Last Updated on 1 April 2022 by Suffocation
The Sunfounder remote control is powered by an Arduino Nano and an nRF24101 board. It has screw terminals for power, an on/off switch, and two slots for the aforementioned modules. For control, it uses a two-axis joystick, similar to the one found in a PS4 controller. The joystick is analogue. Two potentiometers (variable resistors) alter the output voltage depending on the joystick's position.
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Applications
- Remote control
- I'm lacking the imagination for further uses. 😉
Bill of materials
- Sunfounder Remote Control Board
- Arduino Nano
- nRF24L01 Board
- Power supply (USB interface, battery ...)
- A receiver, e.g. nRF module, for the serial interface or for Arduino
Remote control
Internal circuit diagram
Joystick Wiring
The joystick is connected to analogue ports 0 and 1. The button can be queried via digital port 2.
The values on the analogue ports are between 0 and 1023. The neutral position is around 512 (this can vary slightly depending on the potentiometer).
| Arduino | Joystick |
| A0 | Y direction (up/down) |
| A1 | X direction (right/left) |
| D2 | Switch (Press on joystick) |
nRF Wiring
| Arduino | nRF | Comment |
| D9 | CE | Enable Tx/Rx mode |
| D10 | Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | Chip select |
| D11 | MOSI | Data input |
| D12 | Miso | Data output |
| D13 | SCK | Clock |
| – | IRQ | Interrupt |
Arduino Nano
nRF24 Module
Library
There are some implementations for the nRF modules, and I have used, among others, this one advertised by Sunfounder.
http://wiki.sunfounder.cc/images/7/76/Test_Code.zip
Should there be any problems with this, I can also recommend the following LIB:
As it's always a bit critical whether the already installed libs and the new ones fit together, I've simply copied the *.h and *.cpp files into the project folders of the sender and receiver for this project. Of course, you can also simply install the RF24.
The integration of libraries in general is described under the following link, and I will not go into further detail here.
https://fambach.net/arduino-ide#Bibliotheken
Programming
I approached this project in two steps.
- Step 1 Test the circuit board
- Step 2 add the RF
First step – Test circuit board
The first test queries the joystick and outputs the values to the console.
Second step – RF added
The remote control sends its values directly to the receiver, which outputs the values to the console.
The transmitter shall transmit the values of the analogue ports and the switch position 1:1. For this, I have extended the first test to include the RF interface.
This is how it should then look:
Conclusion
Sunfounder has a nice, small, and inexpensive remote control on offer here. The installation is straightforward; it's a shame the push-button doesn't work.
Problems
The push button doesn't work
Unfortunately, the push-button on the joystick on my board isn't working :(.
RF is not working
Try the following library again; it was the one I had the most success with.
http://tmrh20.github.io/RF24
Related Posts
Sources
https://www.sunfounder.com/mobile-robot-remote-controller.html
http://wiki.sunfounder.cc/index.php?title=Mobile_Robot_Remote_Controller