PN532 Board UART Problem

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joshblake
 
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PN532 Board UART Problem

Post by joshblake »

Hey,

Just bought a a PN532 Board (ID:364) and hooked it up (Order # 321110). It doesn't seem to be communicating with the host computer. I can confirm that I am using a 3v FTDI, that the FTDI functions correctly and that the host system is able to enumerate the device, that the board is powered, and that the jumpers are set correctly to UART. I have compiled the libnfc drivers and examples on my linux box, mac, and RPi, and can confirm that the nfc-poll app is accessing the correct device (the TX light briefly flashes). Nevertheless, the app times out with:

pn53x_check_communication: Timeout
lt-nfc-poll: ERROR: Unable to open NFC device.

I'm wondering if I got a bad board and if there's any way I can go about exchanging this?

Thanks!

Josh.

EDIT: I got it to poll intermittently (about 1 in every 20 attempts). I'm now sure it's a bad board.

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: PN532 Board UART Problem

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

What kind of Arduino are you using it with? There's a known issue with some of the older ones not having enough memory to run the driver code properly.

joshblake
 
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Re: PN532 Board UART Problem

Post by joshblake »

Sorry - it's not the Arduino shield but the PN532 breakout board (http://www.adafruit.com/products/364).

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: PN532 Board UART Problem

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

My mistake. What are you using as the control device, and how are you making the connections?

joshblake
 
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Re: PN532 Board UART Problem

Post by joshblake »

I have tried three different devices - a Linux box, a Macbook Pro, and a Raspberry Pi, all of which used libnfc. Connection to the PN532 breakout is being made with a Sparkfun 3v3 FTDI Basic board (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9873) which I can confirm works with other applications unrelated to the PN532. Libnfc is configured to use this device as it enumerates (/dev/ttyUSB0 on my Linux box / RPi and /dev/tty.usbserial-BANNED on my Mac).

Like I mentioned earlier, it can connect periodically, but other times fails to connect with a timeout error. I can confirm by the TX / RX lights on the FTDI Basic that it is indeed transmitting to, but not receiving from the PN532.

Edit: This is the response that I will get periodically from the board. Notice the first attempt failed and the second succeeded. There is only one success per 10 attempts (just a guess).

Code: Select all

$ sudo ./nfc-poll
/home/josh/Desktop/libnfc/libnfc-1.7.0-rc7/examples/.libs/lt-nfc-poll uses libnfc 1.7.0-rc7
pn53x_check_communication: Timeout
lt-nfc-poll: ERROR: Unable to open NFC device.
$ sudo ./nfc-poll
/home/josh/Desktop/libnfc/libnfc-1.7.0-rc7/examples/.libs/lt-nfc-poll uses libnfc 1.7.0-rc7
NFC reader: pn532_uart:/dev/ttyUSB0 opened
NFC device will poll during 30000 ms (20 pollings of 300 ms for 5 modulations)
ISO/IEC 14443A (106 kbps) target:
    ATQA (SENS_RES): 00  04  
       UID (NFCID1): 12  b9  df  c3  
      SAK (SEL_RES): 08  

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: PN532 Board UART Problem

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

It runs in my mind there was an issue between the PN532 and libnfc-1.7.. let me pass this along to one of our NFC gurus to see if that's still true.

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ktownsend
 
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Re: PN532 Board UART Problem

Post by ktownsend »

I believe this is an issue with the current release candidate of libnfc, since I have several known good boards here and sometimes see the same issue myself with 1.7.0-RC7, using two different USB/UART adapters.

The current build is still a release candidate, and I know there have been some changes to the underlying UART code and structure.

joshblake
 
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Re: PN532 Board UART Problem

Post by joshblake »

Thanks both for the replies. I have also tried the latest dev build and pre-RC7 builds to no avail. I have also tried multiple baud rates from 9600 up to 250000 with no success. Attached is the debug output from the most recent dev.
/Users/Josh/Desktop/libnfc/examples/.libs/nfc-poll uses libnfc libnfc-1.7.0-rc7-42-g8fe13ec
debug libnfc.general log_level is set to 3
debug libnfc.general allow_autoscan is set to false
debug libnfc.general allow_intrusive_scan is set to false
debug libnfc.general 1 device(s) defined by user
debug libnfc.general #0 name: "PN532 Board via FTDI UART", connstring: "pn532_uart:/dev/tty.usbserial-AD01SUB0"
debug libnfc.driver.pn532_uart Attempt to open: /dev/tty.usbserial-AD01SUB0 at 115200 bauds.
debug libnfc.bus.uart Serial port speed requested to be set to 115200 bauds.
debug libnfc.chip.pn53x Diagnose
debug libnfc.chip.pn53x Timeout values: 500
debug libnfc.bus.uart TX: 55 55 00 00 00
debug libnfc.chip.pn53x SAMConfiguration
debug libnfc.chip.pn53x Timeout values: 1000
debug libnfc.bus.uart TX: 00 00 ff 03 fd d4 14 01 17 00
debug libnfc.bus.uart Timeout!
debug libnfc.driver.pn532_uart Unable to read ACK
pn53x_check_communication: Timeout
debug libnfc.chip.pn53x InRelease
debug libnfc.bus.uart TX: 00 00 ff 03 fd d4 52 00 da 00
debug libnfc.bus.uart Timeout!
debug libnfc.driver.pn532_uart Unable to read ACK
debug libnfc.general Unable to open "pn532_uart:/dev/tty.usbserial-AD01SUB0".
nfc-poll: ERROR: Unable to open NFC device.
In the interim, I've ordered a second board to try it out. If the second one is successful will Adafruit be willing to do a return / refund?

Out of curiosity, is the FTDICABLE header on this board tolerant of a 5v FTDI cable?

Thx again,

Josh.

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: PN532 Board UART Problem

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

I don't think the board can handle 5v FTDI signals directly, but will check on that. We have several FTDI adaptors/cables/breakouts that work with the PN532 in the store though.

We'll certainly replace the board if testing shows a hardware failure. It's just that those are rare compared to software and interface issues.

nathanjr
 
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Re: PN532 Board UART Problem

Post by nathanjr »

Hi Josh,

Wondering if you ended up having a resolution to this?

I'm thinking of purchasing some PN532 breakouts to play with from Win7 using libnfc via FTDI. Do you have any FTDI/libnfc/cabling tips that could prevent headaches? ;)

Thanks!

Nathan

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matin47
 
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Re: PN532 Board UART Problem

Post by matin47 »

Hi, did you make any progress on this?

I've working a few days, just to get into the subject, and here is my work (cannot get it work yet tought): http://www.elecfreaks.com/forum/viewtop ... f=4&t=2299

Note that I use NFC bridge from elecfreaks (which is Arduino Leonardo I2C with Pn532).

Thanks

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EmilioC1
 
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Re: PN532 Board UART Problem

Post by EmilioC1 »

How can i send data from my android to a adafruit PN532 card reader via NFC?


Im new on this about working with arduino cards and i have a problem, because i have done an application on android to send a "STRING" from my android phone to another via NFC, and that worked very well... but the thing is when i started to work with a NFC card adafruit pn532, it can't recieve anything and i'd like to know if i have to change something from arduino or android to make the communication successfully, line of code.. library.. something.. if you have done this before i hope you can help me! Thanks!

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