Selecting boards for a project

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Mr_Q
 
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Selecting boards for a project

Post by Mr_Q »

I'm looking for some help selecting an Arduino compatible board(s) for my project. It's a two unit temperature monitor. Outdoor unit in a small enclosure running on LiPoly battery with a DS 18B20 one wire temp sensor (1-1.5ma during read, much less in standby). The communications between the units could be, WIFI, Bluetooth LE, or 433 MHz RF. Each seems to have it's pros and cons.

Distance between indoor and outdoor units is probably 30 feet or so (plus the exterior wall). Interior unit receives the data, displays on a 2 line LCD, If I get fancy I might throw it up to Adafruit.io and do trending. Interior unit could be wall powered or LiPoly.
I was thinking about a Adafruit QT Py ESP32-C3 WiFi Dev Board with STEMMA QT. Not stuck on that though. Size isn't an issue, don't have to have a STEMMA connector.

The ESP32-C3 appears to have a very low power sleep mode. That way I can check temp maybe at 10 minute intervals and let it sleep the rest of the time. Maximizing battery life.
It feels like WIFI would burn a lot of cycles reconnecting several time and hour. BLE is appealing but I don't know about a practical range.

Appreciate any advice y'all have.

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: Selecting boards for a project

Post by mikeysklar »

WiFi would make sense if you wanted to send data direct to AIO. In that case I would use the ESP32-S2 + external antenna. The 30' distance is small, but with a wall it can degrade the signal.

Using a pair of Feather M0 LoRA RFM96 would be the easiest way to handle node to node since the guide provides a working example for this type of scenario.

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Mr_Q
 
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Re: Selecting boards for a project

Post by Mr_Q »

Hi Mikey,

Argh! I didn't see your reply until after I ordered a pair of the QT Py ESP32-C3 --both of which are not connecting to my WIFI.
Order Info
June 2, 2023 @ 9:37 PM
3081922-4652715154

The units executed blink and Wi-Fi scan correctly, but both refused to connect to my Wi-Fi router. (Calix C844G from CenturyLink) Multiple resets and verified password and SSID.

I think the S2 with an antenna would probably make sense. I planned to use ESP-NOW for the connection between the units. Adafruit IO is a possibility, I suppose.

The LoRA feathers are a cool bit of kit, but more than I hoped to spend on this project. That's part of what made the C3 appealing. I sent a note to support about the C3 boards. (Sigh)

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Mr_Q
 
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Re: Selecting boards for a project

Post by Mr_Q »

I created a new post re: the problem

viewtopic.php?t=202064

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