Sometimes you just want to keep things simple. Not everyone wants to learn how to code and configure an Arduino. With these handy little boards you simply press a button on the remote and the receiver module turns on an output to power your light or motor.
I have already found them useful for several types of DIY projects and am dreaming up more:
COSTUMES: Placing and wiring switches into your costume can be a real pain. With these you can turn on lights, trigger the smoke effects and start the radar dish turning with the click of a button.
GAG PROPS: Make a chair vibrate, cause the creepy doll head to rotate and eyes light up, or make the fake rat run around the table.
SUPER SOLAR YARD LIGHTS: Make a simple security or decorative lighting system that only operates when you want them to. No more coming home to solar lights that have run out of power when you really need them.
I even did a Creepy Remote Control Doll Head for Halloween... it glows and vibrates and its eyes snap open... all at the click of a button.
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| Adafruit's four-button RF transmitter (key-fob) and one of their four-output-line receivers. For about $10 for the pair you can control up to four different outputs with the press of a button. The receiver puts out about 5v on each of the outputs. With a few more components, you can easily control LEDs or even motors. Add an Arduino and you have an easy RF remote control for all kinds of projects. |
If you know how to install a button and an LED or motor, you can get started for under $5. For a few dollars more you can get a four-output versions with a preassembled remote transmitter. For a few more you can get one to control 12-24 volt circuits or even 110/220 AC.
You can get 10x pairs of single-output receivers for $12. These are just the raw boards. You will need to put a trigger (like a button) on the transmitter and wire a light or motor to the output of the receiver. But for about a buck each, that's a cheap way to start.
For a little more money, you can get four-output versions with premade key-fob style transmitters. That way you can control multiple lights and motors from a single remote.
While these tiny RF modules are cheap and easy to use, they do have significant limitations.
Most of the cheaper versions are "non discriminating" transmitter/receiver pairs. You cannot assign a specific transmitter to a specific receiver. So you can simultaneously operate 10 receivers with a single remote. But if two people have a transmitter, both people can operate all the receivers.
They send simple on/off signals to the transmitter to toggle the output lines. You can control one or all of those four outputs. You can wire the outputs up to an Arduino and have it take other actions based on the state of the output. However, you cannot send complex data like serial text commands with them. You will need a more expensive RF transmitter receiver to do that.
Some only work from a few feet away, others have a decent range (several yards) under ideal circumstances, all certainly good enough for costumes, props and gags. But you won't be turning on your porchlight from a mile away like with the expensive models. I found that fiddling with the coiled antenna can give me a little extra range (or limit it to a few inches).
The receivers may have different ways of responding to the transmitter signals. Some only turn on while the button is pressed, then turn off once the button is released. Others turn on with the first press, then remain on until the same button is pressed. Others cycle through, they turn on a channel when the button is pressed while also turning off all the other channels.
My recommendation?
Adafruit has a good selection of key-fob style transmitters (1,2 or 4 button) and receivers (momentary, latching and toggling).
While Adafruit's versions are more expensive than knockoffs, they might be worth it to you. You know exactly how the transmitters and receivers work together, all the transmitters work with all the receivers, and as usual with Adafruit, you get excellent tutorials on how to wire, install and operate the equipment.
Plus, you can order some LEDs, motors and driver boards all from the same place. They even have a sound effects board that can be controlled with these remotes.
Both the cheap versions and the Adafruit boards are also available from Amazon
If you know how to read digital inputs on an Arduino, then your options expand exponentially. You can control the speed and direction of motors, change the color of LEDs and even control NeoPixel animations. With some MOSFETs, a driver boards or some relays you can control valves, pumps, fans, solenoids and servos ---- basically anything you normally control with your Arduino.
But this post is about keeping it simple and using only basic hardware and the simplest of electrical circuits. So pick up one these RF units and start building your own props and costumes.
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