Hi everyone,
I am considering switching to arduino from what I am currently using (Waspmote) as for the nth time I need to use a new sensor (Lidar) and waspmote (although similar to arduino) has a its own libraries etc and I am not good enough to dig deep down and adjust things to work with it. On top of that their forum / support is lacking and they never want to help when you use sensors that they don't sell.
So arduino would be a much better because of the great community behind first of all.
I initially chose waspmote because of the great power consumption they advertised although I am not sure how it would compare to some arduino boards.
My project requires:
- to be as power efficient as possible
- in some instances it needs to be working in "cold" env. (-20/-25 Celsius) although I have a setup with enclosures that helps a little shielding the board and avoid condensation, etc
- One or more sensors connected to the same board (with this new laser sensor via I2C), else via Digital Pin (ultrasonic sensor)
- A GPRS module to send data to my server periodically
This is for a project I am about to start charging my customers for and if it picks up I was considering getting my own pcb done, however in the start I would want something that would work fairly right off the bat.
I have 2 use cases:
-
Indoor (therefore less cold) and maybe with access to power so battery consumption wouldn't be a concern but I can assume it will always be available so I'd rather have the most universal solution possible but I am ready to use different boards for different use cases.
Working cycle: Sleep most of the time and wake up minimum 2 time a day (up until 8 times a day), read from the laser sensor, send the data with GSM module to my server and back to sleep. -
Outdoor (again with a bigger MAYBE chance of having power plug near it) and possibility to use solar panels.
Working cycle: Wake up every 10 minutes to observe if what there's a large deviation in what I am measuring and if there is not, back to sleep, else send a SMS. On top of this send the data to my server once a day.
Could you guys from your experience suggest me what board is most suited for my needs?
I would really appreciate and would love to join this great platform / community.
Also to clarify things I am fairly ignorant hardware wise and I am purely a software engineer, that is why I wanted to avoid having to "tweek" things too much.