RF module to light LED

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) General Frequently-Asked Questions
1

Let me start by saying that I don't know electronics and have no experience with RF, so please respond in simple terms. Thank you in advance for your help.

What I have:
The Seeedstudio 315MHz Transmitter / Receiver Pair with Encoder / Decoder, along with the SFE 5V, 300mA DC to DC Step Up - VPack PCB.

What I need to do:
When power is supplied to the RF transmitter, a 3.3V LED will illuminate at the RF receiver. The LED will remain illuminated as long as the signal is being sent from the transmitter (like a light that would indicate signal is being received).

Power to the RF receiver is supplied by 2AA batteries to the step up converter where it is boosted from 3V to 5V. Only the negative wire on the LED will be connected to the RF receiver as it will draw from the +3V power directly from the batteries (this is required due to other devices that influence the LED).

I cannot find diagrams for wiring the receiver?only the one shown for the transmitter, which I don't understand?I don't have an MCU, I am just looking to add power and a switch. When I wire the receiver as I think I should (power supply) I have 5V on all of the terminals without signal from the transmitter?I need there to only be current when the transmitter is sending a signal, and seeing how I haven't figured out the transmitter, I haven't sent any signal yet.

What I need:
Could some one there please tell me where I need to connect the wires on both the transmitter and the receiver to accomplish what I need to do? (The LED – wire is the only wire to connect to the receiver, the + connects to the +3V power source)

I can send the full diagram of how the wiring needs to run and a diagram of the connections on the transmitter and receiver if I have an e-mail address to send it to.

I hope someone can tell me in a simple manner as I have not worked with electronics or RF.

Thank you so much for your time and help.

2

The receiver is only going to be able to detect the presence of the transmitter when the transmitter is actually sending data.

Unless you want to program the transmitter to transmit continuously (which will flood your receiver, and kill your battery life), you won't be able to do what you want.

3

Thanks for the reply. The transmitter will actually only be on for short periods of time...on for 10-20 seconds at a time, not on all the time. The transmitter will be activated by another mechanical device closing the switch to supply power to the transmitter, thus illuminating the LED.

4

are you just trying to close a contact when the LED on the receiver is lit up? if so you should just get a 3.3v relay and wire the coil into the indicator led

if you need the arduino you will have to see what leg of the led is switched (+) or (-) and tie into the switched one but they will both have to share the same power supply (it sounds like that is how you have it anyway)

if you are trying to read the data out of the decoder chip then a picture would help. i am working on hacking a nice 20 key RF remote to control the arduino (led lights in my case) and i have the code already figured out to receive the data from the decoder and set do simple RGB color outputs and brightness based on the button you press but i am still working on the advanced effects. but if it would help i can post what i have

if you have pictures or a diagram that would help