General overview of wireless options for Stamp

jon_bondy

Is there a good place to go to understand wireless options for the Stamp product line? I'm currently using JeeNodes, but am exploring less expensive alternatives.

Franklin

Any wireless option that uses serial data to communicate will work with the stamp. The main thing you need to do is set the parameters you need for your project and then find the device that will accomplish those goals.

jon_bondy

I am sure that what you say is true. It is not, however, very helpful.

Leon

You need to list the requirements.

jon_bondy

Good point. At the moment I have a central JeeNode that can be used to send control signals to the other JeeNodes. The central one tells one of the remotes to blink a light and make a noise. The user hits a switch on that remote, and the remote sends a signal back to the central node, which then activates another remote node. So, the nodes need to be able to receive a message addressed to them, blink an LED, make a tone on a small speaker, accept a switch closure, and send a message back. All in a small package, all with low power, all cheap. Of course.

I am exploring whether I can get similar functions out of other technologies (Stamp, maybe BlueTooth, maybe WiFi). I'm fairly happy with the JeeNodes, but they are a little expensive (JeeNode plus battery runs about $35), and a little large. Radio range is good: I need at least 20-30 feet.

Mike Green

The Stamp itself has no wireless capabilities, but it can control pretty much any device that uses digital signalling, particularly asynchronous serial I/O.

It sound like you want to essentially duplicate the network structure you currently have. xBee would be a good choice and Parallax has a manual that discusses xBee in considerable detail. I don't have a link handy, but a search of the Parallax website will bring it up with "xBee". These can establish a wireless serial connection given a destination address that you can configure into each module.

There are WiFi modules made by Roving Networks and others that are roughly plug compatible with the xBee modules and, given a local WiFi network, you can also establish a wireless serial connection. You can also create an ad-hoc network if there's no local WiFi network. xBees are easier to use.

You can also get a set of Parallax's 433MHz transceivers, but these have no "intelligence" on board and all the work has to be done with the Stamp code including error checking and retransmission as well as addressing any packets.

Franklin

There are these http://www.synapse-wireless.com/snap-components/rf-engine or these http://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/110

Duane Degn

I must have missed this thread last month. Since the OP asked about an inexpensive wireless alternative, I thought I'd mention the little Nordic nRF24L01+ modules. These things are cheap. You can get ten of them for less than the price of a single XBee.

I use the little Nordic modules in a lot of my projects (here's my most recent). While I've only used these with the Propeller (and AVR chips), Ron Czapala wrote a driver for the BS2. The Nordic modules aren't as easy to use as XBees but they're so darn inexpensive you can afford to make all your projects wireless.

With a bit of extra programming you can have your messages hop from one transceiver to the next (not directly, you need a microcontroller to control the transceiver).

IMO, these Nordic modules open up all sorts of possibilities.

Rforbes

Duane, those look great! I gotta get some of those. Thanks for sharing that link.