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I bought one of this modules (link), with the SYN470 chip on it.

In the datasheet it's mentioned that in continuous mode with 433 MHz the current consumption is 3.9 mA which is a lot in my case.

But there's a polled operation mode which uses way less current and it also have a WAKEB pin, which I don't know what they are or how do I use them and there is no example of such circuit in the datasheet.

How can I configure this module to consume less power?

ElectronSurf
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  • Drive the SHUTDOWN pin when you want it to shut down. Bring it out of shutdown when you want to poll it yourself. –  Sep 21 '20 at 09:54
  • Well, how much power do you need? Alibaba electronics is likely gonna need far more than professional, legal radio would need for the same range. In addition, there's the laws of physics saying that if you want 10mW E.R.P, you are gonna need more power than at least 10mW to generate a signal that strong. – Lundin Sep 21 '20 at 09:54
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    Do realize that if you power down the receiver it will **not receive anything** while in power down. So when you transmit a signal, it has to be present long enough for the receiver to receive it in the short time that it is enabled. – Bimpelrekkie Sep 21 '20 at 09:58
  • @BrianDrummond I want it to be ready to receive signal at any moment. – ElectronSurf Sep 21 '20 at 10:03
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    *WAKEB pin, which I don't know what they are or how do I use them* Read the datasheet: "Wakeup (Digital Output): Active-low output that indicates detection of an incoming RF signal" So it is an **output** that turns **low** when a signal is received (the received RF signal has more power than a certain level). This will only work when the receiver is powered on so for saving power consumption of the SYN470, the WAKEB pin doesn't help. – Bimpelrekkie Sep 21 '20 at 10:04
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    That takes 3.9 mA. Find the current, or find a different approach. Like the polled approach I outlined above. –  Sep 21 '20 at 10:04
  • @BrianDrummond I don't want to shut it down and wake it up when needed, It may receive signal at any moment, what's polled operation? – ElectronSurf Sep 21 '20 at 10:04
  • @ElectronSurf Polled operation is **exactly** what Brian described. There's no alternative here. See my answer. – Marcus Müller Sep 21 '20 at 10:07
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    Define: "any moment". Do you need a response within 1 us or is 100ms also OK? If you want an "immediate" response (as fast as possible) then the receiver needs to be on continuously. There is no way around that. So be **specific** in what you actually need because there lies the "design space" that can be used to lower the power consumption. – Bimpelrekkie Sep 21 '20 at 10:08
  • @Bimpelrekkie It's not going to be used for sensitive stuff, as long as signal is received whenever we send it is enough. I think even 500ms is enough. – ElectronSurf Sep 21 '20 at 10:10
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    @ElectronSurf well, then, my answer hits exactly the right point: the 500ms is a typical inter-wakeup time, and "as long as it's received whenever its sent" isn't a given with such a simple receiver without any error correction. – Marcus Müller Sep 21 '20 at 10:14

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Only skimmed through the datasheet, but as usual:

You can simply shut down the receiver for as long as you're not using it. Then, wake it up every e.g. 0.5 s, listen for a couple milliseconds, see whether there's a preamble going on, and else go back to sleep.

It requires, however, that the transmitter sends a preamble for 0.5s. That shifts the power demand from the receiver to the transmitter.

That happens to be exactly the thing that the emergency pagers for firemen do.

I have an answer where I explained why receiving needs much energy; there's really no way around it. You can make your receiver less hungry by turning it off and on, but that requires a fast "turn on" time.

Also, your receiver should use as little watt per (bit per second) as possible. Your 470R seems to be pretty terrible at that – 2.5 mA for 1 kbit/s, where other receivers (example, see page 35, 36) do much more data with only a little more power. The quicker your reception is finished, the more you can turn off the receiver again, the less energy you used.

By the way, this is really a very basic receiver. You'll definitely have to add error correction, unless you can live with the 1% bit errors that the datasheet says all measurements were made with. And you usually can't. So, there's a microcontroller somewhere that takes the data coming out of your receiver, and decoding them, correcting errors on the way. You'll have to factor in the extra bits you need to transmit to be able to correct errors, and also the computational effort to correct the errors at the receiver, into your power design.

Marcus Müller
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  • What interval do you think works the best? 1 sec ON and 500ms OFF? – ElectronSurf Sep 21 '20 at 10:15
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    That is impossible to tell without knowing your application in detail. It's up to you to define. – Marcus Müller Sep 21 '20 at 10:16
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    Also, you have an incredible broad range of interests: yesterday you were trying to build a buck converter from 555, today you're doing a digital receiver: Are you a whole group of engineers? – Marcus Müller Sep 21 '20 at 10:18
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    I'm a hobbyist, I do something everyday to keep my self busy. sometimes I do several projects simultaneously. it's fun ;) – ElectronSurf Sep 21 '20 at 10:32
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    Also consider that some of these illegal alibabas might be wideband, sending a several MHz wide signal, spilling out beyond the allowed band etc. Great efficiency then, kind of like driving two cars in both lanes at once, instead of one car in a single lane. Works fine until you crash or the police notices you... – Lundin Sep 21 '20 at 10:52