Tindie

RN2483 breakout (bare board)

(25 Reviews)

Simple breakout board for RN2483/RN2903 LoRa transciever

Designed by Azzy's Electronics, Ships from United States of America

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2016-03-04T05:20:19.995Z-RN2483_B_Multi.png

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2016-03-25T03:14:13.095Z-azzy-breakoutsnew2.jpg

2016-03-04T05:20:19.995Z-RN2483_B_Caps2.png

2017-01-03T19:26:30.574Z-RN2483Schematic.png

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Simple breakout board for RN2483/RN2903 LoRa transciever

This breakout board offers an affordable solution for makers working with the popular RN2483 and RN2903 LoRa transceivers from Microchip, widely used for LoRaWAN. The layout of this breakout board...

Bad-silkscreen buy-1-get-1-free sale

The second-most-recent version of the board, the Rev. D, shown below, is missing much of the silkscreen on the front (as shown in below image). The boards are otherwise fine, and the pin labels are present on the bottom. These boards are available buy-1-get-1-free while supply lasts! There's no coupon code - just choose to get the Rev. D version, and you'll get twice as many as you ordered for the same price. (Note - Buy-1-get-1-free only applies to the boards themselves, not optional level shifters!)

Optional Level Shifter

Since many of our customers are using these with 5v microcontrollers (such as Arduino), we now offer a level shifter as an add-on. These level shifters are mass produced 4-channel bidirectional fet-based level shifters. See the diagrams below for wiring examples.

Parts List

Required:

RN2483 (or RN2903, depending on your region)
1x8 pin 0.1" pin header (or other connector) for power and serial connections.
2 SMA antenna connectors, 1.6mm/0.063" board edge launch (Only one for the RN2903, SMA connector for 433mhz on RN2493 is optional, depending on your needs). Example SMA connectors include the Linx CONSMA003.062 (available from digikey) and Adafruit part no. 1865.

Optional:

1117-series (or pin compatible) 3.3v voltage regulator in SOT-223 package. The ZLDO1117G33TA is suitable if powering from external 5~12V (as are many other 1117-series regulators). For operation off a single cell LiPo battery, a 1117-series is not sufficient (too much dropout), but the AP2114H-3.3TRG is suitable in these cases (it is no
2 Capacitors (if using regulator) per regulator specifications, in 0805, 1206, 6032, or Kemet E package. For example, if using the ZLDO1117G33TA or AP2114H-3.3TRG regulator, a 4.7~22uF ceramic capacitor (X5R or X7R dielectric) is suitable for both input and output.
1x2 pin 0.1" pin header for programming connections
1x14 pin 0.1" pin header for GPIO connections

Don't forget prototyping board!

Wiring

Suitable Connectors

https://www.adafruit.com/products/1865

Bulk orders and Stencils

We typically have several hundred of these boards in stock. Tindie has a maximum purchase quantity of 99 boards; if you need more, message me immediately after ordering, or mention it in the order instructions, and I'll get in touch and make sure we can combine shipping.

The gerbers for the stencil (front and back) can be downloaded here: RN2483 Stencil

The boards are made in panels of 6 - if you order a multiple of 6 boards, you'll get full panels.

Why did you make it?

A number of Espruino users in Europe working with LoRaWAN requested an affordable, minimalist board design for use with the RN2483 modules. The design of these modules makes use without a purpose made breakout board virtually impossible, however, such boards were not available.

See this thread for additional background: http://forum.espruino.com/conversations/277687/

Need a breakout board for some other part with an unusual package like this? Contact me.

Useful Resources

The Things Network is a thriving community dedicated to LoRaWAN which has a great deal of useful information available to makers experimenting with these sort of devices:The Things Network

For use with Espruino, see the Espruino RN2483 module documentation

For use with a Raspberry Pi, Michael Honaker of Beach Cities Software has written some demo code that can be valuable to help get started, available from his Github:

Interfacing with C

Interfacing with Python

Rates to United States of America

Shipping Rate	First item	Additional items
United States Postal Service: Economy (untracked, bare boards only) The cheapest shipping option available, for bare boards within the United States only.	$0.75	$0.50
United States Postal Service: First Class Tracked (recommended, cheaper than economy for 5+ items)	$2.50	$0.15
United States Postal Service: Priority Mail - Flat rate (fastest, tracked) Domestic shipping via USPS Priority Mail - USPS advertises 1~3 day shipping time within the continental United States. This is a flat rate for any quantity of items - this is your chance to buy piles of small cheap items like my mini prototyping boards without paying extra for shipping!	$8.00	$0.00

