I am only using RX to receive external data with no need for Ack and want to use just a single pin. Is there an option for not assigning a TX pin?

Example:
NewSoftSerial mySerial(softRx, NULL);

I have a question that might seem rather easy but I am integrating 5 devices. A BMA 180 triple-axis accelerometer, ITG 3200 triple-axis gyroscope, HMC5843 triple axis magnometer, BMP085 barometric pressure sensor, and the Venus 09133 gps unit. The problem I am having is I can get the data from all the devices except the gps. I am only use the Analog pins 4 and 5 to talk to these devices. It runs smoothly. Now I tested the gps and I can get this to run perfectly by itself from the digital pin 0 and 1 by using your library. Now my question is when I connect the gps to the Arduino I can’t get any data from the devices. Do I have to use seperate pins for each device and call them in whatever order I think the most important? Is there anyway to just use pins 4 and 5 for the first four devices and use 0 and 1 for the gps at the same time?

Well after sometime going over the library again I realized the problem and it was a very simple fix. I am able to grab all the data from those five devices and route them to the processing to get a 3D simulation of the whole perf board that I created. It was a great feeling. I want to thank you for having such good libraries. Now all I have to do is fix my EKF to get a better simulation of the device!

Hiya,
Can you tell us where the documentation for this is? Is there a javadocs api? All I could find was a download for a work of documentation in progress.
Thanks, and great work on the newsoftserial library!

Here’s a interesting twist.. the same digital pin for serial in & out, but with a need to send a solid 300ms sync pulse 1st, and a 2nd digital pin to act as a PTT switch. I’m looking at the Parallax 433Mhz RF transceivers, and these operate like walkie-talkies when used. they use the same pin for serial in & out, a RX/TX pin to handle which mode, and a signal detected pin to tell if a carrier is detected. I’m trying to make a rudimentary link between an arduino connected to the computer as a host transceiver, and the arduino on a mobile robot as it’s own transceiver. protocol to talk between the two, would be similar to the old (showing my age) X-Modem protocol, but with a variable length packet up to 256 bytes at a time., with a attention byte, length byte, the string of data, and a 16-bit CRC. to which the receiver would acknowledge if the data CRC matches, to either Okay, or corrupt.(and resend request.) Both would talk back & forth in this method. Could the NewSoftSerial library be adapted to handle this?

Hello, Mikal.

From your example,

#include

// Here’s a GPS device connect to pins 3 and 4
NewSoftSerial gps(4,3);

// A serial thermometer connected to 5 and 6
NewSoftSerial therm(6,5);

// An LCD connected to 7 and 8
NewSoftSerial LCD(8,7); // serial LCD

If I typed gps.println(“Hello World”), I would like to where would the output show out?? If it possible to make it print on the serial monitor or HyperTerminal.

Thx for your answer.

But if we use some libraries which cannot use with “Serial”, how can I receive the data from serial monitor or hyperterminal??

Very specifically, where is the documentation for NewSoftSerial??

So I am new to this. Does this NewSoftSerial download work with: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9395

Serial Enabled 16×2 LCD – White on Black 5V.

Thanks

I’d like to use this library to communicate to a device with a single wire.

Currently, I’m using the library like this:
NewSoftSerial mySerial(2, 2); (same pin for rx and tx)

This works (with version 9) if I use:
mySerial.setTX(2); and mySerial.setRX(2) before printing and reading

However, when I remove the setTx/setRx functions it no longer works.

If the Rx and Tx pins are the same, why would I need to set them with the setTX/setRX function?

I’d like to use version 10 – but can’t figure out how to support a 1 wire communication with it yet.

