Does Anyone have Experience with the RF-Nano?

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1

I ordered some RF-Nanos from Aliexpress to replace a load of broken nRF24L01 modules. Does anyone have experience with them? I watched a few videos and read a few articles but there doesn't seem to be a lot of info out there. My questions are as follows:

  • Do these things just break out of nowhere like the nRF modules? How durable are they?
  • How much range can I get? I need only 30ft at most, but it needs to be able to pass through 1/2 inch polycarbonate plastic without any lag.
  • Are these just a drop-in replacement for an Arduino Nano or does something need to change?
2

Maybe the answer to your question is why to you have a load of broken nRF24L01s, that is not normal. Post your circuit maybe we can save you some money.

3

The nRF modules are in breakout boards and are connected as normal to Arduino UNOs.
I tested eight modules between two Arduinos and two breakouts and they all came back reading broken.

4

Search the forum. There's been a few discussions about them. Mostly revolving around the pins used for the CE & CSN signals. From memory, beyond that it's just a 328p and an nRF24L01 on the same board.

5

When you post the schematic please show all the power connections. The arduino a power supply it is NOT! powering the nRF24L01 with the Arduino is a shure shot to failure it cannot supply the power during transmit.

6

I ran the test using both 7 and 8 as well as 9 and 10 as my CE/CSN.

17:15:18.771 -> FIRST WITH THE DEFAULT ADDRESSES after power on
17:15:18.838 ->   Note that RF24 does NOT reset when Arduino resets - only when power is removed
17:15:18.904 ->   If the numbers are mostly 0x00 or 0xff it means that the Arduino is not
17:15:19.004 ->      communicating with the nRF24
17:15:19.037 -> 
17:15:19.037 -> STATUS		 = 0x00 RX_DR=0 TX_DS=0 MAX_RT=0 RX_P_NO=0 TX_FULL=0
17:15:19.103 -> RX_ADDR_P0-1	 = 0x0000000000 0x0000000000
17:15:19.136 -> RX_ADDR_P2-5	 = 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
17:15:19.169 -> TX_ADDR		 = 0x0000000000
17:15:19.202 -> RX_PW_P0-6	 = 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
17:15:19.236 -> EN_AA		 = 0x00
17:15:19.269 -> EN_RXADDR	 = 0x00
17:15:19.269 -> RF_CH		 = 0x00
17:15:19.302 -> RF_SETUP	 = 0x00
17:15:19.335 -> CONFIG		 = 0x00
17:15:19.335 -> DYNPD/FEATURE	 = 0x00 0x00
17:15:19.368 -> Data Rate	 = 1MBPS
17:15:19.401 -> Model		 = nRF24L01
17:15:19.401 -> CRC Length	 = Disabled
17:15:19.435 -> PA Power	 = PA_MIN
17:15:19.468 -> 
17:15:19.468 -> 
17:15:19.468 -> AND NOW WITH ADDRESS AAAxR  0x41 41 41 78 52   ON P1
17:15:19.501 ->  and 250KBPS data rate
17:15:19.534 -> 
17:15:19.534 -> STATUS		 = 0x00 RX_DR=0 TX_DS=0 MAX_RT=0 RX_P_NO=0 TX_FULL=0
17:15:19.601 -> RX_ADDR_P0-1	 = 0x0000000000 0x0000000000
17:15:19.667 -> RX_ADDR_P2-5	 = 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
17:15:19.700 -> TX_ADDR		 = 0x0000000000
17:15:19.733 -> RX_PW_P0-6	 = 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
17:15:19.767 -> EN_AA		 = 0x00
17:15:19.767 -> EN_RXADDR	 = 0x00
17:15:19.800 -> RF_CH		 = 0x00
17:15:19.833 -> RF_SETUP	 = 0x00
17:15:19.833 -> CONFIG		 = 0x00
17:15:19.866 -> DYNPD/FEATURE	 = 0x00 0x00
17:15:19.900 -> Data Rate	 = 1MBPS
17:15:19.900 -> Model		 = nRF24L01
17:15:19.933 -> CRC Length	 = Disabled
17:15:19.966 -> PA Power	 = PA_MIN
17:15:19.966 -> 
17:15:19.966 ->

Note that timestamps are on.

7

I can't post any pics but-

CE - 7
CSN - 8
SCK - 13
MOSI - 11
MISO - 12
VCC - 5V (this is through a breakout with a 3.3v regulator built in)
GND - GND

Also what you said about the Arduino not having enough power is just straight up wrong. The NRF consumes about 15ma during transmission, well under an UNO's max current draw.

8

Sorry you are correct I was thinking of a different module.

1 Like
9

All good.

10

Have you tried CE to 10, and CSN to 9? That seemed to work for one forum member.

11

No but I did 8 and 7 and that failed.

12

There's an RF-Nano on Ali Express that has a link to a github page here. That says CE is on 9 and CSN is on 10.

Maybe try Robin's NRF24L01 test sketches starting with the connection test sketck.

13

Thanks! I'll take a look now.

14

RE my posts #8 & #12, there seems to be more than one RF-Nano design out there. Some have CSN on 9 and CE on 10, whilst others have CSN on 10 and CE on 9. I'd try both combinations with Robin's comms test sketch to see which one you have.

15

I will absolutely do this. By the way they don't arrive until Sep 26.

Such is AliExpress.

16

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