Quantity	Price
1-5	$3.00
6-29	$2.50
30-59	$2.25
60+	$2.00

Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

Product: (4.00)

Documentation: (4.00)

Shipping: (4.00)

Communication: (4.00)

Niels | March 30, 2018

100mil grid

Thanks, this board saves a lot of trouble connecting the RN2483 to my favorite controllers (pi's, samd's).
One tip though for future boards: please put all pads, and mounting holes, in a 100mil grid.
That way it's more easy to mount it on a protoboard or breadboard.
If only I could give you 4.95 stars...

Wilbert Magdeil | Jan. 24, 2018

Great product

Fast shipping!Excelent quality. I ordered 5 pieces, they came in a tablet of 3 and 2 with v-scored division.

Karel | June 26, 2017

I'm very satisfied

Hallo,
I am very satisfied, the shipment has gone well, the quality is good
Kopsa
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Roland | Feb. 20, 2017

good product and good shipping

I would this product for an IoT module, I received it in less than 7 days from US to France, in a good packaging
very nice

Rudi | Jan. 31, 2017

Excellent PCB's, great value and fast shipment

I received these boards yesterday, well within the expected delivery window. These board are of an excellent quality, look great and have a great value.

Jc | Oct. 9, 2016

Specify part numbers in parts list

It would be helpful if the capacitor values were mentioned in the parts list. The datasheet is rather vague about actual values, saying only >= 4.7uF for the output capacitor, with a 0.05Ω ≤ ESR ≤ 0.5Ω rating. The input capacitor is even more vague: "Typically a large storage capacitor (0.05Ω ≤ ESR ≤ 0.5Ω) ...". For clarity, the 1206 is imperial, not metric.

The RF connectors are a real PITA to be sure you're ordering the correct ones the first time. There are a number of mounting styles for SMA connectors. This board needs a connector for a 0.062" thickness PCB, 0.1" between pins, in an "end launch" style. Having an actual part number would have saved a lot of time. BTW, the parts list says 2 SMA connectors are required, but actually only one is.

So how about adding some part numbers to parts list, please?

Response from Azzy's Electronics | Oct. 19, 2016

Thanks for the feedback, I've added the part numbers for two compatible SMA connectors that I've worked with (I know there are many others), as well as more specific suggestions for the capacitors for the regulators I recommend. That said, since the board is compatible with any of dozens of regulators available with a compatible pinout, I can't provide guidance for capacitor selection for all of the regulators that could be used - some of them are really picky about the regulator (hence the support for larger tantalum caps)

-Spence

Dennis | April 1, 2016

nice boards

I ordered 3 boards. They came in pretty quickly and are looking very nice. I like them a lot.

Soldered each of them, although I must admit that I'm no soldering king/ queen overall three pcb soldering patches got loose pretty easily. One of them was the 868 MHz antenna center patch... So now I'm left to soldering the antenna to the RN2483 directly.

Still a very nice pcb to order.

Response from Azzy's Electronics | April 3, 2016

Hi - thanks for buying, and thanks for letting me know about your experience here

I just tried to reproduce pad lifting issues. I soldered a wire onto the pad, resting the soldering iron on the pad for far longer than usual (to simulate very poor soldering technique), and afterwards, I yanked pretty hard on the wire. I wasn't able to pull it off with any realistic amount of force.

Since you saw this on multiple boards, not just one, I'm inclined to suspect that your issue is largely one of equipment - namely your soldering iron. One of the easiest ways to lift pads is by using a soldering iron that's getting too hot (often because it's not temperature controlled). I tested this by cranking the temperature on my iron up to 850 (instead of 700) - and then, leaving the iron on the pad for a while, and then pulling on the wire, I was able to get the pad to pop off, which supports this theory. So - is your soldering iron temperature controlled? If not, I wager that's probably what caused the pads to lift. I recommend temperatures no higher than 700 when assembling boards (higher temps are great for salvaging parts from a board you don't care about).

Feel free to contact me (via messaging or email) if you have further questions on this.