Wireless trigger for LEDs and buzzers

[(*steve*)]

no I meant everything that comes with the NRF24L01

Yeah, I just place a header on the boards and plug them in. You could also solder them in place if you wanted something more secure.

 

[foTONICS]

So I'm tracking my package and my arduino is at my door (or in my mailslot depending if the fed ex guy felt like squishing it through the hole) so that means I should be expecting the NRF modules soon. I'll keep you guys updated.

on another note, my C syntax for PIC's is lacking, mostly because I don't have experience with it. Would anybody be able to help, I just mean with header files and include files, I always seem to forget one

 

[foTONICS]

And just so I don't confuse anyone I'm not using the arduino to do the NRF thing.

@cyberteen. The only PICs that I have more than one of is the PIC16f627a, I hope that isn't a problem or else we will have to wait for more to be sent to me

 

[foTONICS]

So I just got my transceivers in and boy are they tiny! (banana for scale).

@cyberteen, What kind of PIC's do you have on hand? If we're going to get going with something we should probably use the same types

 

[(*steve*)]

(banana for scale).

Is that an ANSI or SI banana?

 

[foTONICS]

oh SI of course, I'm canadian!

 

[foTONICS]

So doing some research on writing C programs for PIC's I stumbled upon a forum (it was last night and I don't remember where I found it) but someone was saying that I shouldn't use PIC16f627a's because of the limitation associated with the free version of XC8 compiler (which I'm using) and these particular PIC's. Is this something I should be worried about or would the code necessary to do what me and cyberteen plan to do be small enough to not worry about this?

 

[BobK]

You can get a free C compiler from Microchiop which is not limited except in optimization. Why not use it?

Bob

 

[foTONICS]

You can get a free C compiler from Microchiop which is not limited except in optimization. Why not use it?

Bob

I assume you mean this?

http://www.microchip.com/pagehandler/en-us/family/mplabx/#downloads

 

[foTONICS]

Okay so last night I did a search and cannot find any of the TONS of PIC16F627a's that I had laying around. I've ordered some more which should be here by the end of Sept. but in the meantime I only have a PIC24fxxxx (can't remember which one). But that doesn't mean that I can't start on the coding part of this

 

[foTONICS]

I also have a beefy pic18f with a crap ton of I/O's.

 

[foTONICS]

okay so I didn't want to pay $10 shipping for $8 in parts so I just went to the store and picked some up. The downside is they are pic16f84's so that means I need to spend an evening running through the datasheet, the upside is they support ICSP which my other ones didn't, so now I don't have to code in the ICSP myself!

 

[BobK]

Huh? All PICs support ICSP.

Bob

 

[foTONICS]

oh I didn't know that, guess I just mis read it then. The place I bought them at charged me $11 per PIC, a bit steep if you ask me

 

[BobK]

You ain't kidding! You can get an equlivant PIC for < 1$ at Microchip Direct. 16F84 is obsolete, which makes it more expensive.

Bob

 

[foTONICS]

ya the PIC16f84's were the only uControllers available at this place so I was kinda forced to buy them since I made the trip that was out of my way and I didn't want to wait for shipping

 

[foTONICS]

Do you think that it is a bit of overkill if all I'm doing is interfacing with a NRF20l01 wireless transceiver?

 

[(*steve*)]

I'd say it's underkill.

I have some stiff running on arduino using NRF24L01 (is that what you meant) that will not fit into 8k

I'd expect you're not using a networking library for these modules, but the support code can get large quickly. I'd expect you will need to be very cautious with your code (and probably code in assembler)

 

[foTONICS]

I have some stiff running on arduino using NRF24L01 (is that what you meant) that will not fit into 8k

yes that's what I meant

I'd expect you're not using a networking library for these modules, but the support code can get large quickly. I'd expect you will need to be very cautious with your code (and probably code in assembler)

I have a pic24f handy, could I use that as a memory cache? if not I may have a 64k ram chip laying around. It's also funny that you say code in asm. I assume this is because of the tidyness of asm in comparison to C.

I remember reading that today's compilers are getting better at creating more efficient C code. Would this help or do I still need a bulkier (memory) uController?

Also what you said about a networking library, do you mean like header files and include files?

 

[(*steve*)]

The memory I'm talking about is the space that you need to fit your code into.

Yes, the networking library I used was in the form of header files and an include file (actually another source module, but it's the same thing).

Assembler tends (in skilled hands) to produce the smallest code.

Compilers are getting better, but if you (as a programmer) use a function that pulls in a large chunk of library code, you can easily swamp the rest of your program. You're less likely to do that in assembler.