Transceivers

Wireless & IoT
1

Hi -

I’m new to wireless/RF and I have some very basic questions. Any help would be appreciated.

  • I’m looking for a pair of transceivers that will recognize each other within a range of 6’-10’. Upon recognizing each other a small light (LED?) would light up. They would need to be as small as possible, run on AAA (or smaller) batteries, and be as low cost as possible.

  • Are transceivers sold with such short range? Is this something that would need some type of modification?

  • Are transceivers continuously searching for a signal? Are there transceivers that can search for a signal every 30-60 seconds?

  • Would a transceiver with a 6’-10’ range that searches for a signal every 30-60 seconds use much power? Are there other major factors that impact battery life?

  • Would an LED light be the best type, considering cost and power, for this type of application?

Thanks.

2

Nordic nRf24l01 and a suitable MCU, like a small PIC.

3

You’ll have a hard time finding something off the shelf. The nRF24L01 is available on this site. It will need to be paired with a mcu and be programmed, but it does work. I have an application that does just this. It can be set from less than a foot, to 20 feet and an audible alarm is triggered if one unit leaves the boundry. They run on CR2032 watch batteries, and average 4 months of battery life with a check every second. Increase it to 10 seconds, you should get a year plus.

Ron

4

Sounds like OP wants plug and play, no microprocessor code development.

If so, you could buy a pair of XBee series 1, configure the virtual wire mode. Connect an LED to an output bit on the target XBee. On the source XBee, connect the corresponding input bit to a toggle switch.

Configure wireless parameters like PAN ID, channel, destination address (mating XBee).

Connect power, and the LED should light up when receiving and as the switch on the other unit is operated.

Configuration is done with a PC connected to each XBee in succession.

No code to write, no add-on microprocessor.

If that’s the goal.

This is not a very challenging task.

You could also do this with a garage door opener transmitter and an after-market receiver whose relay connects to an LED.