Wirelessly sending data and current draw?

General project help for Adafruit customers

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
Locked
Inferno
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Oct 08, 2011 12:45 pm

Wirelessly sending data and current draw?

Post by Inferno »

Hi, I am working on a project that entails using an arduino board to calculate data from a sensor and then wirelessly send it to a computer or smartphone device. My question is, do any of the arduino boards come able to wirelessly send data without any extra boards or modifications? I read through their boards available and I wasn't sure.

Also, power requirements are going to be critical in my project, so does anyone know what current these boards generally draw? I was also looking at the LiPo usb/dc battery charger and I was wondering if anyone knew the current that the charger would draw from a DC power source (not usb) in order to properly charge the battery? Does this charger have any sort of regulators on it, or does it require a constant voltage/current from the power supply?

Thanks in advance, and I apologize for any ignorance there might be in my questions. This is a project for school, but I am not majoring in electrical engineering so I don't know a whole lot about this.

User avatar
adafruit_support_bill
 
Posts: 88093
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:11 am

Re: Wirelessly sending data and current draw?

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

None of the board in the Adafruit store have built-in wireless capability. We do sell XBee modules and adapters for wireless communication.
The Arduino itself usually draws less than 20mA. Any wireless solution will need substantially more than that when transmitting.

The LiPo chargers do regulate current going to the battery. You don't say what DC source you plan to use, but if it is solar, we highly recommend the solar version of the charger for best efficiency.

Inferno
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Oct 08, 2011 12:45 pm

Re: Wirelessly sending data and current draw?

Post by Inferno »

adafruit_support wrote:None of the board in the Adafruit store have built-in wireless capability. We do sell XBee modules and adapters for wireless communication.
The Arduino itself usually draws less than 20mA. Any wireless solution will need substantially more than that when transmitting.

The LiPo chargers do regulate current going to the battery. You don't say what DC source you plan to use, but if it is solar, we highly recommend the solar version of the charger for best efficiency.
Well the power source will most likely be thermoelectric. The temperature gradient will depend on ambient temperature though, so the power will fluctuate during different times of the day, much like it would for solar panels. Do you think using the solar version of the charger would work for this thermoelectric application as well?

User avatar
adafruit_support_bill
 
Posts: 88093
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:11 am

Re: Wirelessly sending data and current draw?

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Good question. I don't know the I-V characteristics of your thermoelectric devices. But it is the non-linear nature of the I-V curve for solar panels combined with the varying solar input that necessitates a special controller. This is explained in detail on the Designpage.

Inferno
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Oct 08, 2011 12:45 pm

Re: Wirelessly sending data and current draw?

Post by Inferno »

adafruit_support wrote:Good question. I don't know the I-V characteristics of your thermoelectric devices. But it is the non-linear nature of the I-V curve for solar panels combined with the varying solar input that necessitates a special controller. This is explained in detail on the Designpage.
Oh okay, I'll have to look into the nature of the thermoelectric I-V curve.

For wireless data transmission, I could use an arduino board to calculate data from a sensor and then use the XBee series 1 module to send that sensory data to any computer with WiFi capabilities, right?

User avatar
adafruit_support_bill
 
Posts: 88093
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:11 am

Re: Wirelessly sending data and current draw?

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The XBees use the "Zigbee" protocol (802.15.4) and is not compatible with WiFi protocols (802.11 a-n). You would need 2 XBee modules - one connected to your computer. There are some 802.11 WiFi shields out there. But we don't have them in the store here.

Locked
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.

Return to “General Project help”