OK, I think I need help with this. Making a box, but I’m having very slow GPS pickup (or none at all) and I’m trying to debug. So I figured I’d look at the GPS lines using:

in setup( )
/* establish a debug session with a host computer */
Serial.begin(115200);

// Establish communication with the GPS
nss.begin(4800);

in loop( )

Serial.print(nss.read(), BYTE);

hoping to get what I saw on this YouTube video (http://youtu.be/AO_Dv6kqn5k) – that is, a bunch of lines with interpretable $GP… type statements on the serial monitor.

but what I see is this:

$GPRMC,022438.471,V,,,,,,,080611,,*2C
ÿÿ—479,,,,,0,00,,,M,0.0ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ

[MANY LINES OF THIS]

ÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿMÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ0ÿÿÿÿ.ÿÿÿÿ0ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿMÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ0ÿÿÿÿ0ÿÿÿÿ0ÿÿÿÿ0ÿÿÿÿ*ÿÿÿÿ5ÿÿÿÿ5ÿÿÿÿ
ÿÿÿÿ
ÿÿÿÿ$ÿÿÿÿGÿÿÿÿPÿÿÿÿGÿÿÿÿSÿÿÿÿAÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿAÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ1ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ*ÿÿÿÿ1ÿÿÿÿEÿÿÿÿ
ÿÿÿÿ
ÿÿÿÿ$ÿÿÿÿGÿÿÿÿPÿÿÿÿRÿÿÿÿMÿÿÿÿCÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ0ÿÿÿÿ2ÿÿÿÿ2ÿÿÿÿ4ÿÿÿÿ4ÿÿÿÿ8ÿÿÿÿ.ÿÿÿÿ4ÿÿÿÿ7ÿÿÿÿ8ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿVÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿ,ÿÿÿÿÿÿ
ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ<ðÿÌ22451.477,,,,,0,00,,,M,0.0,M,,0000*52
$GPGSA,A,1,,,,,,,,,,ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ

[AND SO ON]

??? I don't know what to make of it. Some of the $GP lines are there, but what else is going on???

Any ideas?

@Mikal, awesome, thanks. Got it. Now I’ll try to figure out what’s going on…

Is there any particular reason the write function is private? Some people need to work in binary mode from time to time…..

Hi, how can i communicate two arduinos with this Library, i need to send a float.

How can I use NewSoftSerial to make half-duplex communication over one Pin?

I tried:
NewSoftSerial test(2,2);

But it does not work.

Or should I use:
NewSoftSerial test(2,3);
And combine Pin 2 and Pin 3?

How would I go about using this library at 8600 baud? It works great at 9600 however the piece of equipment I’m using is fixed at this odd baud rate.

I assume that it would be as simple as inserting another row into the look up table. However I don’t know how to calculate the values. I’m using the Uno. Thanks!

{ 9600, 114, 236, 236, 233, },
{ 8600, ? , ? , ? , ? , },
{ 4800, 233, 474, 474, 471, },

Thanks! Those values work perfectly.

Hi Mikal,

Great Library, but I have a problem.

I have a gps and cell shield connected to the arduino. When I try to communicate with one of them – it works fine, but when I try to communicate with both of them – I dont get anything back.

Do you see what the problem could be?

Kind Regards
Sigurd

/////////////////////////THE CODE/////////////////////////////////
#include
#include

TinyGPS gps;
NewSoftSerial nss(4, 5), cell(2, 3);

bool feedgps();
void gpsdump(TinyGPS &gps);

void setup(){
Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.println(“Initialize…”);
nss.begin(4800);
cell.begin(9600);
delay(5000);
cell.println(“AT+CMGF=1”);
delay(200);
cell.println(“AT+CNMI=3,3,0,0”);
delay(200);
Serial.println(“Ready to receive!”);
}

void loop(){
if(feedgps()){
gpsdump(gps);
}

if(cell.available()){
//Do something.
//If I remove this if statement – I can read the GPS data, but when I include this if statement – I get nothing.
}
}

bool feedgps(){
while (nss.available()){
if (gps.encode(nss.read()))
return true;
}
return false;
}

void gpsdump(TinyGPS &gps){
float latitude, longitude;
gps.f_get_position(&latitude, &longitude);
Serial.print(“Latitude: “); Serial.println(latitude, 5);
Serial.print(“longitude: “); Serial.println(longitude, 5);
delay(500);
}
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Mikal,
I needed a way to time out if no gps was available.
do you see any problem with using newsoftserial as i do in the code below.
specifically i’m curious what state the pins are left in after i call nss.end()
I’m trying to track down an electrical noise issue that i see randomly after a gps fix. wondering if the pins are being left in a state that could contribute to a noise problem.

