Wireless Transmitter/Receiver

Thread Starter

bocochoco

Joined Jul 17, 2009
4
I'm new here, please be gentle ^_^.

So I'm looking to build a small wireless transmitter and receiver (two boards). The specifics don't really matter all that much except that range is important, at least 30 foot range, 50 feet is optimal. I don't even need to decipher the signal on the receiving end.

This is what I'm trying to do. I build model rockets with my friends and our launcher broke. It is basicly a momentary switch that uses 4 AA batteries to ignite a small starter which ignited the engine. I'm sure that I could build a direct replacement quite easily, but I'd like to make it wireless. What I would need is a transmitter circuit that transmits on any wavelength and when the receiver picks up that signal, it sends enough power to the igniter to ignite the rocket engine.

How complicated is this? I haven't been able to find a good guide on how to do this, and I'm not sure what parts I would need. I have an arduino that I use for other projects, and I am not a complete newbie to circuitry. Can someone help me figure this out?
 

Thread Starter

bocochoco

Joined Jul 17, 2009
4
That is what we have been using. Our current project, 30-50 may not be good enough. Is there a simple receiver/transmitter circuit that would work for me?
 

Thread Starter

bocochoco

Joined Jul 17, 2009
4
This one is rather big. More range is better. If you know of a circuit or something that I could pickup from radioshack, it would help me out immensely.
 

ELECTRONERD

Joined May 26, 2009
1,147
Hmmm....this is definitely feasible, but we need some more details. What starts the rocket? A match or something?

You'll need to figure out what frequencies are used for RC planes, rockets, and gliders so you know what frequency to operate at.
 

GetDeviceInfo

Joined Jun 7, 2009
2,192
I would strongly suggest that if your igniting rockets, that you use a system that transmits a specific code, and a reciever that is capable of identifying that code. Transmitter/reciever/transcievers that I have had good success with is the RFM01/01/12.
 

ELECTRONERD

Joined May 26, 2009
1,147
I would strongly suggest that if your igniting rockets, that you use a system that transmits a specific code, and a reciever that is capable of identifying that code. Transmitter/reciever/transcievers that I have had good success with is the RFM01/01/12.
That's a very good idea because you could get interference that would accidentally start your rocket...:eek:. Nice going GetDeviceInfo!
 

Steve C

Joined Nov 29, 2008
88
cheapest option you've got is to buy a car keyless entry on ebay. Cheapest one you can find.

Though if you want to do it stupid, you can pay extra for a 2 way transmitter that will tell you if the rocket launched. Which might be neat seeing as the transmitters are supposed to have a 1 mile range.

but you can get the entry level ones for dirt.

Add a 12 volt battery and you are good to go. You can pay retail and get a small 12V battery from Frys for $26 or scavenge for far, far less. I buy 8 Ah batteries at the surpluss for $5 a pop. You can probably do it even cheaper. Nice that you can just keep charging the battery up.
 
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