Rich : humm... lool. There's a time to discovery for everyone I guess ! Thank you Rich... now you say it, it seems so obvious...

The EZ-B bluetooth is a class 2 (33 feet) device and the only thing preprogrammed in it is the device name. It can be used elsewhere if needed.

I started working on hooking up my Elechouse WiFi module last night in order to write a tutorial, and I have had limited success. I did confirm that ARC will connect without a virtual serial port by specifying IP Address and port number instead of a com port in the connection dialog. You will be asked for a password, just leave it blank and click OK. The problem is that it takes several minutes to connect and then does nothing. However, with a virtual com port I can't even get a connection at all at any baud rate.

I noticed that the main LED on the EZ-B was going out once a connection was established, so it lead me to think I might be getting a brownout.

In researching this, I found this old thread.

It appears that my connectivity issue, and the slow response and disconnect issues being discussed in this thread are because the EZ-B doesn't supply enough amperage on the 3.3v pin and you need to run alternate power to the WiFi board in parallel. It was quite late when I found this, so I haven't had time to test yet, and the other thread just ended without anyone claiming success, so I am not 100% sure that is the answer, but I will try it again as soon as I can and post results.

Alan

While your experience wasn't exactly a complete success it has eliminated a huge problem with that God awful virtual com port! Something I expected to and was hoping would happen. Virtual anything is never a good idea, whoever though up and recommended it needs shooting

You just reminded me to see if mine has turned up yet, haven't checked if I've had any post (mail) today yet... Edit: YES it's here

Good find for the 3.3v issue, that saved me a headache when I fit mine... hopefully.

The other thread mentioned that it should work on 5v as well, but I had even less success using the 5V lead on the EZ-B. LED's on the WiFi board wouldn't even light up.

You will still need virtual port unless you want to switch back to Bluetooth (or I assume, but haven't gotten far enough in testing yet the USB TTL) when you want to upgrade Firmware. The firmware updater does require a com port number.

Also, projects like @Doug Pope's needed it since he is trying to use it to connect to a Roomba, not the EZ-B.

Alan

Oh, one more thing to save you a headache... When hooking up the TX and RX on the USB-TTL, you hook TX to TX and RX to RX. They appear to be mislabeled on the USB-TTL. The Elechouse manual has a totally different serial board so finding that was just trial and error.

Alan

For the 3.3v issue I had just connected the power to the original USB adapter which was attached to a USB power port available on my project. Everything worked fine for several days, using the settings I recommended in my earlier post on this same forum. However for some reason the wifi module just stopped working at all and I couldn't, this time, hard reset it using the method I had used before. I wonder if we shouldn't link the ground to both the alternate power source AND the EZB's ground port. I'll receive a new module in few days and I'll see. I'll let you know.

I never succeeded in connecting through IP directly in a reliable way even though I had the correct amount of amps so I don't think this is the issue. I had control over the robot while connected through direct TCP but it was responding with a long lag. HW virtual port works fine though once you enter the proper settings and most of all once you use direct baudrate emulation.

Best, Elfege

I should be receiving my WIFI UART soon. I am wondering what is the maximum rated current from the EZB's 3.3v pin. I will need 300ma MAX.