Shadeyman:
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I'm hoping to start by having several battery powered wireless sensors, (nothing fancy, just cheap ones that come in Arduino kits, 3-Axis, Ultrasonic, temp, etc.). With a range of 50m or more (100m would be great), all linked to a battery powered hand held LCD(Touch) that displays the sensor readings. I've seen similar projects, weather stations, alarms, home automation for example. But I'd like to eventually expand on those idea's, perhaps add a camera and motor control later on.
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I do have a little experience with batteries and plan to use 2 x 18650 cells in series(7.4v) to power everything.
Age 50 is a good time to start a 2nd hobby... things have changed lots from when I started building Knight Kits back in the 60's at age 12. Just think about all the stuff you do not have to unlearn because it is practically needless unless you are repairing old tube radios :o
So, 18650 really does not tell me anything other than the size of the battery... what one really needs to know is the true mAh rating (note that the Chinese manufacturers have a nasty habit of making outrageous claims about battery mAh ratings; but the true figure is more likely 3000mAh to 5000mAh.)
I'm going to assume for a moment that you just want to put out a sensor/sender and receive the data. 100 meters is beyond the best Bluetooth range, so you need to look at other RF technology. WiFi is a possibility, but I'm going to let you do the research since the price range is broad. When you do your investigation, consider two things: WiFi (2G/5G) is microwave and you need line-of-sight and secondly antennas can be built/purchased that are not omi-directional and can produce "gain" by directing the RF energy.
The next thing you need to know about RF senders is that the battery drain is significantly increased during the transmit event. The more often you transmit, the higher the average drain and the less battery time before a recharge is necessary. (Also, Lithium batteries must not totally drain ... the low-water mark is different for different chemistry makeup.) RF bands are controlled by the country and in the U.S.A. that would be the FCC. The unlicensed bands have strict power output maximums: read-up on this topic. RF bands also have a lots to do with range and data bandwidth, but other than video, the stuff you are talking about is low-bandwidth.
Sending video is a very specialize use and you really need to read-up on this topic. Slow-scan can be done with a microprocessor, but getting realtime (27 - 30 frames per second) will significantly cost you: power consumption, hardware costs, battery current draw, etc. Again, lot of model and robot makers are into video and the area is very specialized.
I want you to look over a couple of RF+Arduino clones and read about performance, range, issues:
Moteino: http://lowpowerlab.com/blog/category/moteino/
JeeNode: http://jeelabs.net/projects/hardware/wiki/JeeNode
The reason for reviewing those links and doing some research is to determine if such inexpensive technology will work as packaged. If not, the project must document why and move on to looking for a better fit. Why is this necessary? Well, simply to understand what "special sauce" will be necessary to create a perfect fit. Finding the right widget means often eliminating the wrong widget... more specifically, narrowing down the must-have specifications.
A couple of years ago, I took a look at the RF12B units with the idea of using them around the house. I have since decided to use the ESP8266 as a separate network un-bound to my home WiFi.
As far a programming, you are alive, right? Then you can program. It will take a bit of time to work up to proficiency, but it is certainly not impossible or even hard. What can be difficult sometimes is weeding through the noise to find an approach... or, an approach that you can understand. One of the great issues with programming is how flexible approaches can be; which is to say there will likely always be individuals that will scream, "It could be done so much more efficiently!"
Good luck,
Ray