So I would like to draw upon the communities vast array of experience and knowledge to try and get a general consensus on Arduinos best and worst wireless communication options and when you should choose one over another.
A quick search for wireless Arduino components quickly nets quite a few options which makes it hard to choose the right product for a new project! (im currently trying to decide to either buy a 950Mhz or NRF2.4Ghz option for my new project!)
As far as im aware these are what's available to us (feel free to list more if you know of them!)
Anyone who has any experience with these options could you please give a rundown on there performance / reliability / ease of implementation / cost / indoor&outdoor suitability and anything else such as tricks to boost the range and reliability of indoor / outdoor use!! ]
Sounds like you've got a wealth experience for different wireless solution available to arduino users...
Care to share your experience with a few of them?
Describe your expectations of them, the problems you had with them, how much the cost you, would you recommend them?
In what situations? Do you know for a fact solution A is better than B or would you choose A because it nets you twice the battery life at the cost of range?
I just want to start a discussion for others to read (including myself) which helps us all under stand the pros add cons of the different wireless solution on offer for the arduino platform and allow us to make informed decision shaded on other people's knowledge and experience.
I think the problem is that you are asking someone to write a book. It is not that simple that all knowledge of radio propagation and the limits of each frequency, data transmission modes, and regulations can be conveyed in a few paragraphs.
Recently I purchased a 350Mhz 4 button key fob and receiver combo from Adafruits
It runs off 5 volts and has "ok" indoor range however I would be lying if I said it completely satisfied my range needs. It gets about 10m indoor range through roughly 1m of brick walls.
It has an external wind out arial which really gets in the way as its about 30cm long.
Anyone tried the Nrf24? I'm looking to use them for a project soon. Which needs entire house indoor coverage.
I personally like the 433 Mhz one way transmitters/receivers. It gets decent range (maybe a hundred meters, from what I've heard) and the code is pretty straightforward. There's a good tutorial on it on youtube by a guy named humanharddrive. Good for sending a few bytes of information one way, but not really for any heavy duty stuff.
The range also depends on the Tx power, that is, one transmitter that takes 11.3mA (nRF24L01) has usually a smaller range than one that takes 300mA (XBee Pro).
I do like the look of those Sparkfun 433Mhz Transceivers...might have to order a couple to test out!
In terms of power usage and therefore suitability for use with solar/battery setups, can anyone provide some feedback on the best vs worst choices?
Sounds like the Xbee pro is quite power hungry compared to the smaller lower frequency modules, would the NRF24 also be power hungry compared to say a 433Mhz module?
What do you mean by module?
Are you just talking about Transmitters, or Transmitters and Receivers.
The power consumption of them all is totally dependant on how much of the time they are transmitting.
The receivers need to be running all the time , and they are relatively power hungry.
Basically, the bottom line is the power consumption is proportional to the range you need.
Do you need full duplex or half duplex transmission.
Do you need inbuilt error correction.
Without any understanding of your needs , its impossible to answer.
Horendus:
It has an external wind out arial which really gets in the way as its about 30cm long.
And here lies the fundamental point.
Wireless communication relies critically on the antennae.
Improving range is not a matter of increasing power, it is a matter of using effective antennae - on both ends, The very first thing you look at is whether the antenna at one end - transmitter or receiver - is functioning with a less than effective antenna, and improving that will improve range more than any other alteration.
So your 30 cm telescopic antenna is the most important part of that device. If the receiver does not have one similar, you need to add it.
