UART problems on my Pi3

Question

I am trying to send and receive radio signals using my Raspberry, but I am already stuck at the first step :)

My Radio module uses UART for communication but I have failed to set up my serial communication correctly. I found out Bluetooth is somehow interfering, so I disabled it. Now my program is at least able to step over read and write functions of my python script. Jippie :)

To test if UART works I connected Pin 14 and 15 (RX and TX) with each other and would now expect that when I send something, I will receive the same string?!? That should be right, shouldn't it? But on the receiving end I never get something... readline() return with no string.

I would be very very thankful if somebody could shed some light for me :) Or even a hint to a working tutorial. I already followed that tutorial: http://www.briandorey.com/post/Raspberry-Pi-3-UART-Boot-Overlay-Part-Two but it didn't get me much further... :(

Btw.: I am using Raspbian Version May 2016 (2016-05-10).

Here's my sample code:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import serial

ser = serial.Serial(
  port='/dev/ttyAMA0',
  baudrate = 9600,
  parity=serial.PARITY_NONE,
  stopbits=serial.STOPBITS_ONE,
  bytesize=serial.EIGHTBITS,
  timeout=1
)

print "Serial is open: " + str(ser.isOpen())

print "Now Writing"
ser.write("This is a test")

print "Did write, now read"
x = ser.readline()
print "got '" + x + "'"

ser.close()

In all seriousness Georg you should include the code you are using to do this -- it does not sound like it is very long, and it is much, much simpler for other people to make suggestions that way. If you are unsure about how to have the code formatted correctly, [see here](http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/editing-help), but as a quick tip that's what the `{}` button is for in the compose/edit interface. — goldilocks, May 15 '16 at 17:25
@goldilocks didn't expect my sample code to be relevant at that point :) Thought it's more of an configuration issue of my Pi :) I edited my question to add the code — Georg, May 15 '16 at 17:54
A simpler way to test this would be to separate it into two scripts, start the reader first, and then run the writer. — goldilocks, May 15 '16 at 17:58
Just tried that... That's not working either... So I am pretty sure it has something to do with the UART and Bluetooth interference on my Pi3. Btw. I already freed the serial from the console using `raspi-config`. — Georg, May 15 '16 at 18:19
Also, my radio module's LEDs aren't flashing if I send something... They do that on my other raspberry... So the current raspberry is probably not even sending data over the serial port... — Georg, May 15 '16 at 18:20
My favourite python side note: While it is not an issue wrt the question, something to consider for future coding: per [PEP0008](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/) *Use 4 spaces per indentation level.* — Ghanima, May 15 '16 at 18:53
Did you end up achieving uart? Did the milliways suggestion work? (it did not work for me) I would appreciate if you can update me on your solution :) — ozgeneral, May 25 '16 at 07:35
I haven't had time yet to see if it works... Hopefully i'll find some time on the weekend. I'll keep you posted — Georg, Jun 01 '16 at 23:24

goldilocks · Answer 1 · 2016-06-14T12:29:16.930

port='/dev/ttyAMA0'

I believe the default device node on the Pi 3 is different. Try:

port='/dev/ttyS0'

You may also need to disable the serial console. The easiest way to do this is via raspi-config under Advanced Options -> Enable/Disable shell and kernel messages on the serial connection.

If you don't have raspi-config, it doesn't work, and/or you want to double check, first look in /boot/cmdline.txt. If you see:

 console=/dev/ttyS0,115200

Or:

 console=/dev/serial0,115200

Or anything involving console= that isn't console=tty1, remove it. Make sure not to accidentally add a line break to that file, it should remain all one line with spaces between the options, but no spaces around any =.

The other aspect is the login started by the init system. On Raspbian jessie, check:

ls /etc/systemd/system/getty.target.wants

If you see that serial device node (ttyS0) mentioned, disable this service:

systemctl disable serial-getty@ttyS0.service

You will have to reboot for these things to take effect.

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 08 '17 at 15:57

1

If you're using Raspberry Pi desktop you have to enable Serial in its configuration I think...

Click on the small RPi icon on upper left
Click on preferences
Then click on Rasp. Config
Go to Interface
Enable Serial

edited Aug 08 '17 at 15:57

Jacobm001

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answered Aug 08 '17 at 05:27

Azrideus

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score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:56

0

/dev/ttyAMA0 is now used for Bluetooth, and the default has problems with varying clock rates. See How-do-i-make-serial-work-on-the-raspberry-pi3

NOTE This was done on previous version of Raspbian, as I haven't had a chance to test the latest but should still apply.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:56

Community

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answered May 16 '16 at 11:20

Milliways

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 22 '16 at 15:25

I had the same problem on my RPi3 (Jessie after 18th March 2016 release) and solved it by changing enable_uart=0 to enable_uart=1 and adding dtoverlay=pi3-miniuart-bt (disable the bluetooth on the UART) at the end of /boot/config.txt. I use pin 8 and 10 (TX and RX).

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited Aug 24 '17 at 04:51

I don't know how Raspbian Python handles the serial timeout, but if I were coding it, I would still start out putting a delay of at least a couple of milliseconds between the transmit code and the receive code (I'd start with 5 ms). Your receiver can't flag the first received byte until the data has shifted 10 bits completely out of the transmitter and into the receiver. That is a delay of approximately 1 millisecond. Once that works, you can back out the delay to see how the timeout handles it. Of course, this may not be related to the real problem, but it removes one unknown.

UART problems on my Pi3

5 Answers5

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