# Remote Effects Trigger Box
## Overview
https://youtu.be/jsJoDGTjRpM
https://youtu.be/77kWqPlrNmc
You can do almost anything with the right combination of Feather microcontroller and FeatherWing! From blasting on a fan to opening a trap door, from making a playing card levitate to lighting up hundreds of NeoPixels, from cuing music and sound effects to detonating a smoke bomb, it's all possible.
But what about triggering these events remotely at long distances, in a cell-phone (and human) dense environment, such as a theatre or festival? Beginners often assume they can use WiFi or Bluetooth to find that once the theater is full of patrons, signals get slow and spotty. Or maybe you're outdoors at an arts festival? Good luck getting a WiFi signal working out there!
This is where sub-GHz transceivers shine. As long as you aren't trying to transmit a tons of data, you don't have to share any spectrum with 2.4GHz devices and the range is great. 900Mhz (433Mhz in ITU Europe) RF transceivers come in to save the day!
Using Feather Packet Radio boards (RFM69HCW or RFM9X LoRa), you can send encrypted commands at great distances -- 500 meters line of sight for RFM69HCW, and 2 kilometers for LoRa! -- with no worries about pairing, scanning, and so on. Just a good, old fashioned, magical, invisible wire that connects all of your devices easily!
This guide shows how you can build a versatile controller to take on a nearly limitless variety of remote triggering needs. You'll use a 16-button Trellis pad to send commands, rotary encoder knob to select effects banks, and an OLED display to keep it all straight!
With the Feather's built-in battery charging circuitry, you can keep the LiPoly battery topped off and ready to go!
## Parts and Materials
The essential parts for your controller are:
- Packet radio Feather microcontroller and antenna as the brains of the transmitter. Your choice of 900MHz for US, 433MHz for ITU Europe, in either M0 or 32u4 processor variant. The RFM69HCW radios are the easiest to set up and a bit less expensive, while the LoRa boards are slightly more involved to set up, but longer range
- Trellis driver PCB, with silicone keypad for sixteen lighted buttons
- OLED display FeatherWing
- Rotary encoder for menu selection
See the right sidebar for specific product links.
On the effects side of things, you'll want additional Packet radio Feathers of the identical frequency and flavor (RFM69HCW **or** LoRa, you can't mix and match!). These can have any FeatherWing or additional circuits connected to them, depending on what you need to trigger.
Here are some examples:
- [Music Maker](https://www.adafruit.com/product/3436) for remote MP3 playback
- [Power Relay](https://www.adafruit.com/product/3191) to trigger high power, AC devices, such as motors, lamps, and fans
- [DC Motor + Stepper](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2927) for actuating small DC motors or precisely position things with steppers
- [8-Channel PWM/Servo](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2928) to rotate hobby servos (small robot arms...?) or light up lots of standard LEDs
- [NeoPixels](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2945) on a 4x8 RGB LED board, or by stringing as many strips of externally powered NeoPixels as you like!
In addition to the parts listed on the sidebar of this guide, you'll also need six screws to fasten the enclosure:
- 4ea. [#6-32 1-1/4" hex drive rounded head screws](https://www.mcmaster.com/#92949a160/=17d7vxn)
- 2ea. [#6-32 1-1/8" hex drive rounded head screws](https://www.mcmaster.com/#92949a860/=17d7wbg)
And, if you're 3D printing the enclosure, you'll want some PLA filament for that, such as:
- [1.75mm PLA white](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2067)
- [1.75mm PLA black](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2060)
- [1.75mm PLA red](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2450)
- [1.75mm PLA/PHA blue](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2146)
- [Next Page](https://learn.adafruit.com/remote-effects-trigger/overview.md)
## Featured Products
### Adafruit Feather M0 RFM69HCW Packet Radio - 868 or 915 MHz
[Adafruit Feather M0 RFM69HCW Packet Radio - 868 or 915 MHz](https://www.adafruit.com/product/3176)
This is the** Adafruit Feather M0 RFM69 Packet Radio (868 or 915 MHz)****. **We call these _RadioFruits** ,**_ our take on an microcontroller with a RFM69HCW packet radio transceiver plus built in USB and battery charging. Its an Adafruit...
In Stock
[Buy Now](https://www.adafruit.com/product/3176)
[Related Guides to the Product](https://learn.adafruit.com/products/3176/guides)
### 900Mhz Antenna Kit - For LoPy, LoRa, etc
[900Mhz Antenna Kit - For LoPy, LoRa, etc](https://www.adafruit.com/product/3340)
This **LoRa Antenna Kit** is meant for use with the [LoPy](https://www.adafruit.com/products/3339) LoRa, WiFi and BLE board or the SiPy Sigfox, WiFi and BLE board. But it's good for any 900MHz radio, including our
No Longer Stocked
[Buy Now](https://www.adafruit.com/product/3340)
[Related Guides to the Product](https://learn.adafruit.com/products/3340/guides)
### uFL SMT Antenna Connector
[uFL SMT Antenna Connector](https://www.adafruit.com/product/1661)
uFL connectors are very small surface-mount parts used when an external RF antena is desired but a big bulky SMA connector takes up too much space. We use this part on our GPS and WiFi boards, they're great! Chances are your antenna doesn't use uFL as the main connector, in which case...
