The SIM800L is a cheap and portable GSM breakout board with all the capabilities of the larger SIM900 shields. In this Arduino SIM800L tutorial, I will help you get started with this nifty device. Sending and receiving texts with your Arduino have never been easier!
Smallest SIM800L GPRS GSM Module MicroSIM Card Core BOard Quad-band TTL Serial Port.
Specifications:
- Chip: SIM800L
- Voltage: 3.7-4.2V
- Support networks: China Mobile, China Unicom and global quad-band network
- Module size: 2.5cmx2.3cm
- TTL serial port for serial port, you can link directly to the microcontroller. No need MAX232
- Power module automatically boot, homing network
- Onboard signal lights all the way . It flashes slowly when there is a signal, it flashes quickly when there is no signal
Package Included:
- 1 x SIM800L Quad-band GPRS GSM Module
This SIM800L breakout board is ideal for projects that needs to save space. In fact, this is the one I used when I created my own cellphone. This board draws a maximum of 2 A with an input voltage of 3.7 V to 4.2 V. This means you must not connect its pins directly to a 5 V Arduino! It doesn't even run on 3.3 V.
The solution is either to use a regulator or just have the SIM800L draw from a Li-Po (cellphone) battery. That's what I did and it works!
Antennas are essential for this kind of module especially if your project is indoors. Without an antenna, there would not be enough transmitting power for the SIM800L to perform GSM services such as calls and SMS. I decided to purchase this one:
SIM800L Antenna
I found this antenna to be more effective than the one that comes with the SIM800L module by default:
As for the code, we can use Adafruit's FONA library. Download it here and install it on the Arduino IDE.
Once the library is installed, you can now explore the features of the SIM800L. Let's start with sending SMS using this wiring diagram:
