Published September 19, 2020 © GPL3+

Arduino Based NRF24 Transmitter-Receiver Setup

PCB Version of NRF24 Arduino Based Transmitter and Reciever

BeginnerFull instructions provided2 hours8,752

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino Nano R3

Nordic Semiconductor NRF24L01

Resistor 10k ohm

Resistor 1k ohm

LED 0603

Analog joystick (Generic)

C&K Switches PTS 645 Series Switch

JLCPCB Customized PCB

Arduino UNO

UTSOURCE Electronic Parts

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

Story

In my previous post about NRF24, I set up the Transmitter and Reciever on a breadboard with jumper wires.

That was LEVEL 1

https://www.hackster.io/Oniichan_is_ded/nrf24-hookup-guide-97b240

LEVEL 2 would be a PCB which have buttons (or any INPUT Device/Module/Sensor) and LED(or any OUTPUT)

So I made these-

Black PCB is the Transmitter PCB which has 3 Buttons and one analog joystick and the white one is the Reciever PCB which has 6 servo/ESC port, One LED, 1 Button, and an MPU6050.

This PCB is made originally for a Future Drone Project which is in Progress.

I made these Two PCBs in OrCad Cadance and got them Manufactured by JLCPCB.

As you might know, JLCPCB is one of the best and well-known PCB manufacturers out there in the market, they offer great service for a very low price.

Crucial INFO

Now as we already know NRF24L01 module is not 5V Tolerant, so don't connect directly with any microcontroller's VCC or 5V port, instead, use 3.3V if available or a voltage regulator (3.3V AMS1117 perhaps) to regulate the 5V into 3.3V.

However, I used an Arduino Nano R3 which has 3.3V Output so I hooked NRF24 with it directly.

watch my video about NRF24 modules if you need to know the basics-

I'll just skip the foreplay and get straight to the main part, which is assembly.

Materials Required-

Also,Thanks to UTSOURCE.net for offer electronic components for this project! you can check UTSOURCE.net they deal in all kinds of electronics components like for example all the Components used in this project!

Transmitter

Custom PCB x1
Arduino Nano R3 x1
NRF24L01 Module x1
Analog Joystick THT x1
Male Headers Pin
Button x 2
1K Resistance 0805 x 1
10K Resistance 0603 x 2
LED 0603 x 1

Receiver

Custom PCB x1
Arduino Nano R3 x1
NRF24L01 Module x1
MPU6050
LED 0603 x1
1K Resistance 0805 x1
Button x1
MPU6050 x1
Male Header Pins

Assembly for both setups is pretty straight forward, first solder LEDs and Resistance on both setup and then add THT components like Buttons, Arduino Nano, NRF24, Joystick on both of the PCBs.

1 / 3

Schematic-

Receiver-

Transmitter-

So after the assembly, its time to TEST THESE Two, and for that, I will use two types of codes (LEVEL 1 and LEVEL 2)

CODE

LEVEL 1 Transmitter and Reciever code is nothing but a simple "sending message" Code. Transmitter side Transmit a Message and Reciever side will display that on the Serial Monitor.

So First upload the Transmitter Level 1 Code to the transmitter setup and power it from an outside source, like a power bank or 5V wall adaptor supply.

After that, hook Reciever to your computer and upload the Reciever Level 1 Code.

Result Level 1

1 / 3

The Serial Monitor will display the message which is transmitted via RF by Transmitter setup. If this works then we can move on to the next step, which is

LEVEL 2

In Level 2, we will change the code a little bit in order to toggle an LED on Reciever's Side with a Button on the Transmitter side.

Upload the Transmitter Level 2 Code and then Reciever Level 2 Code. this time we can power these two from an outside source as we don't need to use The serial monitor.

Result Level 2

LEVEL 3 would be to add a servo to this setup and control it with an analog joystick.

code for this is the same as before as in that code we already have defined the servo pin and analog joystick.

Now, because of this sketch, we can use both of these setups as transmitters and receivers at the same time.

LEVEL 4

at last, the goal of this project was to control a generic drone.

so I changed the code a little bit and this is how everything wents-

now, this definitely is not a final step, I still need to improve the code a lot and add mpu6050's code to this setup.

will do that soon.

Schematics

Code

#include <SPI.h>
#include <nRF24L01.h>
#include <RF24.h>
#define led 2
RF24 radio(7, 8); // CE, CSN
const byte addresses[][6] = {"00001", "00002"};
boolean buttonState = 0;
void setup() {
  pinMode(2, OUTPUT);
  radio.begin();
  radio.openWritingPipe(addresses[1]); // 00002
  radio.openReadingPipe(1, addresses[0]); // 00001
  radio.setPALevel(RF24_PA_MIN);
}
void loop() {
  
  delay(5);
  radio.startListening();
  while (!radio.available());
  radio.read(&buttonState, sizeof(buttonState));
  if (buttonState == HIGH) {
    digitalWrite(led, HIGH);
  }
  else {
    digitalWrite(led, LOW);
  }
}

#include <SPI.h>
#include <nRF24L01.h>
#include <RF24.h>

#define button 2
RF24 radio(7, 8); // CE, CSN
const byte addresses[][6] = {"00001", "00002"};

boolean buttonState = 0;
void setup() {
  pinMode(button, INPUT);

  radio.begin();
  radio.openWritingPipe(addresses[0]); // 00001
  radio.openReadingPipe(1, addresses[1]); // 00002
  radio.setPALevel(RF24_PA_MIN);
}
void loop() {
  
    delay(5);
    radio.stopListening();
    buttonState = digitalRead(button);
    radio.write(&buttonState, sizeof(buttonState));
  }

Credits

Arnov Sharma

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Arduino Based NRF24 Transmitter-Receiver Setup

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Crucial INFO

Materials Required-

Transmitter

Receiver

CODE

Custom parts and enclosures

TRANSMITTER

RECEIVER

Schematics

TRANSMITTER

RECEIVER

Code

RECIEVER Lv2

TRANSMITTER Lv2

TRANSMITTER Lv1

RECEIVER Lv1

Credits

Arnov Sharma

Comments

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Arduino Based NRF24 Transmitter-Receiver Setup

Arduino Based NRF24 Transmitter-Receiver Setup

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Crucial INFO

Materials Required-

Transmitter

Receiver

CODE

Custom parts and enclosures

TRANSMITTER

RECEIVER

Schematics

TRANSMITTER

RECEIVER

Code

RECIEVER Lv2

TRANSMITTER Lv2

TRANSMITTER Lv1

RECEIVER Lv1

Credits

Arnov Sharma

Comments

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