hey everyone, tell you my project and i take any info or tips of you guys, more trying find right rf module for right job and trying too keep to cheap budget for first version
Project:
Farm water monitor via Arduino and raspberry pi as server logger, (current max distance is 5.4km LOS)
i was looking at 2 option via wireless depends what hardware supports best
programming type:
1: mesh setup with omni antenna setup
2: yagi to receiver (sum tree lines in he way)
3: both mesh and yagi (preferred)
RF Hardware:
1: SX1278 E32-433T30D 1W
2: NRF24L01/+PA+LNA 2.4ghz (low range and not very stable)
3: APC220 (low range seems well used)
data will be transmitted will be. unit no, voltage, flow reading and pressure and switch 1/0
what i have seen i guess data rate be low for max range
Indeed LoRa will do this. It's designed for just this kind of jobs.
You probably have to upgrade from the spring antennas, though, and check your local regulations on which frequency band you can use.
was reading about LoRa, i use it since everyone say so
i did look at band 433mhz in Australia WA, on site says it ok
srnet:
LoRa +1.
Although why you think you need a 1Watt module I do not understand, 1mW with simple wire antennas would be enough for what you want .
And do check what bands you can use.
im sorry not sure about 1mw power how you would achieve distance with low power
im just going by what i read on net like 30 posts and setup types everthing been 500mw or less seems get low range 1km less, is it data rate they use is high, i know dipole helps with distance, if dont mind please explain so dont make mistake on future projects
is there cheaper module i can use sx1278 not cheap to get?
What is cheap... LoRa modules go for about USD 5 equivalent a piece. Expensive for an Arduino part; not expensive for what it does.
And indeed LoRa can do a really long distance with very little power, as they somehow manage to receive signals that are far below the noise floor. Especially if you bring down the bit rates (it can go really slow).
ghost_reaper:
im sorry not sure about 1mw power how you would achieve distance with low power
im just going by what i read on net like 30 posts and setup types everthing been 500mw or less seems get low range 1km less, is it data rate they use is high, i know dipole helps with distance
Just goes to show how missleading a lot of stuff you read on the Internet is.
There is a lot of people who know only a little about RF comms and assume high RF power is the answer to all distance problems.
LoRa uses a different modulation method to most other RF modules and it just has a lot more distance, accept it as fact.
In a controlled LOS test back in late 2014 I managed 40km hilltop to hiltop, simple 1/4 wave wires, 3mW, 1000bps. 100bps would be fine for a lot of remore monitoring applications and would cover 3 times that distance.
was reading about LoRa, i use it since everyone say so
i did look at band 433mhz in Australia WA, on site says it ok
is there cheaper module i can use sx1278 not cheap to get?
Check to see what is the legal band for LoRawan here in Australia, I think you will find it is 930MHz.
Consider ESP32 + Lora module, it has analog input, I2C, SPI and digital I/O.
google ESP32 lora lipo
You can use the Arduino IDE to program the ESP32, you can also buy units with ESP32, Lora.
Add Lipo Battery and input from a charger, possibly PV array.
With Lora you can peer to peer, so one as remote sensor and other as home display.
More than one Lora remote and you will possibly need a gateway read the remotes.
I am currently working on a similar project at work, peer to peer, for temperature sensing.
