Moteino MEGA (trace antenna)

PRODUCT ID:139
$25.95
In Stock

Available Options

Description

What it is:

This is the R4 revision of MoteinoMEGA, it is designed for use with RFM69 and LoRa transceivers (RFM69HCW, RFM69CW, RFM95, can also take RFM12B).
It has an included PCB trace antenna tuned for 868-915mhz (yellow PCB edition).

MoteinoMEGA is a low cost wireless Arduino based on the Atmel ATMega1284P microcontroller:

  • Low cost Arduino fully compatible with the Arduino IDE
  • 128KB sketch flash memory
  • 16KB RAM! (compare to just 2KB on the atmega328p)
  • 4KB EEPROM
  • The regular version includes an onboard RFM69 transceiver and separate 1/4 wavelength monopole wire antenna
  • Low power battery operation friendly just as the regular Moteino
  • 3.3V onboard regulator (MCP1703) provides up to 250mA, input up to 16V (3.6-12V recommended)
  • Small size – 1.0 x 2.6 inch
  • Breadboard friendly header layout allows you to attach female/male header pins on the top or bottom and make shields for it or just use it on the breadboard for prototyping
  • FTDI programming header
  • DualOptiboot bootloader for fast programming and no delay startup.
    DualOptiboot is developed by LowPowerLab to allow wireless programming via the RFM transceiver and the optional FLASH chip
  • Install the ArduinoMEGA core in your Arduino/hardware folder. Restart your Arduino IDE and choose Arduino MEGA under Tools>Boards from Arduino programming environment.
  • Onboard LED on digital pin 15 (D15 / PD7) for debugging or visual indication
  • ENIG finish (RoHs lead free)
  • Proudly made and tested in Michigan-USA with genuine components!

To make a wireless link you will need at least 2 Moteinos. Alternatively this is compatible with other Arduinos that use the RFM69 transceiver.

If you build something interesting with Moteino please consider sharing and/or posting photos in the forum!

What you get:

  • No-transceiver version: barebones MoteinoMEGA, you can solder your own transceiver if you'd like, or just use it as a standalone Arduino
  • Regular version: MoteinoMEGA with soldered transceiver, separate right-angle 1x6 0.1" male FTDI programming header, separate pre-cut wire antenna that matches frequency band of transceiver
  • With side headers option: add 2x20 0.1" male headers which you can solder above/below/sideways
  • SPI Flash option: includes a soldered SPI Flash chip, also available separately if you prefer to solder it yourself. This can be used for wireless programming or data logging. For more info see this link.

Transceivers accepted: RFM69 W/CW/HW, RFM12B (868-915mhz only)


RFM69CW is a 13dBm output power transceiver, 45mA in TX, 16mA in RX.
RFM69HCW is a 20dBm output power transceiver, 130mA in TX, 16mA in RX. You will need to use the setHighPower() function after the initialize() function in the RFM69 library. See the examples that come with the library.
RFM69CW is equivalent to RFM69W but has the layout/pinout of RFM12B.
RFM12B is an older popular transceiver adopted in many Arduino open source projects like the Jeenode, Nanode-RF etc. Which means if you order this transceiver Moteino will be compatible with those products.

  • The RF behavior of Moteino is entirely dependent on the firmware you load on it, use it responsibly and abide with your local radio frequency laws and restrictions.
  • Please be aware: not all frequencies are legal without a HAM license in all places. The library and example code may default to certain frequency/bitrate/output power settings, you are responsible to be compliant to your region's regulations.

Open air range:

  • RFM69CW: 915Mhz and 868Mhz have about 300-400m range in open air (tested at 55Kbps)
  • Longer range is achievable by tweaking the library settings (lowering the bitrate and fine tuning the RX bandwidth)
  • Here is a thread that shows some RFM12B vs RFM69 testing at various bit rates
  • This forum thread reveals a 1.5mile range on RFM69 using a dipole antenna at 1.2kbps!
  • RFM12B reaches about 150m (tested at 38.2kbps)

All Moteinos come with a wire antenna cut to length to match the transceiver frequency.

Programming guide

Click here for a more detailed guide. For an introduction to Moteino click here.

You can upload a sketch to a MoteinoMEGA just like you would normally do for any Arduino, but you will need to first install the MoteinoMEGA Core in the Arduino/hardware folder.
In the Arduino programming environment you need to select "ArduinoMEGA" under Tools>Boards.

You will need a FTDI USB-serial adapter to connect to the FTDI header. Other compatible examples are: FTDI cableFTDI friendUSB BUB, etc.

For all Moteino related blog entries click here.
For example code and RFM69 library click here, and Github libary and examples are here.
For example code and RFM12B library click here, and Github libary and examples are here. 

Pinout is the same as the regular MoteinoMEGA:

MoteinoMEGA pinout diagram

Transceiver Datasheets

http://www.hoperf.com/upload/rf/RFM69W-V1.3.pdf
http://www.hoperf.com/upload/rf/RFM69HW-V1.3.pdf
http://www.hoperf.com/upload/rf/rfm12b.pdf