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Joined: 31/12/2012
Location: New ZealandPosts: 9204
| Posted: 12:50am 02 Nov 2022 |
No, they are clones.
Are you aware of the thread on the clone problem?
Let me know here if not, and I or another member will link you to it.
It is a multi-page read, but it does go in depth into the issue of clones and why they don't work very well, and usually not at all with other genuine HC12's in the same network.
Genuine ones say "HC12" on the bottom silkscreen, along with "www.hc01.com" web address, and the PCB is always BLUE, not black.
You can also tell these are clones by the fact that they are ID'd as TENSTAR ROBOT - that is not the HC company. Unfortunately, there are A-LOT of clones on the market, and I had to make contact with the HC company with help from others, to buy direct from them. That way, I know I am getting the genuine article.
There are BLUE ones out there that are also clones. Complete with all the usual markings on the PCB, which makes it even harder to know what you have got.
One way, currently, is that the board has to be blue, have the HC markings on it, AND must also have the HC logo laser-engraved into the 30MHz crystal package on the top. If the crystal does NOT have the HC logo lasered into it, the module is a suspect clone.
I remember getting some of those black ones to try out a few years ago, and I also had an extraordinarily hard time making them work. They are not as easy to get working as the genuine HC12's are. IE: Code that works fine with an HC12, will not work with these black ones. Rob(robert.rozee) helped me out here. I sent him a couple of these black ones to play with, and I seem to remember he did find a way to make them work, but I forget now what he did - this was years ago.
If he reads this, he may remember and post a reply.
I do remember binning them all though, as they were not worth the effort to get going compared to the real HC12's, that just work immediately right out of the box.
There were things that had to be changed in code I think it was, to get them to co-operate, meaning having to change the code on any device I wanted to use these things in, where the genuine HC12's just worked no hassle, no stress.
Probably not what you wanted to hear, but.....