Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?

mfalkvidd

@Bogus-Exception said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

(yes, I know how that works)

Could you expand on this?

tbowmo

I think that Itead studio promised me that it was genuine NRF that they used for their modules.

But it's a couple of years since I purchased any from them, and I'm not sure which ones of the different NRF modules that I have, that actually came from Itead.. :)

gohan

There is already a thread about genuine and counterfeit modules. It also came up that Itead should have genuine chips. If you want to avoid the problem, go with rfm69 😀

Bogus Exception

|| "(yes, I know how that works)"
|Could you expand on this?

Reluctantly, but gladly!

@mfalkvidd To state the obvious, I am being considerate of the fact that he gets a cut if we go to there (eBay, AliExpress, etc.) to buy, which I am 100% for. He cannot, however, vouch for anything there as being "authentic".

I would never make the connection that he is promoting the clones there as authentic, i.e. "They are here, so they must be sanctioned as authentic".. .

I doubt it is relevant to sourcing authentic/known Nordic modules, but I don't mind explaining.

It is simply a statement alluding to respect, rather than assumptions, as an effort to avoid tangential discussions regarding the site's excellent work.

HTH, and I'm genuinely sorry the point didn't come across without explanation. :(

Bogus Exception

@gohan said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

There is already a thread about genuine and counterfeit modules. It also came up that Itead should have genuine chips. If you want to avoid the problem, go with rfm69 😀

Thank you for writing! I saw the thread, too, in my searching. Off the top of my head, I remember itead being mentioned, but I was hoping for more than one choice... (I have nagging impression the posts were dated, too, but that is likely wrong) Too bad Nordic doesn't direct sell.

They all seem to be 100mw, but I have some RF69, Hope LoRa modules on standby that I'm waiting to hook up and do a video on... Could they be immune to knock-offs?

In case someone is out there wondering why it matters, you can google for comparisons, where it was found that the current consumption was one of the ways they could tell right out of the gate. I remember it being over 10x the current draw of a legit chip, which makes it easy to test for. It also created noise all over the spectrum compared to the legit ones, but on power alone, if one were to consider them equivalent, the battery life issue would probably make someone like me just assume it was another component to blame.

I now believe that my range issues are due in part to my heavy WiFi in the 2.4GHz spectrum, but mostly because of the noise introduced by the bogus chips I have running, thinking the more chips I run, the worse it gets. And looking back, it seemed like with 2 xcvrs, things were a lot better than with 5 or 6.

So I'll go to Itead to shop, but would enjoy a choice...

hek

Itead or some other legit company like mouser should stock the real thing.

Yveaux

@Bogus-Exception said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

the current consumption was one of the ways they could tell right out of the gate

No it isn't. I personally have yet to encounter a counterfeit nRF that requires a significant increase in power consumption, compared to the original ones. And yes, I'm sure my modules are counterfeits as they were x-rayed by Nordic.
Could be that different clones of the nRF exist of which some have an increased power consumption, but currently the only way to know for sure (also for Nordic :frowning: ) is to x-ray them.

On the other hand, overall quality of the clones is rather good (as long as you stay away from the blob-ones). Respect to the engineers who created them :+1:

I agree with @gohan; either walk the nRF24 path, know what you're doing and encounter a bad batch every now and then, or go the RFM way.

gohan

@mozobata could you please be a little more specific? That site is quite huge

d00616

@Bogus-Exception said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

The chips on Mouser/DigiKey go at cheapest for under $4 USD...

At this price level, you can get an nRF51822/nrf52832 module. This is a NRF24 protocol compatible MCU with included radio. The nRF5 platform is supported with MySensors development branch. If possible choose the nRF52 series. They faster and more flexible. But the nRF51 is much more powerful than ATMEGA328 + nRF24.

Depending on the antenna the transmitting range should be better than nRF24 modules.

There are a lot of ready to use boards available at ebay and aliexpress.

