Anyone tried the stc15l204? It appears to be an inexpensive integrated mcu + NRF24L01+

[NeverDie]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/400446213622?_trksid=p2047675.m570.l5999&_trkparms=gh1g%3DI400446213622.N36.S2.typeWATCH_ITEM_ENDING_SOON.R3.TR5

Looks as though it has been for sale since at least 2014, yet I see no mention of it here on this forum.

[Nca78]

@NeverDie this is some kind of NRF24L01 to UART converter.
It has no integrated radio, you have to plug an nrf24l01 in the connector.

[NeverDie]

@Nca78 Thanks! Guess I got my wires crossed when I saw a slew of them on ebay. I hadn't seen this picture, which would have been the give-away:

[Yveaux]

@NeverDie The STC15L is a cpu based on 8051 (ref http://www.stcmcu.com/datasheet/stc/stc-ad-pdf/stc15f204ea-series-english.pdf) and there is no Arduino core for it.
Simply too much hassle to get it going, I suppose.

[Jens Jensen]

Very easy to program with SDCC (via makefiles and/or vscode/platformio), however, it's all pure C, and I dont know if anyone has any recent C-only implementations of mysensors (it all seems to be C++).

https://github.com/zerog2k/stc_blinky

Also, the STC15F204EA (or STC15L204EA) are probably the least capable - only 256b ram, 4k code, and no hardware uart/spi, etc. The can do some basic RF24 tasks, but I doubt they could handle the full mysensors state machine.

There are the more capable versions, e.g. STC15W408AS, etc with more ram (2-4k), code (8+ kB), and a basic set of peripherals (hw uart, spi, etc) - however still far underperforming typical arduino (atmega328p) specs.

[alowhum]

The RF-Nano may be what you're looking for? It's an inexpensive Nano with built in NRF24.

[NeverDie]

@alowhum Yes, you'r right. Based on this review (https://www.embedded-computing.com/guest-blogs/for-the-professional-maker-getting-started-with-the-rf-nano-arduino-nrf24l01-combo), it has exactly the same pinout as a regular nano, and so it sounds like the RF-Nano is very much the kind of simple, affordable, standardized, fully integrated, wireless Arduino that Arduino should have released 6 or more years ago as an "official Arduino," but just never did. Of course there are more powerful alternatives available now, but I bet it could it still be exactly the sort of thing that a true beginner who had only just learned a little about the Arduino Uno might want as his/her first step into wireless.

[alowhum]

It's not a perfect pin-out match. You should definitely check out this thread:
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/10327/rf-nano-nano-nrf24-for-just-3-50-on-aliexpress/1

But you're right, it's great for beginners. That's why it forms the basis of the Candle project.