Thanks Jeff

code below

//*****************************************
// FeedGPS()
//*****************************************
boolean FeedGPS()
{
while (nss.available())
{
if (gps.encode(nss.read())) return true;
}
return false;
}

//*****************************************
// GPS_Available(unsigned long ulTimeOutMS)
//*****************************************
int GPS_Available(unsigned long ulTimeOutMS) {
bool newdata = false;
unsigned long feedstart = 0;
unsigned long theTime = 0;

Serial.print(“Begin GPS_Available…\r”);

nss.begin(4800);
msCounter = 0;
while (msCounter < ulTimeOutMS) {
feedstart = msCounter;
while (msCounter – feedstart < 2000)
{
if (FeedGPS()) newdata = true;
}

if (newdata)
{
theTime = msCounter;
Serial.print("GPS_Avail. took ");
Serial.print(theTime);
Serial.print(" ms.\r");
nss.end();
gps.get_position(&lat, &lon, &age);
gps.crack_datetime(&year, &month, &day, &hour, &minute, &second, &hundredths, &age);
return SUCCESS;
}

}

nss.end();
Serial.println("Error: GPS Timed Out\r");
return FAILURE;
}

Greetings Mikal,
Thank you for your hard work on NewSoftSerial. It has been invaluable for me to get debugging output while working with XBee modules and other testing.

I need to add more serial devices to a Arduino Uno and I want to determine if I understand what you wrote in “Using Multiple Instances”.
I will be using a GPS, XBee, RFID reader, and a debugging output.

Can I do the following so that I do not lose any serial input to Arduino from any device?
NewSoftSerial debug(-1, 6); // transmit debug messages on pin 6
NewSoftSerial gps(3, 4);
// XBee connected to Arduino UART pins 1 & 2
NewSoftSerial rfid(5, -1); // receive only

void loop()
{
…
gps.begin(38400); // select GPS module for use with NSS
if (gps.available())
{
// process gps.read();
}
// use gps.end(); ???
rfid.begin(9600); // select RFID reader for use with NSS
if (rfid.available())
{
// process rfid.read();
}
// Check if XBee has valid data
…
}

Is this the correct way to switch between serial inputs?
I’m assuming that I’m at risk of loosing GPS serial data that is received at the same time as the RFID reader is selected and is in the process of outputting data, correct?
Or am I going about this the wrong way?

Thank you for any assistance you can offer!

Hi Mikal,
Thanks for your response. can you comment on my repeated use of nss.begin(4800) and nss.end()
the gps is constantly sending data but i am not listening until i call nss.begin() and once i’m done i stop listening with nss.end() eventually the board powers off the gps and goes to sleep for 10 minutes before waking up to get another fix.

are there any issues with this strategy? i didn’t want my main code being bogged down with the interrupts from the gps strings when i wasn’t needing gps. but i didn’t want to power off the gps either to avoid the longer waits of a cold start. so i used nss.begin() and nss.end() to sort of listen only when i needed to. does this make sense?

thanks again

Jeff

Hi

I’m trying to use TinyGPS, newsofserial and to send the data via I2C, however, when it read the GPS and trting to send data via I2C, the arduino stops working few seconds.

I don’t know how to solve this, could you please advice

Many Thanks

Hi Mikal,
Thanks again for your response. Could you also comment on what state the rx and tx pins are left in after calling nss.end(). Input/Output? Pulled up or floating? etc.

also I was under the impression that gps.encode() would return when it got a legal string that had and “a” for active. what causes fix age to change from invalid to some amount of milliseconds.

The system uses gps to make decisions on when to sample some environmental data.

Thanks.
Jeff

Help, Iam using newSoftSerial to drive a GSM modem and everything is fine until I call “an0 = analogRead(A0);”.

After that, I get no received characters at all.

With the serial port hooked upto gtkterm, I can see output i.e. (the Arduino issuing AT+CSQ in this test case).

If I comment out the analogRead call, it works fine.

I’ve tried re-initialising the newSoftSerial in the loop(), but to no avail. Any ideas?

Mike

Hi

Has anyone experience problems with the newSoftSerial library ceasing to read serial data after a call to analogRead() has been made?

If I comment out, the analog call everything works as it should do.

Regards

Mike

Hi

I’m having difficulties reading data using newsoftserial. Board is a mega, pin 42 conected to 16, 43 to 17.
Output is:
10
My_nss.read=-1
Serial2.read=65
repeating