I’m a big fan of the Pico (PiicoDev is a great bonus on top of Micropython/Circuitpython) but for my latest project I want to use a 433MHz transmitter to send small amounts of data a short distance. Arduino libraries to do this are not hard to find, but is there anything that supports say a FS1000A 433 MHz RF Transmitter with python?
Secondly, I’d like to use a small solar panel to power the project. The Nano seems to be able to take 12V and function all right even without a step down circuit. Can the Pico be powered by anything other than the USB port? My googling suggests no.
Hi @Colin127849, have you seen Core Electronics new 900MHz Tx/Rx boards? They are not 433MHz but are really easy to use with a Pico and there is sample code on the product page. You’ll be up in an hour. Regarding solar power, have you considered a battery to power Pico (via a suitable DC/DC converter) and charge the battery using solar (and a suitable controller)? I hope this helps.
I think Tariq is on to something there recommending the PiicoDev Transceiver, It ticks the boxes of easy to use and fitting in with your existing PiicoDev gear. We’ve put a lot of work into abstracting away the tricky bits and leaving you with a simple solution.
Though with that FS1000A, since it’s just ASKing whatever you do to the data pin, why couldn’t you just use the serial peripherals on a Pico to transmit data? Not sure why something like that needs a library.
Hi Colin,
I’m getting towards the end of a project to get two pico’s to talk to each other using the LoRa protocol.
(Not Lora Wan it’s peer to peer)
I’m going to publish a project document here shortly. I found third party drivers that work with the Pico-Lora-SX126x modules. It’s all programmed in python as well. The Lora modules are powered from the pico. The module comes with a battery and a small antenna. The battery can also charge from the pico’s power supply. So all you need is a phone charging solar panel with a usb cable on it.
I have submitted a draft project document to Core Electronics and it’s pending approval but it sounds it is very close to what you are trying to achieve.
Maybe they will send you an alpha copy so you can give them feedback
The daughter board on the Pi PiicoDev TX/RX board can be setup on 4 different frequency bands as per data sheet below.
The Pi PiicoDev TX/RX board has a Tiny16 processor to do the setup of the daughter board and to convert I2C to SPI. It makes using the board very easy and simple. While it is possible to operate on different frequencies the configuration by Core Electronics only uses the 915MHz band.
GitHub has a link to the library drivers and firmware.
Rewriting the firmware is not as easy task, considering the 433MHz band is used by a lot of RF devices.
Just wanted to show the capabilities of the TX/RX module and what CE does to make things easy and simple to use for us.
As a small aside if you did want to go deep into the weeds and configure the RFM69HCW yourself we do sell the bare module and breakout boards for it as well, but it’s definitely choosing to do things the hard way.
