NRF24L01 Power Level

Using Arduino Programming Questions
#1

Hi All

I have 2 NRF24L01 units connected to 2 UNO's, they communicate perfectly when I have them both set to LOW power mode but don't communicate when I have them both set to HIGH power mode. I have each NRF24L01 powered from its own 850mA single cell LIPO. The NRF24L01 units are about 1 meter apart. Is the signal too strong when that close? I would like to use HIGH power mode as one unit is a base unit and the other is a handheld device, the system works perfectly up to about 15 meters, would like to use HIGH power mode to extend the range a bit.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Richard

#2

It can easily happen that a receiver front end can receive too much power if the boards are close. I don't know about the NRF24L01, but many times I have sat and cussed at a couple of transceivers on my lab bench, only to find they worked fine at a greater distance.

#3

Yes this is a very common issue with NRF24L01 - you need to drop the power to reasonable values when units are close to each other.

if you go check the examples in the standard library you'll see they do this

   radio.begin();

  // Set the PA Level low to prevent power supply related issues since this is a
 // getting_started sketch, and the likelihood of close proximity of the devices. RF24_PA_MAX is default.
  radio.setPALevel(RF24_PA_LOW);
...

extending range might be more about good antenna, reasonable data rate (RF24_250KBPS) and clean power supply rather than pure power. As this is also using the same band as wifi networks, a scan of how busy channels are in your area would help select one with less noise. I've a unit on top of a tree about 600m away from my home and getting loud and clear signal back - so it's doable.

There are various modules with different capabilities, see https://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/Nrf24L01-2.4GHz-HowTo#lib and the discussion about Range

#4

J-M-L:
Yes this is a very common issue with NRF24L01 - you need to drop the power to reasonable values when units are close to each other.

if you go check the examples in the standard library you’ll see they do this

   radio.begin();

// Set the PA Level low to prevent power supply related issues since this is a
// getting_started sketch, and the likelihood of close proximity of the devices. RF24_PA_MAX is default.
  radio.setPALevel(RF24_PA_LOW);
…




extending range might be more about good antenna, reasonable data rate (RF24_250KBPS) and clean power supply rather than pure power. As this is also using the same band as wifi networks, a scan of how busy channels are in your area would help select one with less noise. I've a unit on top of a tree about 600m away from my home and getting loud and clear signal back - so it's doable.

There are various modules with different capabilities, see https://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/Nrf24L01-2.4GHz-HowTo#lib and the discussion about Range

This link is not working anymore.

#5

I found another link

This is not from me, so I don’t control how long this info ma you survive

#6