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Would an esp32 be the best soc for LoRa? I don't need WiFi or BT, which I know I can turn off to save power. Contemplating trying STM32 instead, don't have expe

by winrid 1y ago

Would an esp32 be the best soc for LoRa? I don't need WiFi or BT, which I know I can turn off to save power. Contemplating trying STM32 instead, don't have experience programming it yet.

obitsten 1y ago
No. All you would need is a SPI interface or whatever the Lora module speaks. The most basic microcontroller can do that. Any ESP32 is overkill for this.
- winrid 1y ago
  Right. Sorry I meant development boards. This is low volume, probably will only make a few a year. The nice thing about the esp32 is I can get the board with lora/display built in, with a battery, for $25 each. The stm32 board and module is only a tiny bit less, for example. If I wanted to I could do this with a cheap 8bit microcontroller, I would just have to design a custom board with an oscillator to modulate the IR LEDs etc. I was gonna do that with PWM from the microcontroller to "simplify" things. Edit: oh the MSP430 is neat! If I cared about battery life (driving 200ma of LEDs anyway...) I'd totally use that.
- winrid 1y ago
  The XIAO RP2040 looks perfect for what I'm doing, actually, and draws less power.
15155 1y ago
https://www.seeedstudio.com/LoRa-E5-Wireless-Module-Tape-Reel-p-5302.html https://www.seeedstudio.com/LoRa-E5-Wireless-Module-Tape-Ree... Use something based on the STM32WLE5JC or a discrete SX1262.
- winrid 1y ago
  If I needed to build a bunch I'd definitely go that route - that's a great deal!
NegativeLatency 1y ago
The heltech boards are pretty popular, also have some nice stuff like a screen and a lipo charge controller integrated. They’re really popular with the Meshtastic community.
- winrid 1y ago
  Yep! Unfortunately the lipo setup is useless, not only would I not trust the lipo in the heat it will be in, I need to drive some other stuff and it will have a much bigger battery pack anyway. Other than that the heltech boards look great, but I'm gonna try something 1/2 the cost and should work fine, and be smaller.

by winrid 1y ago

Would an esp32 be the best soc for LoRa? I don't need WiFi or BT, which I know I can turn off to save power. Contemplating trying STM32 instead, don't have experience programming it yet.

obitsten 1y ago

No. All you would need is a SPI interface or whatever the Lora module speaks. The most basic microcontroller can do that. Any ESP32 is overkill for this.

winrid 1y ago
Right. Sorry I meant development boards. This is low volume, probably will only make a few a year. The nice thing about the esp32 is I can get the board with lora/display built in, with a battery, for $25 each. The stm32 board and module is only a tiny bit less, for example. If I wanted to I could do this with a cheap 8bit microcontroller, I would just have to design a custom board with an oscillator to modulate the IR LEDs etc. I was gonna do that with PWM from the microcontroller to "simplify" things. Edit: oh the MSP430 is neat! If I cared about battery life (driving 200ma of LEDs anyway...) I'd totally use that.
winrid 1y ago
The XIAO RP2040 looks perfect for what I'm doing, actually, and draws less power.

15155 1y ago

https://www.seeedstudio.com/LoRa-E5-Wireless-Module-Tape-Reel-p-5302.html https://www.seeedstudio.com/LoRa-E5-Wireless-Module-Tape-Ree... Use something based on the STM32WLE5JC or a discrete SX1262.

winrid 1y ago
If I needed to build a bunch I'd definitely go that route - that's a great deal!

NegativeLatency 1y ago

The heltech boards are pretty popular, also have some nice stuff like a screen and a lipo charge controller integrated. They’re really popular with the Meshtastic community.

winrid 1y ago
Yep! Unfortunately the lipo setup is useless, not only would I not trust the lipo in the heat it will be in, I need to drive some other stuff and it will have a much bigger battery pack anyway. Other than that the heltech boards look great, but I'm gonna try something 1/2 the cost and should work fine, and be smaller.