Wireless trigger for LEDs and buzzers

[cyberteen]

Hi guys,
I am noob in electronics and very fresh to radio communications, and I have a simple idea which needs to be implemented.

The thing is, I want to place a wireless transreciever with a switch in one room at one end of my house and another transreciever on another room at another end, so that when ever the switch is pressed in one room it triggers an led with a buzzer on the another device.

Please suggest some ideas to implement it... If possible any source on the internet which can help me to do this.. Pls pls...

Feel free to ask any doubts in my question or idea..
thanks in advance

 

[BobK]

Buy a wireless doorbell.

Bob

 

[(*steve*)]

Wireless doorbell is the easiest and cheapest.

A complex, but interesting, DIY approach is to use a transmitter and receiver you construct yourself. Beware that it's non-trivial.

Another approach is to use some microcontrollers and an already built wireless communications interface (such as my favorite NRF24L01). This is a Rube Goldburg approach to some extent, but lend itself toward more complex and useful applications.

 

[cyberteen]

getting an wireless doorbell is an easy solution but i want to make myself one so that it will also prove beneficial to me in terms of learning.
So got any instructables to do that with microcontrollers??
Thanks in advance

 

[donkey]

26 posts and name of teen gives me the assumption you are new to electronics. having said that you may have already built something awesome.
anyway the simplest way to get into micro's is as steve said use a micro and a tranciever kit. Arduino is the most widely used for beginners but there are alternatives. its as simple as hooking up a few wires and then programming. as steve said the NRF24L01 is a great start these go for about $2 but you can find cheaper. just find a spare channel or else it may interfere with your wifi etc.

if you want to do the whole project from scratch then you will spend about 10 times as long and probably go insane first. you can build an Arduino alternative its not that hard but seriously stick to the nrf as its really simple to use when you know how
the added bonus is the NRF can be used for heaps of things and if you know how to hook it up to a raspberry pi you can make yourself a control system to carry around... but that's for another time lol

 

[cyberteen]

Hmm, sounds like the nrf24l01 promises to be a good entry into wireless interfacing.. Its safe to start with one like that rather than building a powerful transceiver myself.. and going mad..

I will try combining this NRf with two pics at each end to take care of the triggering functions..

Thanks so much for the help guys

 

[(*steve*)]

Its safe to start with one like that rather than building a powerful transceiver myself.

The huge advantage is that the receivers are sensitive enough that the transmitter needs to only have very low power.

The cheapest modules come with the antenna printed onto the board. These are fine for ranges up to about 10 metres or longer without obstructions.

Ensure you note that there are 2 common interfaces. One has 10 pins, the other has 8. Stick to one style. If you do that, and use a header to plug the device into, you can unplug it and plug in higher power device, or one with a better antenna.

Beware that the NRF24L01 runs from 3.3 volts. You can run the lowest power ones from the Arduino's 3.3 volt rail.

I would recommend something based on an ATMEGA328 or larger due to the size of the code in the libraries required to support these devices.

The inputs (other than power) are 5V tolerant, so you can just connect them up to the Arduino pins.

 

[cyberteen]

Thanks for the tip Steve,

I have a pickit2 programmer lying around... So I am trying to build this using a pic rather than then atmega.. Can you suggest a pic which can be used for this???

 

[(*steve*)]

Not really. I'm no expert with PICs. And I've certainly not used them with this chipset.

Google for "pic library nrf24L01" and see what you get.

Here is the first hit I got. Looks promising.

 

[foTONICS]

Okay I don't mean to hi-jack this thread but wireless/internet enabled electronics has always been my weak point. While searching for "wireless" I came across this thread. I found a nRF24L01 module shown here. Is this one of the 'cheap' ones that you guys speak of? I'm thinking of using this with an arduino because, well, I don't have one and this will be a nice excuse to buy one.

Could this be used as a repeater for say my router?

 

[foTONICS]

Thanks for the tip Steve,

I have a pickit2 programmer lying around... So I am trying to build this using a pic rather than then atmega.. Can you suggest a pic which can be used for this???

I'm a big pic fan and have all different kinds and I may try using one of these transceivers with it, maybe we can even collaborate and get something working

 

[(*steve*)]

I'm a big pic fan and have all different kinds and I may try using one of these transceivers with it, maybe we can even collaborate and get something working

I'd be very interested in reading along...

 

[foTONICS]

okay so I just bought an arduino uno and am now going to buy a pair of those transceivers

 

[foTONICS]

i guess if I were to use the pic I should just buy the chip itself and not the module?

 

[donkey]

hey guys and girls if you want to see something that I liked about the nrf
http://arduino-for-beginners.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/setup-nordic-nrf24l01-rf-modules-to.html
here they hook it up to the pi as well. I would love to see where you guys go with this so will keep posted

 

[(*steve*)]

i guess if I were to use the pic I should just buy the chip itself and not the module?

The chip from the NRF24L01? If you do, you'll have to do the microwave design.

I know of only 1 person here who can do it (it's not me). Are you another?

As goes the UNO, also take a look at the Arduino Pro Mini. (But beware you can't use your normal USB programmer. A USBASP programmer (or your uno running the programmer app can do it). A similar trick is used for a base ATMega328 chip.

 

[cyberteen]

@Fotonics , .since you have worked with a lot of pics, lemme ask you whether a 16f series pic would be okay for this project

 

[foTONICS]

I just found something pretty cool that goes along with the arduino, although it's not out yet I might back it. something from kickstarter regarding wireless transmitters HERE

 

[foTONICS]

The chip from the NRF24L01?

no I meant everything that comes with the NRF24L01

@Fotonics , .since you have worked with a lot of pics, lemme ask you whether a 16f series pic would be okay for this project

In my opinion if your doing something simple like turning on/off LED's from across the room I don't think the difference between a 16f, 18f, etc, really matters. I'm no expert but what I've noticed is that the only things that really changes are number of I/O's, comparators, analog pins, pwm pins, number of timers or how fast the internal oscillators are.

I haven't looked too deeply into the NRF24L01 yet but as long as you have enough pins on the PIC to satisfy the requirements to run it and whatever other inputs/outputs you have (switches, LED's) than your okay.

check out this site: pics

 

[foTONICS]

So I bought two of these then realized that they said arduino at the end. As I only (well soon) have one arduino I'm hoping that it just means the DIP pins are arranged for an arduino (i think its called a shield) and will only work WITH arduinos