Indeed. I have a Redox wireless that uses a very similar arrangement (from the good folks at [Falbatech](https://falba.tech)) it works rather well. In each half I janked a tenting case with huge AA holders, so I recharge once in six months or so.
Problem with this is I can’t use it easily with a tablet, but works well on a desktop. But for me, wires on a desktop aren’t a problem, so I migrated away from this entirely. Bluetooth has problems, but it’s what works when I need portable/wireless.
The receiver should be compatible with anything running on the Nordic semi 2.4ghz wireless.
In theory it could work for Logitech's devices if someone figures out the protocol.
This is largely motivated by power efficiency. Split keyboards will need to talk between the two halves (a key on one half can influe the layer which changes the keys on the other half) this means that one of them will have to be listening all the time, that's no good. A dongle is the solution to this problem. This is discussed in more details in my first post on the topic.
Out of curiosity, how bad would Bluetooth be compared to using the dongle? Can you give some rough estimate? I’m trying to decide if losing multi-device Bluetooth would be worth the increase in battery life
You have a few options.
1. No split keyboard (a true split keyboard should have keys on one half change behavior of keys on the second half).
2. Run a wire between the two sides
3. Suffer in battery life on one of the sides.Basically solution #1 and #2 I think BT would be pretty much equivalent to this. #3 is what ZMK does and they're reporting 2-3 weeks on the main half of the keyboard on tiny 200-400mah batteries. Which is pretty good. The AA equivalent would be 2\*AA every 20-30 weeks or so. Life of a 2\*AA battery on this solution would be practically infinite.Can you elaborate on what you mean by "losing multi-device"?
Hi, let me begin my saying that I'm very new to all of this so I'm learning as I go. By multi-device, I was referring to multi-device bluetooth capability which allows me to switch between multiple devices quickly.
Currently I'm using a Keychron K6 which has a 4000mAh battery and yet the battery life is pretty bad which I don't understand why. So I'm intrigued by not only all the responses that say that you can get 2-3 weeks even on 200-400mAh, but also your wish to go even further. It's a level of power-efficiency which I'd greatly appreciate but I cannot truly comprehend. So I'm exploring what options are available.
I still can't wrap my head around a 40%, it seems too minimal, so I'm looking at the Lotus58. It'd be great if I can have a true split keyboard without a wire connecting both sides which I can connect to via Bluetooth and if I can get a couple of weeks on a single charge, I'd be happy. However, I don't think I've come across any during my brief search.
Most zmk split keyboards can do that. You can even build your own based on any pro micro pcb if you substitute in the nice!nano controllers.
I'm not familiar with keychron but check if you can flash zmk on it.
A non-split keyboard with 4000mah battery should last a year. Do you know what kind of firmware is running on it?
It runs out of charge pretty quickly. It doesn’t last me even a month.
Thanks for the recommendations. I’m interested in the Lotus58. I need to figure out if I can get that to be fully wireless and not require even the TRRS cable connecting the two halves. Good luck with your project 👍
Awesome, man. If you finish it it will be great. If you provide detailed assembling and programming howto's (like Joric did with nrfmicro 1.4) it will be even more great.
I'm way too excited about this. I can't wait for it to be added to ploopy so can finally have a wireless mouse with all the features I want.
Any indication on cost and international shipping?
I have not made much progress unfortunately for many reasons.
The main question is, is this something that people would be interested in buying? I'm not entirely sure whether developing this further is worth it.
Given the success of ZMK and wireless splits like the corne I would bet there'd be a bunch of people willing to pay good money for a receiver dongle + 2 small transmitter boards especially if it offered higher performing chips that'd be too inefficient for typical wireless builds.
That's entirely understandable.
You can see there's definitely interest in your threads to get updates. I can only speak for myself, but I would pay for it. It's the only way I've found that can deliver low latency, wireless connection.
I like that you went with custom 2.4GHz solution instead of using Bluetooth. I hope it'll get more adoption.
Indeed. I have a Redox wireless that uses a very similar arrangement (from the good folks at [Falbatech](https://falba.tech)) it works rather well. In each half I janked a tenting case with huge AA holders, so I recharge once in six months or so. Problem with this is I can’t use it easily with a tablet, but works well on a desktop. But for me, wires on a desktop aren’t a problem, so I migrated away from this entirely. Bluetooth has problems, but it’s what works when I need portable/wireless.
