Hey! I’m currently trying to design a wireless steering wheel solution for a project I’m doing. I want to send button press information from the steering wheel to an Arduino that controls blinkers/horn/lights located ~2ft away from the wheel. Power consumption should be kept to a minimum as the wheel should ideally last all day (8-10+hrs) off a 500mAH LiPo pack. Due to this, I was originally planning on using the XIAO nrf52840 along with an Aliexpress RF Transmitter/Reciever pair to go low on power, but I was wondering how low I could get the power draw on the XIAO to fit my need. Please let me know if y’all need any more info, and thank you so much!
Welcome… someone should be able to help you… i dont think you should need a separate transmitter, as most any XIAO, except SAMd is capable of transmitting by itself
Hi there,
Well I see several free ways to approach this problem. One solution would be, Xiao to Xiao over BLE.
one central one peripheral with the idea that more peripherals could be added later like pedals and displays , etc.
AFAIK, system on sleep power consumption is uA. your battery should easily last that long.
a second solution is a RF-Trans/Reciever to a Xiao would be receive only but still manage low power on the Xiao side.
The first is the best IMO. BLE to BLE opens up a whole network of possibilities. You could do CAN-BUS between peripherals and have one Xiao filter and control all the messages and BLE to a phone for Data and control.
lots of possibilities.
HTH
GL 
PJ
you can use the online battery calculator, digi-key has one. put in your numbers and see about how much burn you have given the battery size and run time. 
I can sell you a RF solution, codes…
XIAO to XIAO communication Only., less than 10ft.
500mAH should last you more than 12 hours with my-setup, I have tested similar configurations/On the transmitter XIAO/On-my Codeset.
On the receiver XIAO, it all depends on the Actual LOAD.
NO BLE, NO Bluetooth, NO WIFI Dependency,
Code-set that i have is for commercial purpose only for my own use, took me a long time to develop /worked with developer for a different purpose…
Good Luck on your endeavor,
if u cant find a solution, pls consider pinging me… with a spec.
thx
Outkasst…
Thanks for your reply! My solution is XIAO to Arudino. The ardunio doesn’t have a power draw problem, I’m just worried about the XIAO’s power draw on the steering wheel. I will be mostly likely sending information that tells the ardunio what button is pressed on the steering wheel (buttons are connected to XIAO). This information should probably clarify it a bit.
Can you provide more information on how you set up your transmitter XIAO? We are aiming for an average of 15-20 milliamps just in case we have to use a 300mAH battery instead of 500.
Hi there,
Pfffft Childs play on the xiao 2uA on sleep. No MCU goes lower than the Nordic nRF52840 so
Read some data sheets and see what it is your needing to do in Black and white.
Xiao could be sleep always(lowest power) and Button push could be Wakeup interrupt to send BLE button press, back to sleep… LOL! you won’t get anything more power efficient at all.
HTH
GL PJ
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Would using BLE or RF make a difference on power consumption? This is my first time dealing with a wireless application so its all new to me haha. Thanks for all the help!
Hi there,
sure it will , also which end has the transmitter will use more power.
Something like BLE notify doesn’t need a reply. so no power loss there.
HTH
GL PJ
receiver BLE always has power so no problem with sleeping when not in use.
The reciever isn’t going to be a XIAO, only the transmitter. The reciever will probably be some kind of ardunio board. Didn’t know if that was clear!
Hi there,
That is fine, more work , two different code bases, Two xiao’s one code base BLE, central and peripheral.
Go for it.
GL PJ
just buy a three pack
Thank you for all of the responses! I would like to keep the Arduino as the receiver just because the Arduino is not just controlling other lights, but also doing stuff like telemetry and sending data to other devices already. It seems like connecting all the buttons to the XIAO on the steering wheel and then using BLE to send a signal with information about the button press to the Arduino is the most power efficient option, no?
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