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December 30, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Review and Teardown of Simplelink Self-Powered Power Switch

After I wrote about SimpleLink Batteryless power switch and receiver, the company decided to sent me a kit to try out by myself. So in this review, I’ll checkout the kit, install a demo to show how it works, and finally have a look at the internals. The kit include a power cord with a US plug and a holder and corresponding light bulb that you need to connect to the corresponding red and blue wire of the receiver (white cylinder), and you can control with the green power battery-less switch. Two 3M double face stickers are also included for the receiver and switch, as well as a strap for the switch, a screw set for either the light holder or receiver, and a user’s manual shown below. Installation is pretty self-explanatory, and you just need to connect the blue and red cables to the input (mains) and output (light) […]

December 18, 2015December 18, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

SimpleLink Battery-less Power Switch Leverages RF & Energy Harvesting Technologies

SimpleLink may be the name used by Texas Instruments for their wireless MCU family, but there’s also a Chinese company called SimpleLink Technology that develops wireless smart home solutions including battery-less power switches that communicate over sub GHz band to receivers using energy harvested from pressing the button(s) on the switch. They have different models with 1 to 4 buttons, and round and square shapes. Let’s have a look at SIM1010-K1 specifications: Switch Type – Push-Button; operating force: 7N; typical total travel: 4mm Number of Keys – 1 gang Power Mode: Self-Powered Control Distance – Up to 30 meters indoor (works though walls), 100+ meters outdoor Frequency Bands – 433/315/868/915MHz Lifetime – >200,000 times Connectivity – SimpleLink (most probably entirely unrelated to TI SimpleLink); +10dBm Tx power Operating Temperature: -25~70℃ Operating Humidity: 0~95%RH Dimensions – Ф 70 x 15.5 mm Weight – 44g That self-powered wireless switch will prevent the […]

December 18, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

TI SimpleLink CC1310 Wireless MCU Promises 20 Km Range, 20-Year Battery Life on a Coin Cell

Some LPWAN standards such as SigFox, LoRa, or nWave allows for transmission of data at low bitrate over several kilometers, and I’ve very recently featured Microchip’s LoRa modules and motes in this blog. So when Texas Instruments sent their December 2015 newsletter entitled Wireless MCU spans 20 km on a coin cell, I decided to have a look, and the company’s CC1310 wireless Cortex-M3+M0 MCU based on a proprietary sub GHz technology also claims to last 20-year on a coin cell for applications such as grid communication infrastructure and heat and water meters. SimpleLink CC1310 key features: Microcontroller – ARM Cortex-M3 @ up to 48 MHz with up to 128KB programmable flash, 8KB DRAM for cache/general purpose, 20KB Ultralow Leakage SRAM Sensor Controller – Ultralow power and autonomous; 16-Bit Architecture; 2KB of Ultralow Leakage SRAM for code and data RF core Cortex M0 core with 4KB RAM, and ROM Data […]