Hello to everybody that can help me (and to who can't hello too :D),
I want to create an remote GPS project with arduino pro mini and I have some questions (I am kind of new to arduino so don't expect all of them to be the smartest you ever heard... ):
In the item specifics it says that the power needed to the module is: 3v - 5v, so is there a difference between 3.3v and 5v arduino (as for the GPS modules - why they need a battery if they connect to the arduino power pins?).
I need the arduino to send its position, speed and all of the information from the GPS module to another arduino that is far away from him, HOW CAN I DO IT? What kind of communication possibilities I have besides the arduino GSM shield (note that I need something that works way beyond some km...)?
Another problem I have is the size of all this project I NEED it to be small!
and I need a LiPo battery that is pretty big. I choosed this one:
because of the size, BUT, it gives only 3.7v and it will power my project but not when the battery will start to die! Is it true to think that if I use this:
the battery will power the arduino pro mini longer?
and another doubt in the same case: if I use this power booster - can I use 3.3v arduino so when the battery will go down the booster will provide less voltage but it still be enough to the arduino? Or this booster is giving 5v no matter what voltage input is given (in certain limits) and then I should use the 5v arduino?
I need the project to work for a long time. So do I need to do a self made arduino without LEDs and all that or the arduino Pro mini is power saving enough? Do you have any other ideas of how to save energy?
first 500 mAh isnt really much i dont know for sure if it will do but id guess not for long. The idea of a boost regulator is sound and there are some for 5v and for 3v3 out there just look around places like jameco or digikey. as for what arduino to pick id have to say for power consumption id pick the 3v3 but for all other reasons it dosnt really matter. As for long range comm if its going to be moving around like in a car GSM is probably your only option but it will greatly increase your battery consumption. If you will stay with in some confines WiFi at the location may be an option then you could see the data from anywhere in the world or 2.4 gHz breakouts with long range antennas can communicate for a long distance.
can I still use the 500 mAh LiPo battery and be calm about the time my project can work without recharging?
How can I calculate the time my project will work WITH and WITHOUT the booster, because, if I understood right, it takes some valuable energy to work.
Can I power an arduino Pro mini with 3.7V battery without a booster?
In other words - how can I know how much time a 3.7V LiPo battery holds its voltage above 3.3V (in case I choose the 3.3V arduino)?
2.4 gHz breakouts with long range antennas can communicate for a long distance
Can I use the GPS module itself to communicate with other arduino? I know it sounds stupid but the GPS is communicating with satellites so maybe if have an option of communicating with other GPS modules through the satellite...
So far about recently appeared questions.
Everybody who's seeing this and can answer my previous questions that were not being answered is welcome:
Why GPS modules need battery for power supply (comes mounted to them) if they connect to arduino's Vcc and GND pins?
Do power boosters give 5V for example all the time the input battery is giving some voltage or as the input voltage of the booster (the battery) goes down, the output voltage is going down too?
Again, everybody that have
ANY answer to one of my questions
(I know there are lot of them...)
Is certainly welcome to post it!!!
1 By sound I mean its a good idea.
2 I don't have thx tim to look over all of that page right now but I see that they are using a bare bone arduino. And yea its a good idea but it not gonna be that that pulls so hard its going to be your other things ( radios GPS and such).
3 Don't know id try some and see
4 Yes but you will probably have brow out issues ( when the bat drops too low it will cause problems with the flash and such.
5 a break out is just a board with some small things and some pins or terminals so you can easily use tiny stuff. Its a radio iv never used the long range so not sure how dar they work the small one are nice tho.
6 No may be technically possible but I'm pretty sure you can't do that
7 they us lots of power
8 they output a voltage (depends on what one u get) over a range on input voltages it works a lot like a voltage regulator except backwards. They also shut off when thx voltage drops too low stopping brown outs. Example input 2.5 to 5v output 5v. There's info about them on Google also I recall a post here that explains them well.
Great!!!!!!!!!!!!! XD XD XD XD XD XD XD
You Helped me a lot!!!!
In the tutorial mentioned in "2." besides they are using a bare bone Arduino they are putting the Arduino to sleep every time they don't need it. I can do it too: for example I need to receive the information from the GPS module, and send it to another Arduino, and all this I need to do ones in a hour and all the time I don't need it to work I can put it to sleep.
Can I use it for long period of time with this method?
About the power boosters: can you post a link to the post where you explained them?
As for the arduino pro mini power, correct me if I am wrong: I can connect 5V in (from power booster) to 3.3V arduino because the arduino have it's own power limiting chip.
CrossRoads:
This bit of discussion was from an older design I did:
"We can use a boost regulator! A boost regulator will take the voltage of the cap, whatever it is, and output the voltage we want. When the cap drops too low, which is really low, then the boost regulator cuts the power off cleanly. So the uC just shuts off instead of doing funny things when the voltage gets iffy (like erasing its flash, which I saw it do several times). He suggested we use a LTC3525.
There are two version of the Pro Mini. One runs at 3.3V and 8 MHz, the other at 5V and 16 MHz.
The Arduino Pro Mini was designed and manufactured by SparkFun Electronics.
OK!
Closed the power booster case.
BUT,
I know that there are two kings of Arduino pro mini: one that runs on 5V and one that runs on 3.3V.
My question was: can I provide an input voltage of 5V to an Arduino pro mini that runs on 3.3V?
Actually I saw this in the description of the Arduino pro mini:
Input Voltage 3.35 -12 V (3.3V model) or 5 - 12 V (5V model)
