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[on:]

Hi, I'm new to this fourm, but I'm looking into merging the Arduino Uno and the GSM shield into a single board. I need a battery powered remote measuring device that will work for at least half a year on batteries with an upload of information every hour.
One sub-goal is to be able to spraypaint the complete board to avoid moisture problems in an outdoor enivornment. We have had some problems with the board-to-board connectors when doing this prevously...

Any one else thinking of similar stuff, or has this already been done by someone?

[Reply #1 on:]

Have a look at this thread:
http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,148708.0.html

What GSM Shield do you use? Has this any power saving feature or are you planing to switch the whole board on and off?

[Reply #2 on:]

I'm simply merging the Uno board and the official GSM shield ( http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield ). I will need to remove some components as I can't get it to fit. Basicly I aim at controlling the +3.3 and +5 volt generators from the ATMega328 controller. Both the M10 module and the ATMega328 can live on very low power and survive on a Li-ion battery voltage directly, just consuming ~0.2mA if running in some very deep sleep modes to be woken by the RTC. Shields on top of it would receive no power which is fine if the ATMega tri-states it's signals or drive them low. (at least I think this is possible)

[Reply #3 on:]

Btw. do you know the GBoard? http://imall.iteadstudio.com/development-platform/arduino/arduino-compatible-mainboard/im120411004.html I do not know what Arduino board template was used and I think the GSM part was not the new official - the GBoard is a longer time at the market.

And I think it is not battery optimized??! On the other hand "Current Consumption: Type:100; Max: 500 mA (s. http://ftp://imall.iteadstudio.com/IM120411004_GBoard/Documents/DS_IM120411004_GBoard.pdf) wouldn't be too bad if the GSM part can be disabled. Unfortunately the documentation is not too large, so if anybody has information about that, a short note here is appreciated!

About the Uno: You can find some critical parts (and advanced software settings) that should be omitted by optimizing for battery use:

http://www.gammon.com.au/forum/?id=11497

The initial outcome is that, to save power, forget about using a development board. Further savings (like reducing clock speed) would be overshadowed by the huge overhead of the voltage regulator and USB interface chip.

A bare bones Arduino-"Board" without USB interface and also a GSM "shield" without additional voltage regulator and a 100% power disabling option would be really great. If this board can be driven by the new GSM lib (included in the official 1.0.4 IDE) this would be really great.

I can not understand that people developing GSM shields that are intended to be used without Ethernet or Wifi but are still depending on a power jack. A lot application that have no direct internet access will also have no wall outlet. So please share your experiences and findings.