Direct connection to smart devices

Hardware
1

hi all,

first post on here so be kind :).

ive had a flick through the information provided but am slightly confused as to how i can connect this to mobile devices…

for example, if i am out in the woods and want to read sensor data but no router is around, can i just connect my android phone directly to the core to read serial data? providing i create an app to do so?

2

I believe it needs a wireless network, so if you make your phone into a hotspot, it should be able to connect. It might be a bit tricky to set it up the first time if you use SmartConfig (you may need to use a different phone to give it your Wi-Fi info - I wouldn’t be surprised if your phone couldn’t do both at the same time). But, otherwise, it seems like it should be able to connect to any Wi-Fi network, including a Wi-Fi hotspot from your phone.

3

Hi @stshot, welcome to the forum!

@kudos is right, you could create a hotspot on your phone if you want. But generally, the Spark Core is not intended for direct connection to your mobile devices; rather, it’s intended for connecting to an existing Wi-Fi network. For direct connections a solution that uses Bluetooth might work a bit better.

4

Just curious, too - what were you thinking of making with Spark that you’d be bringing to the woods?

5

Would be pretty cheap and easy to power a small router like this one with batteries:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7645840&Sku=T156-2509

If it’s 5V 1A like many are, you can power with 2AA, C, D or a lantern battery and a 3A silicon rectifier diode in series http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062578

6

Hi @zach bluetooth isnt practical for my application as for @bdub that sounds like a better option than turning my phone into a hotspot. Its for a portable gas sensing product that can provide data thats much more reliable than bluetooth as theres problems with range, line of sight etc…

.

7

@kudos, the woods is an example i generally mean a setup with no readily available router…however a router built in sounds like the best option