCelsius();
      if (isnan(c)) {
        Serial.println("Something wrong with thermocouple!");
      } else {
        Serial.print("C = ");
        Serial.println(c);
      }
     
      delay(1000);
    
      //M5.update();
    }
    


  • Hello,

    thank you for your reply. I'v tried to only use the CS pin and it works, but... yes, there is always a but :-) the results are not very accurate. From the moment a set a brightness in the screen, the values of the temperatures grows.

    I try to read the temp in a separate task, but it didn't change anything.

    Here is my code

    #include "Adafruit_MAX31855.h"
    #include <SPI.h>
    #include <M5Stack.h>
    
    // Example creating a thermocouple instance with software SPI on any three
    // digital IO pins.
    #define MAXCS   17
    
    Adafruit_MAX31855 thermocouple(MAXCS);
    
    void task1(void * pvParameters) {
      for (;;) {
        float avg = 0;
    
        /* Read nbReadToAvg times to make an average of the temp */
        for (int i = 0; i < nbReadToAvg; i++) {
          float c = thermocouple.readCelsius();
          avg = avg + c;
          delay(100);
        }
    
        avg = avg / nbReadToAvg;
        Serial.println(avg);
      }
    }
    
    
    void setup() {
    
      Serial.begin(115200);
      Serial.print("MOSI=");
      Serial.println(MOSI);
      Serial.print("MISO=");
      Serial.println(MISO);
      Serial.print("SCK=");
      Serial.println(SCK);
      Serial.print("SS=");
      Serial.println(SS);
    
      thermocouple.begin();
      
      Serial.print("Internal Temp = ");
      Serial.println(thermocouple.readInternal());
    
      while (!Serial) delay(1); // wait for Serial on Leonardo/Zero, etc
    
      Serial.println("MAX31855 Initializing ...");
    
      //  M5.Lcd.setTextColor(WHITE, BLACK);
    
      // wait for MAX chip to stabilize
      delay(1000);
    
      xTaskCreatePinnedToCore(
        task1,
        "task1",
        4096,
        NULL,
        1,
        NULL,
        0
      );
    
      Serial.println("M5 begin without LCD");
      M5.begin(false, false);
      delay(10000);
      Serial.println("LCD Start");
      M5.Lcd.begin();
      for(int j=0;j<100;j++) {
        //Serial.printf("Brigthness=%d\n", j);
        M5.Lcd.setBrightness(j);
        delay(200);
      }
      //delay(10000);
      Serial.println("LCD Shutdown set Brightness to 20");
      M5.Lcd.setBrightness(10);
      //M5.Lcd.sleep();
      M5.Lcd.setTextSize(4);
      M5.Lcd.print("test");
      M5.update();
    }
    
    void loop() {
    
    }
    

    And here is the result :

    20.27
    20.50
    20.35
    20.45
    20.27
    18.52
    20.12
    20.58
    20.42
    LCD Start
    20.27
    18.60
    21.55
    22.73
    21.58
    21.77
    21.98
    20.87
    21.40
    22.40
    21.65
    23.60
    23.40
    24.02
    24.48
    24.62
    24.55
    29.67
    26.83
    25.52
    29.15
    LCD Shutdown set Brightness to 20
    23.48
    22.27
    22.15
    21.50
    22.92
    20.50
    21.67
    22.60
    21.92
    22.12
    22.42
    

    Why can see that between the line LCD start and the LCD shutdown, the temperature grows and that why the brightness of the screen is increasing. After the line "LCD Shutdown" the brightness is set to 20 and the value are higher that the values at the beginning but they don't moved.