Big things often come in small packages, as the saying goes, and that’s the case with this Arduino IDE compatible Wireless Switch Box. This unassuming device combines a low-cost Atmel ATmega328P microcontroller with a HopeRF RFM69 868/915 or NRF24L01, plus a 2.4 GHz radio on-board.
Taken as a whole, this switchboard is best used for home automation or IoT projects, but it can also be used for radio-controlling just about any DIY project. In essence, you can think of the board as an Arduino Pro-Mini with an onboard HopeRF RFM69-CW radio and a crypto authentication chip for added security.
The Atmel ATSHA204A Crypto Authentication chip also ensures secure communication with any other controls. It utilizes a handshake to confirm commands. If, for some reason, the handshake fails, the Switch Box will not execute any command sent to it.
An onboard USB-Serial converter was left out to save on space. You will need some type of USB to serial cable for programming, as well as two CR2032 batteries.
For an excellent selection of scripts and libraries, you can check out mysensors.org as these are all compatible with the Switch Box. With these in hand, you can convert your nodes into a network of everything from sensors, to relays, to actuators with relative ease.
