@jpm,
There’s a resistor on the sensor board that can be shorted out to increase drive strength. With that, I’d expect a handful of meters at most, and that is depending on cabling used.
For longer distances, I’d use a differential transceiver. Something like this:
BTW you could also use something like that to send LED over long distances.
The sensor board needs 3.3v, but otherwise yes, it can be run on a separate power supply.