In Stock
[Buy Now](https://www.adafruit.com/product/1661)
[Related Guides to the Product](https://learn.adafruit.com/products/1661/guides)
### Lithium Ion Polymer Battery - 3.7v 2500mAh
[Lithium Ion Polymer Battery - 3.7v 2500mAh](https://www.adafruit.com/product/328)
Lithium-ion polymer (also known as 'lipo' or 'lipoly') batteries are thin, light, and powerful. The output ranges from 4.2V when completely charged to 3.7V. This battery has a capacity of **2500mAh** for a total of about 10 Wh. If you need a smaller battery,
Out of Stock
[Buy Now](https://www.adafruit.com/product/328)
[Related Guides to the Product](https://learn.adafruit.com/products/328/guides)
### Adafruit Trellis Monochrome Driver PCB for 4x4 Keypad & 3mm LEDs
[Adafruit Trellis Monochrome Driver PCB for 4x4 Keypad & 3mm LEDs](https://www.adafruit.com/product/1616)
**This item is just for the Trellis driver PCB assembly: LEDs and buttons not included.** Trellis is an open source backlight keypad driver system. It is easy to use, works with any 3mm LEDs and eight tiles can be tiled together on a shared I2C bus.
This PCB is...
Out of Stock
[Buy Now](https://www.adafruit.com/product/1616)
[Related Guides to the Product](https://learn.adafruit.com/products/1616/guides)
### Silicone Elastomer 4x4 Button Keypad - for 3mm LEDs
[Silicone Elastomer 4x4 Button Keypad - for 3mm LEDs](https://www.adafruit.com/product/1611)
So squishy! These silicone elastomer keypads are just waiting for your fingers to press them. Go ahead, squish all you like! (They're durable and easy to clean, just wipe with mild soap and water) These are just like the light up rubber buttons you find on stuff like appliances and tools,...
In Stock
[Buy Now](https://www.adafruit.com/product/1611)
[Related Guides to the Product](https://learn.adafruit.com/products/1611/guides)
### Diffused Red 3mm LED (25 pack)
[Diffused Red 3mm LED (25 pack)](https://www.adafruit.com/product/777)
Need some indicators? We are big fans of these diffused red LEDs, as featured in the LoL shield. They are fairly bright so they can be seen in daytime, and from any angle. They go easily into a breadboard and will add that extra zing to your project.
- Pack of 25 diffused red...
Out of Stock
[Buy Now](https://www.adafruit.com/product/777)
[Related Guides to the Product](https://learn.adafruit.com/products/777/guides)
### Adafruit FeatherWing OLED - 128x32 OLED Add-on For Feather
[Adafruit FeatherWing OLED - 128x32 OLED Add-on For Feather](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2900)
A Feather board without ambition is a Feather board without FeatherWings! This is the **FeatherWing OLED** : it adds a 128x32 monochrome OLED plus 3 user buttons to _any_ Feather main board. Using our [Feather Stacking...](https://www.adafruit.com/products/2830)
In Stock
[Buy Now](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2900)
[Related Guides to the Product](https://learn.adafruit.com/products/2900/guides)
## Related Guides
- [Adafruit NeoPixel FeatherWing](https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-featherwing.md)
- [Adafruit OLED FeatherWing](https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-oled-featherwing.md)
- [Adafruit Stepper + DC Motor FeatherWing](https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-stepper-dc-motor-featherwing.md)
- [CircuitPython Hardware: PCA9685 PWM & Servo Driver](https://learn.adafruit.com/micropython-hardware-pca9685-pwm-and-servo-driver.md)
- [Mini UNTZtrument: 3D Printed MIDI Controller](https://learn.adafruit.com/mini-untztrument-3d-printed-midi-controller.md)
- [NeoKey Emoji Keyboard](https://learn.adafruit.com/neokey-emoji-keyboard.md)
- [Adafruit Feather 32u4 Radio with RFM69HCW Module](https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-feather-32u4-radio-with-rfm69hcw-module.md)
- [Automatic Naughty Cat Detector using Lobe](https://learn.adafruit.com/naughty-cat-detector-using-microsoft-lobe.md)
- [MicroPython Displays: Drawing Text](https://learn.adafruit.com/micropython-displays-drawing-text.md)
- [Feather Waveform Generator in CircuitPython](https://learn.adafruit.com/waveform-generator.md)
- [Adafruit NeoPixel Überguide](https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide.md)
- [New Years Eve Ball Drop](https://learn.adafruit.com/new-years-eve-ball-drop.md)
- [Portable Trellis Sound Board](https://learn.adafruit.com/portable-trellis-sound-board.md)
- [Adafruit NeoPXL8 FeatherWing and Library](https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopxl8-featherwing-and-library.md)
- [Feather Scorpio Snap Fit Case](https://learn.adafruit.com/feather-scorpio-snap-fit-case.md)
- [CircuitPython Hardware: LED Backpacks & FeatherWings](https://learn.adafruit.com/micropython-hardware-led-backpacks-and-featherwings.md)
- [FunHouse IoT Fume Extractor and Air Quality Sensor](https://learn.adafruit.com/funhouse-fume-extractor-iot-air-quality-sensor.md)
- [Wireless NeoPixel Controller](https://learn.adafruit.com/neotrellis-neopixel-controller.md)