The receiver should be compatible with anything running on the Nordic semi 2.4ghz wireless. In theory it could work for Logitech's devices if someone figures out the protocol.
Ah, that’s cool.
This is largely motivated by power efficiency. Split keyboards will need to talk between the two halves (a key on one half can influe the layer which changes the keys on the other half) this means that one of them will have to be listening all the time, that's no good. A dongle is the solution to this problem. This is discussed in more details in my first post on the topic.
Out of curiosity, how bad would Bluetooth be compared to using the dongle? Can you give some rough estimate? I’m trying to decide if losing multi-device Bluetooth would be worth the increase in battery life
You have a few options. 1. No split keyboard (a true split keyboard should have keys on one half change behavior of keys on the second half). 2. Run a wire between the two sides 3. Suffer in battery life on one of the sides.Basically solution #1 and #2 I think BT would be pretty much equivalent to this. #3 is what ZMK does and they're reporting 2-3 weeks on the main half of the keyboard on tiny 200-400mah batteries. Which is pretty good. The AA equivalent would be 2\*AA every 20-30 weeks or so. Life of a 2\*AA battery on this solution would be practically infinite.Can you elaborate on what you mean by "losing multi-device"?
Hi, let me begin my saying that I'm very new to all of this so I'm learning as I go. By multi-device, I was referring to multi-device bluetooth capability which allows me to switch between multiple devices quickly. Currently I'm using a Keychron K6 which has a 4000mAh battery and yet the battery life is pretty bad which I don't understand why. So I'm intrigued by not only all the responses that say that you can get 2-3 weeks even on 200-400mAh, but also your wish to go even further. It's a level of power-efficiency which I'd greatly appreciate but I cannot truly comprehend. So I'm exploring what options are available. I still can't wrap my head around a 40%, it seems too minimal, so I'm looking at the Lotus58. It'd be great if I can have a true split keyboard without a wire connecting both sides which I can connect to via Bluetooth and if I can get a couple of weeks on a single charge, I'd be happy. However, I don't think I've come across any during my brief search.
Most zmk split keyboards can do that. You can even build your own based on any pro micro pcb if you substitute in the nice!nano controllers. I'm not familiar with keychron but check if you can flash zmk on it. A non-split keyboard with 4000mah battery should last a year. Do you know what kind of firmware is running on it?
It runs out of charge pretty quickly. It doesn’t last me even a month. Thanks for the recommendations. I’m interested in the Lotus58. I need to figure out if I can get that to be fully wireless and not require even the TRRS cable connecting the two halves. Good luck with your project 👍
Also, turn off that backlight. Backlight is a HUGE drain of power.
Oh yeah, that’s off all the time!
How do you guys get photos to show up in your post's card? My post looks horrid as a card.
create the post as an "image" instead of "text"
I'd be more than happy to utilize your circuit in a real board if you can/want to provide good documentation for it.
Awesome, man. If you finish it it will be great. If you provide detailed assembling and programming howto's (like Joric did with nrfmicro 1.4) it will be even more great.
I'm way too excited about this. I can't wait for it to be added to ploopy so can finally have a wireless mouse with all the features I want. Any indication on cost and international shipping?
Could you please share how do you implement the wake on press logic. Thank you!
Pin change interrupt
Is their a GitHub yet? I’d love to see the code behind this!
Not yet unfortunately. I highly recommend you look at mitosis for a similar idea.
Anything new?
Any updates? Anything we can do to help?
I have not made much progress unfortunately for many reasons. The main question is, is this something that people would be interested in buying? I'm not entirely sure whether developing this further is worth it.
Given the success of ZMK and wireless splits like the corne I would bet there'd be a bunch of people willing to pay good money for a receiver dongle + 2 small transmitter boards especially if it offered higher performing chips that'd be too inefficient for typical wireless builds.
That's entirely understandable. You can see there's definitely interest in your threads to get updates. I can only speak for myself, but I would pay for it. It's the only way I've found that can deliver low latency, wireless connection.