Re: X-10 RF meter (was Re: XTB II Review)

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston) wrote:

>I will test whether the small superregenerative receivers will work with a
>multimeter as readout. If so, it's a cheap way to fill what should be a
>rather rare need. I have a handful of boards with coin cell battery holders
>(Two CR2032 or BR2032) that might work for this.

The test and my memory both failed. Oh, well.

The few remaining boards have solder pads for connecting +5V & GND but do
not have the battery holder.

As I feared, it requires a bit more sophistication than a multimeter. It
could be done on a breadboard with one of the 315MHz RF receivers (tuned to
310MHz) and a PIC12F675 to measure the RSSI pin and vary an LED's intensity
accordingly. Cost: <$10

     http://www.mouser.com/search/refine.aspx?Ntt=RCR-315-RP

http://www.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=PIC12F675-I%2fPGvirtualkey57940000virtualkey579-PIC12F675-I%2fPG

It there were sufficient demand (very unlikely) dedicated bare boards could
be less than $0.50 each for 100 pcs plus $35 engineering charge, plus $30
shipping from China.

Or it could be built on this board...

     http://davehouston.net/gp-diy-pcb.htm

I don't have time to do it but can tell anyone who wants to supply the PIC
how to do it, if necessary (unlikely).

http://davehouston.net
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