Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.
I recently received a SIM908 development board from DIYmall for a product review. In addition to the board itself, two antennas ( GSM and GPS ) were included. I believe you would need to use a SIM card tied to T-Mobile network or AT&T network if you plan to use this unit in the US.
SIM908 Board
I used an Arduino UNO to connect with the SIM908 dev board, it took me a while to figure out how to use it - apparently you must have a SIM card in the unit, otherwise it won’t fully start up and won’t respond to AT commands.
Once I figured out how to get things connected, I focused on two projects (links are at the end of this entry):
1) Being able to send “AT” commands to the unit so I could play around with different commands.
2) Being able to get GPS information in a NMEA standard format, so that software on my computer could use the data.
Overall, this is a neat little board. I didn’t get a chance to write any other programs, but the basic capability of issuing AT commands and getting GPS data both worked fine. I was able to send and receive a sms (text) message which was pretty neat. This sort of board is going to require that you have a solid grasp of Arduino (or whatever board you are using) and how to interact using AT commands -- not something I would recommend for a new user.
Bottom line: Neat little board to experiment with GSM/GPS capabilities.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.
I recently received a XIRO Xplorer V Quadcopter / Drone from Amazon seller DIYmall for a product review. My package came with the following, but keep in mind this is a newer product so the contents might change:
- XIRO Quadcopter itself
- Charger and battery
- 3 sets of propellers (two different styles). I don’t think this is standard.
- Transmitter, lanyard and range extender
- Camera with 8GB memory card installed, mounted on 3-axis gimal. The camera includes a filter cover for use in bright sun, and a lens cover. You can fly without it attached - in fact it is recommended you do not use it when you are just starting to learn.
- A few other smaller things, like a set of extra rubber feet for the landing legs
The package itself includes a piece of cardboard with “XIRO” on it, I actually use that as a takeoff and landing pad. Everything is packaged up nicely, and you can actually use the box as a carrying case - you have to remove a few pieces, but still a great way to reuse the box.
The cardboard on the right makes a nice landing pad
Quadcopter removed, everything is packed nicely.
Setting up the quadcopter was pretty simple, just follow the directions - everything you need is included, which is nice. I decided to update the firmware for the flight control and gimbal, I would recommend anyone with a quadcopter always run the latest versions of firmware. As a note, the bottom of the battery charger gets hot so you may want to put it on the side.
Closeup of one of the motors
Close up of the battery mount - it has a green line to show you where to line it up, very useful
Flying this quadcopter is very fun and not difficult at all. This unit uses GPS, which helps keep it stable even if there is wind outside - the fact the unit itself is fairly slim also helps minimize the impact due to wind. The unit has 3 control modes, I keep mine in mode 1 most of the time which is best for new users but mode 3 does make it faster which is fun. Basically it can grow with you.
Landing legs down ( use with gimbal )
Landing legs down ( you can use without gimbal if you want )
The XIRO has some pretty cool features, such as:
- Auto takeoff and landing, just press a button
- It can return home when you press a button (it will fly to you, then land within a few feet of where it took off). It will also do this automatically when your battery is low.
- If the quadcopter loses connection with your transmitter, it will come back towards you to try to get signal and if that fails it will come back to the “Home” position and land.
Removable piece with camera and gimbal
Includes a 8GB microSD memory card, lens cover, lens filter for use in the sun
This version allows you to use your smartphone to connect and watch live video plus get information such as remaining battery which is very useful. The transmitter has a cradle to hold the smartphone, which is very nice. Using the software, you can trigger the onboard camera to take pictures or record video that gets stored on the included microSD 8GB memory card (which you can upgrade to 32GB).
To see the quality of video, I would recommend do some searches on Youtube to see samples -- I got my quadcopter up about 100ft and took some nice video of a local park ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfxXar_3W-0 ). The 3-axis gimbal makes the video very stable and smooth.
I plan to keep using the quadcopter, and will update this review if I run into any issues. I haven’t tested all the features yet, but so far from what I have seen it performs very well.
For anyone who decides to purchase a quadcopter, consider the following suggestions:
- Read all the directions/manuals first, it comes with paper manuals but you can get them online and the Android app also lets you access instructions. Look at them all, too much information can’t hurt.
- If you live in the US, consider joining the AMA ( www.modelaircraft.org ).
- If you live in the US, make sure you know the FAA rules. Commercial use is very restricted, but for hobby use check out ( https://www.faa.gov/uas/model_aircraft/ ).
- If you live in the US, Check out this site ( http://knowbeforeyoufly.org/ ).
- Find an open space when you are learning how to use the quadcopter
- Avoid parks with kids, they will end up coming near you and ask questions which is a distraction or they will actually stand under it which isn’t safe
- Do NOT try to fly this inside your house, resist the temptation.
Bottom line: This is a very impressive quadcopter that should be able to handle a beginner with no problem, but provide features that an experienced owner will appreciate.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.
I recently received a DIYmall 0.96" inch yellow and blue OLED display module for a product review. The package just included the display itself, nothing else.
Size comparison with a quarter
The display is very small, and this model has a strip of yellow on the top part of the display and the rest is blue, but DIYmall does have other options if you don’t like that. After doing some guesswork and research, I was able to get the display working using method 1 below but after reading other review comments, it seems method 2 below also works.
Method 1)
Here are the steps I took to get my display working for some simple steps (I think I wrote down all the steps NOTE: The steps are for an Arduino Uno):
1) Download documentation from website on Amazon listing
2) Extract Files
3) Open the folder that ends with (SSD1306), it should be the only folder
4) Open the folder that starts with Arduino and ends with (UNO)
5) Open the top of the two folders, it should have a "Adafruit_ssd1306syp"
6) Copy the "Adafruit_ssd1306syp" and paste it in the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\libraries" folder
7) Open the Arduino app, go the menu "File > Examples > Adafruit_ssd1306syp" and choose "ssd1306syp_test"
Once the software is ready, wire up the hardware as follows:
VCC <> 5V
GND <> GND
SDA <> Digital 8
SCL <> Digital 9
Method 2)
In the Arduino app
- Go to menu option "Sketch > Include Library > Manage Libraries" and install "Adafruit GFX Library" and "Adafruit SSD1306"
- Go to menu option "File > Examples > Adafruit SSD1306 > ssd1306_128x64_i2c"
- In the example, find the line with "display.begin(SSD1306_SWITCHCAPVCC, 0x3D);" and changed it to "display.begin(SSD1306_SWITCHCAPVCC, 0x3C);"
Once the software is ready, wire up the hardware as follows:
VCC <> 5V
GND <> GND
SDA <> A4
SCL <> A5
After following either method, you should be able to load and run the sample. They both worked fine for me. I think method 2 takes up more space when you compile but gives more functions - seems like method 1 has less capabilities, but for simple text output it works fine. Part of the fun of all this is figuring things out, so try them both.
Simple volt meter
Once I finished my initial function test, I modified the code for method 1 to make a simple volt meter (0-5V) that would read the voltage and display it on the screen. I connected the voltage input to a potentiometer, and was able to see the voltage change on the screen as I adjusted it.
Overall, it worked and was really simple to wire up the hardware. Figuring out the software was a bit more interesting, and I still need to do more research to find other examples of what you can really do but for anyone doing projects this is a great way to display variables or even status messages.
Bottom line: If you are looking for display options for your microcontroller project, this is a really neat option.
