CC2500 shield on serial Arduino

I have had some requests from people wanting to control their 1st Gen LivingColors via RS232. The current solution is just a shield on an Arduino and it would not make sense to build something on an other platform.

Of course, i could make it all mote complicated by combining the CC2500 shield with a serial shield but that would require some hacking.

The first versions of the Arduino used a serial port to communicate with the PC via RS232. Pieter  Floris still had a couple of these boards in store. Instead of making the solution more complicated i could then make the solution quite simple.

The serial Arduino
The serial Arduino

I assembled the board myself so I cannot blame the people from Arduino for all the hacking needed, the crystal could have been a lower model. The 7805 on the BOM is in a TO220 however. Without rasing the connectors the shield is never going to fit.

Side view of the serial arduino plus CC2500 shield
Side view of the serial arduino plus CC2500 shield

It seems the whole “shields” concept did not exist when the first Arduinos were built.

With some compromises the shield fits..

A serial LivingColors controller.
A serial LivingColors controller.

And works.

I have tested it and I can now control the LivingColors via RS232.  No changes in de software or the shield are needed.

2 thoughts on “CC2500 shield on serial Arduino”

  1. Hi there, I would like to connect my arduino with a cc2500 arduino shield to control a livingcolors lamp, but I don’t really know what exactly I need. You mention the cc2500 shield at several places on your website, but nowhere do you mention where you can actually order this thing or what you need to assemble it… :-S

    Can you help me out?
    Thanks,
    Tijl

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