I'd like to understand what is a good setup and what are the options to control a transistor remotely.
Hope the following makes sense:
The transistor would be used as variable resistor to change the potential on an existing load.
From distance (let's say from within my apartment, potentially from another room) I'd like to be able to control the state of that transistor so that the final load is affected (imagine a light bulb).
I was thinking of having a main unit that transmit the signal to a circuit that receives the signal and drive the transistor.
I do not have many problems in terms of space or weight for the main unit, but I'd like to have as few components as possible for the transistor part.
Is there a common way of making this?
I looked into XBee but they are expensive and need quite few components on the receiver side whilst I'd like that part being even simpler if possible at all.
Would these kind of RC transitters/receivers do the job?
And, if i use the RC components do I need to use arduino (also on the receiver side) or is there any way to avoid that?
I did a bit of research, and here is what I learned so far.
I do not need an arduino to send or receive the signal. I should be able to use/program just a microchip and add few components.
I believe I should be able to decide to use arduino to send signal if needed and not use arduino to receive it.
Ideally I have multiple receivers with a unique id each. And a way to register each receiver against the central unit that send out the signals.
I wonder if I can directly buy programmable RF modules instead of designing new ones?
For instance, would something like this solve my problem? (although is a bit expensive)
At the end of the day what I have to do with the signal I receive should be pretty simple (something like change the intensity of a bulb light)
First off a transistor is not a variable anything it's an on/off gate. What do you want to control an incandescent light bulb? Something else? Generally speaking if your not sure what a transistor does stay away from mains voltages it can kill you. That said a 6 buck ebay Bluetooth module attached to a 6 buck solid state relay and you can control it from a smartphone with your own app via pwm dimming. There are also at least a half dozen ways to do something like this. Honestly though a few buck x10 module can do this.
I do not need an arduino to send or receive the signal. I should be able to use/program just a microchip and add few components.
I believe I should be able to decide to use arduino to send signal if needed and not use arduino to receive it.
This is true, but starting out with the Arduino might be the best bet to get the project off the ground without having to learn a whole lot of stuff about programming and microprocessors you might not care to learn. Then, if you want to, you can just prototype up the bare bones chips to do what you want it to.
I'd like to control the lightbulb, to switch on, off, but also to dim the light (have the intermediate states).
I guess I should have said I want to do a remote controlled Dimmer.
I need to be able to control it from distance and through walls, the same way you use wifi in an apartment, so I guess bluetooth is not good.
I was thinking of RC to keep the costs low and also the size of the receiver. What do you think?
There will be many receivers with ideally an unique id, so I need to think of an elegant way to set it all up.
As for dimming the light, i thought there are some kind of transistor I could use but apparently that's not right.
Anything else that is very limited in size but that does the job?
I do not need an arduino to send or receive the signal. I should be able to use/program just a microchip and add few components.
I believe I should be able to decide to use arduino to send signal if needed and not use arduino to receive it.
This is true, but starting out with the Arduino might be the best bet to get the project off the ground without having to learn a whole lot of stuff about programming and microprocessors you might not care to learn. Then, if you want to, you can just prototype up the bare bones chips to do what you want it to.
Hi RPCoyle,
Thanks, I think I'll do that!
I made a quick search about programming microcontrollers but couldn't find much when it comes to OSX.
Do you have any recommendation?
Or is it better if when the time comes, I move to windows to make this step?
I made a quick search about programming microcontrollers but couldn't find much when it comes to OSX.
Do you have any recommendation?
Or is it better if when the time comes, I move to windows to make this step?
I don't know about OSX, I have only used the Arduino on windows. You might move to windows to start because the windows IDE is very stable and easy to use. There are lots of samples of code that can be easily adapted to what you want to do. What I do is use the arduino board to burn the script into the ATmega chip and then just use the chip on a perf board with whatever components I need....Fast,Cheap and Easy.
I made a quick search about programming microcontrollers but couldn't find much when it comes to OSX.
Do you have any recommendation?
Or is it better if when the time comes, I move to windows to make this step?
I don't know about OSX, I have only used the Arduino on windows. You might move to windows to start because the windows IDE is very stable and easy to use. There are lots of samples of code that can be easily adapted to what you want to do. What I do is use the arduino board to burn the script into the ATmega chip and then just use the chip on a perf board with whatever components I need....Fast,Cheap and Easy.