New Product - Eggtimer WiFi Switch

[Jamieson]

Will this work with my phone if I am out of range of a tower?

 

[cerving]

Yup. It doesn't use the Internet or cell phone service, it's strictly WiFi. I've used it with an old iPod.

 

[Worsaer]

Got the PC boards from the fab shop today, did a test build and took pictures, ran a full test. Kits will start shipping out tomorrow, just in time for the final docs and pictures to be posted on the web site.

Mine arrived in the mail yesterday. Looking forward to playing with it.

 

[Hal8472]

I just ordered two. Thanks for making such an innovative product.
Andrew

 

[BLKKROW]

According to your website it states the WiFi switch works inside of a carbon fiber tube but the distance is limited. Has anyone tried this to see what kind of distance you are getting?

I figured since the tube was carbon fiber the switch would not work.

 

[cerving]

I don't have a CF rocket (I missed the RW sale a few weeks back) but I did do an empirical test when I was developing the WiFi Switch. I wrapped an AV bay in a couple of layers of aluminum foil and did a range check. I got about 40' vs. about 200' for an open-air test at Lucerne Valley. Based on this, I don't think there's going to be a problem arming your altimeter remotely at the pad.

 

[warnerr]

rough tested the wifi switch in carbon fiber rocket today. Aprox 1/8 in CF thickness (outer tube and inner tube total of walls) with 1/4 diameter steel rod running lengthwise, with cf endcaps and metal d-rings in place. Maximum usable distance to control on and off was about 30 feet at 100%. Locking onto the wifi signal is more of an issue- reliable wifi signal 'finding it' was 100% at 8 inches from avbay dropping off rapidly at 12 inches. Once the signal is picked up and locked onto no issues-it stays locked and you can step away with confidence to 30 feet to arm it. If I go too much further I would need to return to within 8 inches of the avbay where in seconds the link would reestablish itself and I can walk away. AMAZING! Will need to test max 'signal finding' in fiberglass where I expect results will be many times further.

 

[cerving]

If you connect before you close up the AV bay and put your smartphone in your pocket, chances are pretty good that you'll never lose lock.

 

[djs]

FYI- we used the wifi switch (thanks to cerving for loaning us his prototype!) this weekend in the V2 drag race. It worked great for us- we never lost lock with the rocket when it was on the pad (200 feet away), even though the switch was in an AV bay with threads running through it. It came in handy because the V2 drag race was running behind, and the rocket sat on the pad for 20 min before launching. We could tell that we had enough juice from the battery and that the altimeter (Missileworks RRC2) was still ok.

We had the wifi switch connected to a 9v battery, and we probably got about 2 hours of useful life out of it, so the drain wasn't too bad. about 40 min of that drain was with the RRC2 powered on.

 

[ksaves2]

Got 'er done. Worked first time I got a 2S lipo on it. Only thing is to figure out the continuity thing. A1, A2/ B1, B2 I take it are not polarity sensitive? Just figure out the ematch leg to connect and the battery side to connect via the instructions and good to go? Well, if too confused by the diagrams can just use it as a switch to turn it on and off and listen for the continuity beeps in a smaller rocket. That would keep the wiring simpler if using it in a small project.
Kurt Savegnago

 

[Worsaer]

Assembled my WiFi switch today, my first SMT-based project. Works great!

For some reason the SSID was not broadcasting when I first fired it up. After a few tries, I verified it was working using the serial->USB cable. After that, the next time I powered it up the SSID was broadcasting and I had no trouble connecting to the switch. Really nice product. Thanks!

 

[cerving]

I've only seen this with a low-voltage situation... what kind of battery were you using?

 

[kcobbva]

Dang. I was moping about because I can't work on my rocket due to Epoxy drying. So I fired up the forum and now I find something I wish I had in my hands right now! Will be ordering soon!! This sounds quite promising.

 

[ksaves2]

I've only seen this with a low-voltage situation... what kind of battery were you using?

Yup, I plopped a tired out 9V battery and saw that the LED didn't flash properly. Went downstairs with a 2S lipo and both units I built worked right off the bat. Turn one on, log in to the second one and turn it on. Can actually shut your device off or fire up
a tracking app. If you save the connection in your device, you may not have to login to connect to it again when you call it up and just type in the access code. Kurt

 

[cerving]

The WiFi Switch does use a fair amount of current, 85 mA is what I've measured on a continuous basis. A 9V battery is only good for about 200 mAH, so unless it's brand new you may get some weird results when using one. That's why I recommend using a 2S LiPo, 300 mAH or better preferred. I have a 9VDC 800 mA power block that I got from some device that's long since dead, I put a JST plug on it and use it for all my testing.

 

[warnerr]

follow cervings sage advice and skip 1s lippo- it is marginal on switch and we can not use marginal. It didn't take too long before i had odd issues happening such as 'wrong password' while testing... 2s installed and it works every time.

 

[tim cubbedge]

rough tested the wifi switch in carbon fiber rocket today. Aprox 1/8 in CF thickness (outer tube and inner tube total of walls) with 1/4 diameter steel rod running lengthwise, with cf endcaps and metal d-rings in place. Maximum usable distance to control on and off was about 30 feet at 100%. Locking onto the wifi signal is more of an issue- reliable wifi signal 'finding it' was 100% at 8 inches from avbay dropping off rapidly at 12 inches. Once the signal is picked up and locked onto no issues-it stays locked and you can step away with confidence to 30 feet to arm it. If I go too much further I would need to return to within 8 inches of the avbay where in seconds the link would reestablish itself and I can walk away. AMAZING! Will need to test max 'signal finding' in fiberglass where I expect results will be many times further.

I tried the same with a 54mm min diam. CF rocket. I could get wifi up to about 10' when switch was installed in the AV-bay but when I installed AV-bay into air frame, I lost all signal, even with my phone right next to the rocket. Tried an ipad with same results. I was using a 2S 300 mAh Lipo, fully charged.

 

[cerving]

With CF, I think it's going to depend largely on the weave. A tight filament-wound tube is probably going to block most of the RF, one that's laid up from woven cloth is going to have some spaces that allow a little RF to get out. It would probably be pretty easy to make an external antenna out of copper tape or foil on the outside of the rocket, but I haven't tried it yet. You're gonna have the same issues with a tracker, of course, unless you have the antenna exposed at ejection and you're OK with not picking up anything until then.

 

[tim cubbedge]

This rocket has a FG NC/coupler so tracking GPS gets stuffed up there.

 

[blackbrandt]

I really gotta order one of these....

 

[tim cubbedge]

I really gotta order one of these....

They are really awesome! No more switches or twist/tape! They're only $16 thru the 29th!

 

[blackbrandt]

Screw it. Ordering one when I finish school today. I deserve a present

 

[Onebadhawk]

I just ordered 2 wifi switches and a TRS for a build that's rolling around in my head...
I also ordered and extra Eggfinder,,
good to have an extra and couldn't resist the price..

Thank you very much Cris...

Teddy

 

[blackbrandt]

Email dispatched to eggtimer ..... can't wait for invoice

 

[djs]

This weekend, while at a launch, my wife assembled her av-bay in such a way that she couldn't get to the screw switch for one of her altimeters. Fortunately the second altimeter was connected to the wifi switch, so she was able to turn it on remotely (with her phone), and still fly the rocket. The wifi switch was very useful in this situation!