Arduino + nfr24l01

Using Arduino Project Guidance
1

Hi,

I am wondering what parts i need to control a lineair actuator from distance (1km).

The parts i guess i need:

2x arduino Nano
2x NRF24L01 PA +LNA
1x relay module (any suggestion?)

  • some randome parts.

Hope for some advice.

Thanks

2

You will be very lucky to get reliable 1km range from an NRF24 module

3

you could try LoRa point-to-point
what is the environment? walls, trees, hills, etc? do you have line of sight?
how much data? how often?
if you use LoRa modules they tend to use 3.3V logic so avoid using a 5V logic host such as the Nano classic

4

If that 1km is underground in a cave, I doubt a NRF24 will go that far.

A hint:
There is a huge difference in distance achieved by radio modules in a flat urban area and a situation where there is good line of sight between TX and RX. A setup that 'only' goes 1km in a flat urban area can achieve 2000km where there is good clear line of sight between TX and RX.

5

So satellite communication? I can't think of anywhere on earth where you have 2000km line of sight.

6

Yes.

7

Lets say 500 to 750m is also okay.

8

Well if you know where this '500 to 750m' is can you inform the forum ?

9

Ah sorry.

It would be outside, like when i press a button, a couple of streets further will be the receiver with the actuator.

10

'Streets' suggests an urban area.

Unless you can get the RX and TX antennas at height, such as on roof tops or masts etc, then NRF24s would probably not give you the range.

With antennas at say handheld height and in an urban area, even LoRa on (slow) long range settings would struggle to cover 1km.

Perhaps describe the actual project (and location!!!!), someone might have done something similar ...................

11

Sure.

I need to make a plateau. I will design this and 3D print the plateau. This plateau needs to go up and down. This is where I want to use the actuator for. This setup will be like 3 streets away from where I need to control it. For the transmitter, I want to make a handheld device with two buttons to control the actuator to go up and down. Maybe a LoRa module is a good idea. However, the receiver will not be on a roof, it will be in a housing.

12

use a LoRa module with an external antenna

do both sites have WiFi and connected to the internet?
if so the linear actuator machine could run a server
the remote site runs a client which connects to the server etc etc

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13

It might be.

Its not really possible to predict in advance which radio module would work given just a description of the situation.

I would suggest you set up a couple of Arduinos one as TX the other as RX and put them in the situations\locations you want this project to work and see if the comms work.

Try the NRF24, see if they work and if they don't try LoRa modules which can be very significantly longer range.

2 Likes
14

There is no possibility for wifi.

15

This must be the very first testing for any project that requires communications between two devices. Seems almost everyone that starts a thread on this forum leaves this testing until too late and all other development has been done. Then they want help to fix the problem, when a little preliminary work could have discovered whether the project has a chance of working or not.

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16

Indeed, a lot of posters just do not appreciate how much the distance you can get with radio modules varies because of the environment.

Its not helped by suppliers\manufacturers of radio devices quoting say '5km distance' for their product, without being specific about the testing situation. So users of the device may just assume its '5km' regardless of the situation. The reality is that a device capable of 5km with clear line of sight, might not get 100m in an urban area.

1 Like