A wireless connection between a Computer and an Arduino with an APC220 module.

The Arduino is compatible with a lot of shields and other components. In this project we are going to use an APC220 module connected to an Arduino and the same module with a USB converter. In this example we are going to build an Arduino program and use the Arduino "Serial Monitor" for reading and sending information on the PC.

The APC220 module is sold by DFrobot (http://www.dfrobot.com) and has two APC220 modules, two antennas and a USB converter in the package. This makes it possible to control your Arduino remotely. It has a line of sight distance up top 1000 meter at 9600 bps what is suitable for most projects. The APC modules are small only 38 mm by 19 mm. Power consumption is low 5uA in sleeping mode till 42mA transmitting at 20mW. It's communicating between the 418 MHz and 455MHz band which can be used freely without licenses in a lot of counties.

We are going to control a led and read the status of a switch with the wireless connection. The test board has the APC220 module, a switch with a 10k pull down resistor and a led with a 220 Ohm resistor. Everything is connected to an Arduino Uno with an USB power supply to power this project instead of a conventional power supply. We only use 4 pins from the APC220. Two pins to power the module and two pins for sending and receiving information. In the schematics below your see the components on the breadboard made with Fritzing (http://fritzing.org)

After mounting all the components on the breadboard and connecting the Arduino, you should have something like this.

Compile and Upload the code onto your Arduino.

Connect the other APC 220 with the USB converter to your computer. If you use your APC the first time on a PC you need to install the drivers first. Please take a look at the suppliers website. (http://www.dfrobot.com/)

Select in the Arduino the port for the APC 220 module and open the Serial Monitor in the Arduino software. You can control the LED by sending a 1 (on) or a 0 (off). After changing the state of the switch the Serial Monitor will display a message.

I made a video to show you what the program should do. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld4hhpFGlww)

The original article can be found on www.swanrobotics.com