Hello, so I want to control some servos with a small remote that I'm going to design and 3d print. It seems like NRF24L01 boards are a good way to go so I ordered some of those, now I'm on the matter of powering the controller.
Since the NRF24L01 board requires 3.3v and most Arduinos require 5+ volts I figured the best solution would be to get a Arduino board with a 3v output and only worry about powering that. I'm planning on getting an ESP32 Nano board (is this overkill for my use case?)
For powering the Arduino I found these rechargeable 7.4v batteries that come with a specific usb charger. Hopefully that'll keep me from burning down my house. But I'm just wondering if powering everything this way will be effective/safe.
I'd assume with the batteries the red wire goes to VIN, black wire to GND and the blue and white wires are purely for charging purposes?
I would say absolutely, yes. Plus, ESP32 has both Bluetooth and WiFi (EDIT: and ESP-NOW), which have a similar range to NRF2401, but you plan to eschew the built-in WiFi/BT and add a different type of RF transceiver instead.
If you planned to use WiFi or BT instead of NRF2401, that would justify using ESP32 in my mind, even though it's processing & memory capabilities are still overkill.
Why not simply choose a 3.3V Pro Micro or Pro Mini?
EDIT2: have you considered HC-12 transceivers? Much better range than NRF2401.
Thanks for the quick reply! The Pro Micro or Mini would definitely be better boards for my particular use case, but both are USB off board. And while that’s definitely a skill I’d like to develop, for now I don’t mind spending a bit more for something I’m a bit more comfortable with.
Range isn’t too big of an issue. The receiver is going to be stationary and I won’t be walking too far from it. The NRF2401 is what my research on transceiver modules produced, and the ESP32 was just the cheapest board with 3.3v and USB I could find.
The board I have controlling the servos is an Arduino Micro. I already ordered the NRF transceivers, but haven’t yet ordered the board for my controller or the battery.
Nano is a form factor not a board - there are several boards in the family. If you are talking about the ATMega328 version the 3.3V is from the USB interface and supplies minimal current. It is probably insufficient to run an NRF24 (it will likely "almost" work leading to frustration at random failures).
Certainly not inferior, I'm just kind of locked into the NRF boards because of an ignorant purchase a couple weeks ago. I wish I'd asked this question sooner.
Thank you again for the reassurance, I'll buy the board and battery knowing it'll work how I hoped.