More about the nRF5 port: https://www.openhardware.io/view/376/MySensors-NRF5-Platform

Radio discussions:

A cheap module with nRF52832 found by @Nca78 https://forum.mysensors.org/post/70614

gohan

You have to think about those people that aren't developers and rely only on guides of setups that are proven to work well and for simple battery powered sensors you don't need that much processor power

d00616

@gohan said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

You have to think about those people that aren't developers and rely only on guides of setups that are proven to work well and for simple battery powered sensors you don't need that much processor power

Not really. This was an answer to @Bogus-Exception, who thinks about chip replacing.

d00616

Hello,

while takling with a manufacterer of nRF52 modules I have seen the product catalog. This http://www.ebay.com/itm/2pcs-E01-ML01D-100m-nRF24L01-2-4GHz-RF-wireless-transmitter-and-receiver-module-/191974998709 looks like an compatible module with original chip.

There are other modules available:

gohan

@d00616 It would be nice to make sure they are actually genuine chips :)

d00616

@gohan said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

@d00616 It would be nice to make sure they are actually genuine chips

I don't know that. The ebay page says the chips are direct imports from Nordic. I have ordered nRF52 modules. In comparison with other shops the modules are well documented and complete (DCDC inductor, two oscillators). After placing my order I got the datasheet. I have ordered a lot of different nRF5 modules via eBay or Aliexpress. This is the first time I've got a documentation. I have asked a question and god a fast response. My question is discussed with the R&D at Friday.

This manufacturer sells nRF5 and a lot of other modules. As I know, there are no clones for nRF5 available. If they selling fake nRF24 modules, I think they god problems to order nRF5 chips from Nordic. If they selling bad modules, they have problems to sell other modules. There are only positive ratings at eBay and Aliexpress.

Ratings for nRF24 modules:

"Smaller then the ordinary black one, and wakes up faster from sleep, All good"
"Works fine and very fast delivery, will order another one still"
"Absolutely the best NRF I could get, Top , Top ,Top..."
"First seller which sells GENUINE NRF24L01+ from NORDIC.Thank you very much!!!"

I have ordered two nRF24 modules for testing.

gohan

Let's hope for the best 😀
I need to get some nrf24 but I'm unsure to start moving to the nrf5x or not.

Nca78

Yes I have ordered NRF24 modules from EByte too (small SMD version) in addition to NRF52.
If the range keeps the promises (with better antenna and genuine chips) I will only use those.

They also have through hole version that use a much smaller crystal (the same than on SMD version), which will allow thinner modules even with non SMD version as crystal on classic NRF24 module sucks. They have a "shop" on AliExpress too, with little extra discount at the moment.
https://cdebyte.aliexpress.com/store/2077046

d00616

@gohan said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

I need to get some nrf24 but I'm unsure to start moving to the nrf5x or not.

IMHO the only missing feature to start is OTA updates. Implementing OTA updates is a question of (my) time. On the other hand the ATMEGA limitations like PROGMEM dealing, 2k RAM or slow speed cannot be fixed. With nRF5 you haven't care about used RAM or Flash. The radio protocol can easily changed to support encryption at the RFM level.

NeverDie

@d00616
Well said. I think we're all going to be so much happier with the nRF5 series that later we're all going to be wondering why we didn't switch sooner.

NeverDie

@Nca78 said in Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?:

They also have through hole version that use a much smaller crystal

It turns out I have this product already. I purchased it two years ago from a different seller on ebay. A couple small observations about it:

I really do doubt that it's a 4-layer board as they are claiming. The board is very thin, and I don't see any evidence of there being more layers than just top and bottom.
The NRF24L01 chip on the module I have is rotated 180 degrees relative to the one in the Ebyte rendering.

However, all the lettering on the chip is exactly the same.

Here are some photos of it:
alt text

NeverDie

Here is what I wrote about it on August 3,2015 in the "Which are the best nrf24l01+ modules?" thread:

I received the NRF24L01+'s that are on the red PCB's (above), and when I saw they were using the now notorious 1242AF chips, I had little hope. However, I tested them at 1mbps over the same challenge distance as the others, and so far they're doing very well: I transmitted over 200,000 packets, and there were only 0.03% lost packets. Average round trip time was 2.2ms.

As before, I'm using the RFToys to do the testing. The modules seem more finicky about their orientation than others that I've tested, and moving things just a little can make for much, much worse results.

I bought them from MDFly on ebay.

Where to get legit nRF24L01+ modules?

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