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NRF8001 Arrives

A project log for H-T-R-C - A Universal Remote With BLE

An open source, hackable, extendable, powerful universal remote with IR, Bluetooth and a low power ARM micro as a base.

jacksonliamjacksonliam 07/25/2014 at 09:190 Comments

I've got my nrf8001 module from olimex. I would've rather have got the adafruit one but it cost a bit more after factoring in UK shipping or buying from a UK reseller. I'm leaning towards using the nrf51822 for this so it'll probably end up in the parts bin anyway!

I don't get access to the windows software required to create configurations for the BLE module without purchasing a proper dev kit, but have run the module from an arduino with nordics arduino lib. The lib contains instructions for porting to other microcontrollers which doesn't look like much work so I'll probably give it a go.

If that's not very useful I'll see if I can borrow a license to the nrf8001 software or use someone's copy to create a config.

In the mean time I've been playing with the zero gecko dev board, the real time power monitor is fantastic. If I go for nrf8001 I'll probably get one of the gecko dev boards with a beefier chip since they come with a power profiler, so you can link power use to lines of code which is just too cool! Though I pretty much know where the power will go (turning on the BLE radio), most of the rest of the time will be spent in sleep mode.

My final time went into looking at certified modules with antennas that I'd put on a fabbed PCB, most of them look like a 'contact sales' kind of deal though some claim samples are available. I'll keep browsing component sites to see if there's anything I can just order!

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