Stuff I design and build and take apart
Everything involving Philips LivingColors 1st Generation lamps (Gen1)
Recently I built a one-off serial Arduino with a CC2500 for someone wanting to control a couple of LivingColors and through an external system.
This is what Patrice has built with it. It seems like a big setup (compared to most Arduino projects) and I’m pleased it works.
Control Living Colors by Beckhoff SPS
Nice setup !
The serial Arduino is useful if you want to control LivingColors lamps from a system without USB.
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.
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.
It seems the whole “shields” concept did not exist when the first Arduinos were built.
With some compromises the shield fits..
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.
Shieldlist.org is a database of Arduino shields with pictures and pin usage.
Just to try it out, i have added the LivingColors shield. Works like a charm, the LivingColors shield can be found here.
Great idea !
Quasar UK have changed their 2.4 GHz module.
The pinout is the same but it is now a SMD device.
No need to change the layout. The crystal is thu-hole so there are solder bumps on the back.
The different iterations of the shields..
Clockwise from top left, the V05 shield with socketed module, the original protoype, the V06 shield new with new CC2500 module and the V05 shield with external antenna.