NZbeek:
This may not be the right place to ask - but what is the best board I could use to achieve 1 input (weight reading from the hive from Shear Beam Load Cell), data send via GSM shield and ability to be solar charged? I have looked at the Arduino mini on the understanding that they use much less power however they do not seem to be compatible with standard shields and may not support GSM? All power savings I have seen appear to be for barebones custom boards/breadboards, I am not technical enough to solder a custom board and would rather buy a ready-made but basic board that will support the aforementioned functions.Are there Arduino clones that support the same form factor for shields, but are configured for low power consumption? If so, what are they?
I think you do not need a board with a standard form factor for shields because there are no shields you will use.
The best hardware solution--without soldering / making the PCB by your own--could be the
- Seeeduino Stalker
Seeeduino Stalker v2.3 | Seeed Studio Wiki and the - GPRSbee
http://www.gprsbee.com
and you can use the
- HX711 Weigh Sensor breakout
http://imall.iteadstudio.com/hx711-dual-channel-weighing-sensor-module.html
(similar board from DfRobot Weight_Sensor_Module_V1-DFRobot)
for reading the load cell.