Tips List

[bstott]

Does anyone see a use for us having a Tips List? A place we can publish tips or tools related to Moteino and radio remote sensors, computing, data transmissions, etc? Tips regarding our projects with LowPowerLabs?

My submission:   

TIP
Do Not give up a pricey header by adding more parts or weight to your projects by soldering in an FTDI connector.

To program some pcb based avr(s) simply insert the connection header into the proper pins. Attach the FTDI (Leave the FTDI and Header attached to each other for the future.) and apply slight pressure against the pins. It will be quick and easy to program the device and then continue with your projects. When bread boarding place the pcb board onto the breadboard and pin it in place with a 90º header and then plug in the FTDI.

[Felix]

Makes sense, if this gets long I may move the topic into a new forum.

TIP: You can also use pogo pins to make it more precise when you program through FTDI. But beware - disconnect external power when you power/upload sketch through FTDI !
See my tutorial on how to make such solderless programming devices with pogo pins.

[bstott]

Tip #2 - Encryption

Problem: No connection between radios

Solution: Verify that your encryption key is exactly 16 characters else the radios will not connect. This is an easy oversight when changing the network password key.