I am looking for dirt cheap and small wireless technologies that can work both with Arduino and as stand alone to flip switches to ON and OFF for LEDs for example.
My project Scope:
Arudino mother + wireless transmitter
Child A LED + wireless receiver
Child B LED + wireless receiver
Child C LED + wireless receiver
Arduino mother will send instructions to children to turn ON and OFF. The children are just LEDs and whatever wireless module needed + power source and nothing else.
1- The LEDs can be Green, Blue, Red and don't have to be very bright - I am trying to run this of battery watches if possible. If not AAA would do.
2- Mother and children can few inches apart.
3- LEDs will turn ON and OFF based on instructions from mother Arduino unit.
My main question right now is what wireless modules should I look into that can work with arduino and can work alone in an environment where they can flip an ON and OFF switch for a LED.
I get mine on eBay. Search for "433mhz radio arduino". There are many there, though they seem to all be from China... long delivery time. But on the up-side, they are about three or four bucks for two sets (two Tx, two Rx).
Or, if you want two-way comm, search for "RF24L01 arduino". you can get 5 of these for about 7 or 8 dollars US.
Thanks for the input. Would the receive be able to work as a standalone unit with a LED? I basically want a LED to turn ON and OFF and run on a watch battery for example. I want this achieved through a ready-made LED or something really really small and basic that I can source parts for. I know that I can make a simple Arduino board but wondering if the whole setup is needed for this.
On the other hand, the mother can be an ardunio which sends signal to different children to be ON and OFF. I also need the kids to have IDs so that not everyone turns ON and OFF at the same time.
I built a little system that uses an IR LED to transmit serial data from an Uno and a Vishay TSOP 4838 receiver to receive the signal for an Attiny45. The idea is that the Uno sends a number which the Attiny recognizes as its own so it can trigger a solenoid.
The concept should work over a range of 25ft which is quoted for that keyfob device.
I am running the Attiny45 at 1MHz to minimize power consumption from an 80mAh LiPo. It also switches off the TSOP 4838 for about 75% of the time to save power.
Robin2:
I built a little system that uses an IR LED to transmit serial data from an Uno and a Vishay TSOP 4838 receiver to receive the signal for an Attiny45. The idea is that the Uno sends a number which the Attiny recognizes as its own so it can trigger a solenoid.
I am running the Attiny45 at 1MHz to minimize power consumption from an 80mAh LiPo. It also switches off the TSOP 4838 for about 75% of the time to save power.
...R
Thanks for the input. I am new to Arduino so I appreciate some clarification here:
1- Attiny45 can work as a standalone receive and can switch an LED to ON and OFF based on instructions received?
2- Isn't line of site a must for IR?
The Attiny45 doesn't have any receiver. I am using the TSOP 4838 as the IR receiver.
In my experience IR works well with reflections from walls and ceilings unless you take some trouble to shield the receiver. You might need a few IR LEDs to make the output bright enough - but all the parts are cheap.
You should be aware that IR transmissions are relatively slow - the carrier frequency is only 38kHz - but I think that should be OK with your application.