I found an application that uses a Pololu Wixel board that would read the data directly from my Dexcom G6 CGM transmitter. Great, I'm thinking that I can skip the third party cloud app that I am currently using (and is threatening to go offline soon).
I am currently using a third party app that sends the data over an API. It's a Rube Goldberg solution- transmitter to my phone then to a cloud host where a third party obtains the data then sends it back to me using an API. So being able to get the data from the transmitter removes many points of failure.
The Wixel, in this project, would receive the data from the G6 transmitter and the Arduino (Wemos, actually) would publish the data over MQTT to my various monitoring devices. Bypassing all of the cloud apps.
So, I am looking through the Pololu forums and the Arduino forums to see what issues that users have had with the Wixel, and I am noticing that most of the posts on the forums regarding Wixel are eight to ten years old. The most recent posts here are two years old.
I don't want to invest time into the learning curve to use a product (Wixel) that doesn't appear to have a future. So, what's the prognosis for Wixel on the Arduino? Is it a dying product that just hasn't been pronounced by Pololu yet? Is there a newer alternative that I haven't found yet?
Or is the Wixel so reliable that no one needs to discuss its use on a forum?
I do not know the protocol of the G6 transmitter, but most likely Bluetooth since the app works on any Android phone. But there is no user pairing involved and I have nearly zero experience with Bluetooth on Arduino.
I would love to get the transmitter data using only Arduino boards. It would keep me in familiar territory and I wouldn't have to buy the relatively expensive Wixel boards. If it's possible using the ArduinoBT or HC05, I would be quite happy.
Admittedly, I haven't examined the code for the Wixel app to see how it connects to the transmitter. But it's written in C so rewriting it for Arduino C++ shouldn't be a terrible challenge.
You should be able to cobble the same system together with an ESP8266 and any other Arduino.
Connect the ESP8266 to the ICSP header on the Arduino and write a sketch for it that allows you to receive a hex file by Bluetooth or over WiFi and push it to the Arduino by ICSP, otherwise it can operate as a Bluetooth/WiFi antenna for the Arduino.
Pretty sure that would do it, but I have to test the concept to be certain.
Now, we are getting into graduate level coding.
I have never used the ICSP header or worked with Bluetooth, and I wouldn't know where to start to use the ESP as a Bluetooth device.
It sounds like such a useful tool that I may have to make it myself.
I'd start by interfacing an ESP8266 as a Bluetooth/WiFi antenna for another Arduino.
There should already be sketches for this purpose.
The ESP8266 should handle the network stack. The Arduino should just send and receive by serial with it.
Are we talking "AT" (Ancient Technology) commands here? I really prefer C++ on the ESP. I've been working with ESP boards for most of my projects, but I have not seen that the ESP can handle Bluetooth.
Yes, every once in a while I get a new batch of kittens that come out of the woods. I take them all to get checkups, shots, and to be spayed or neutered to keep the population healthy and under control. Then I find them homes or keep them.
I'm happy to discuss it further, but if you care to please have these replies split off into bar sport.
