ArrBot: nRF24L01+ notes

Some random notes.  Pay attention to the orientation of this illustration.  The pins are usually on the other side.

                            pins     pin names         arduino connections

 --------------------------------

| antenna                   2  1 |   (2=VCC,  1=GND)   (2=VCC,    1=GND)

| antenna                   4  3 |   (4=CS,   3=CE)    (4=pin 10, 3=pin 9)

| antenna                   6  5 |   (6=MOSI, 5=SCK)   (6=pin 11, 5=pin 13)

| antenna      crystal      8  7 |   (8=IRQ,  7=MISO)  (8=none,   7=pin 12)

 --------------------------------

//   1 - GND

//   2 - VCC 3.3V !!! NOT 5V

//   3 - CE to Arduino pin 9

//   4 - CSN to Arduino pin 10

//   5 - SCK to Arduino pin 13

//   6 - MOSI to Arduino pin 11

//   7 - MISO to Arduino pin 12

//   8 - UNUSED

Documentation

• Nordic Semi Product Page
• Data Sheet

Writeups

• nRF24L01 2.4GHz Radio/Wireless Transceivers How-To
• 
  

Power Note

Power Note

from: nRF24L01 Intermittent / No operation. (scroll to bottom) 

ALWAYS check 3.3V power. Many times intermittent operation is due to power supply regulation issues. Even though the average current may be less than 15ma, apparently there are quick transients when each transmit burst happens. 

I used to have nRF24L01 problems. Worked one day / one minute, failed the next. Now I put a 1uf to 10uf capacitor right from GND to 3.3V pins on the modules, and things are MUCH better. 

See the ArduinoInfo.Info WIKI here. These modules are designed to plug into a baseboard that usually has significant bypass capacitors. If you have them on the end of jumper wires you need extra bypass capacitors.

Arduino Libraries

seems more extensive?

http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/Nrf24L01-2.4GHz-HowTo

seems better documented?

http://playground.arduino.cc/InterfacingWithHardware/Nrf24L01
radiohead
http://www.airspayce.com/mikem/arduino/RadioHead/index.html

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