nrf24l01 module location on pcb.

[Fabio Fernandes]

I am using NRF24L01 modules sold on ebay. I have 3 boards where these modules are soldiers and notice a big difference in range. More distant of other components, better range. What is the safe distance to other components of the pcb? Thanks

[Asbjørn]

The antenna characteristics is dependent on the distance to other metallic object, but there's no clear guide to how far. You see yourself that when you have the module some distance away from the board, it performance better. It's difficult to make repetitive measurements like this as the angle between receiver and transmitter could affect the result quite a bit. On board 3 the antenna is placed right above the board and potentially other metal parts, this will most likely de-tune the antenna. So the recommendation is to keep the antenna in as free open area as possible.

If you move the three module between the three board, do the module perform equally? By that I mean, if you take the module from board 1 and place it in board 3, does it perform equally to the module 3 in board 3 do? I suspect all the module perform equally, it's just a matter on where they are placed on the board that makes a difference.

[Asbjørn]

The nRF24L01+ will normally have a range much more than 1-2 meters. In general if you run it in 2 Mbps mode you will have 15-20 meters of indoor range and twice that in line of sight. If you go down on on air data rate to 1 Mbps or 250 kbps, you will achieve even better range.