Connecting RF 433MHZ receiver to a raspberry pi 2

Question

I'm pretty noob at electronics and Raspberry Pi. I'm pretty good at programming though (both ruby and python). I want to connect RF receiver to a Raspberry Pi, so that it can read signals from sensors like this one: Pet immune pir detector wireless 433MHz pir motion sensor for security alarm system

I'm unsure what kind of receiver/antenna I would need to connect to the Raspberry, in order to make it capable of receiving the signal around my house (say 20 meters or so). And secondly how to do it?

Anyone who knows some good material on the topic and who can give me some concrete examples of some receivers which would be capable of this?

Answer 1

You need a receiver tuned to the frequency of the transmitting device.

They can be bought inexpensively from the likes of eBay.

E.g. this 433 MHz module

You can power the receiver from a Pi 5V pin. This means the data line will also be 5V. You need to use a pair of resistors as a voltage divider to cut the 5V data line to a Pi safe 3V3.

This would let you receive the signals on the Pi.

Making sense of the signals is a separate issue. You'll have to search for someone who has decoded the device or do the hard work yourself.