I am using the RN-131 at work (Very similar to RN-171). Very happy with the performance and ease of use. Even managed to read data of my micro when the two have been placed in a fridge. Signal must be strong enough to get out through the rubber seal.

Any chance of you guys getting the SPI specs for these?

It's sad, but buying a retail USB dongle instead of a purpose built module like this is the most efficient way to add WiFi to a product. We needed WiFi in 2006 & reached the same conclusion, implementing a USB host on the microcontroller just to talk to a retail WiFi dongle. It was the cheapest way to do it & modern USB dongles have only gotten smaller & cheaper than this.

Is firmware 4.00.1 FUBAR? I have two of the RN-171's, one running 4.00.1 and one running 2.32. The 2.32 one will associate without any problems with my venerable WRT54G2 but the 4.00.1 cannot.

One thing I notice is that the SET WLAN AUTH settings in 4.00.1 are not as documented:

<4.00> set wlan auth 4
AOK
<4.00> get wlan
… Auth=MIXED     <- supposed to be WPA-PSK2
4.00> set wlan auth 3
AOK
<4.00> get wlan
...Auth=WPA1       <- Supposed to be "Mixed WPA1 and WPA2-PSK"
<4.00> set wlan auth 2
AOK
<4.00> get wlan
… Auth=WPA2       <-- supposed to be WPA1

No matter what I set wlan auth to, it tries MIXED mode:

Auto-Assoc CHUM BUCKET chan=4 mode=MIXED SCAN OK
Joining CHUM BUCKET now..
Disconn from CHUM BUCKET,AUTH-ERR

Anybody gotten the new firmware to work with older WPA2 APs? By MIXED, do they mean TKIP+AES auth? I have tried setting the Linksys AP to "AES" vs "TKIP+AES" and no change in behavior.

The older version RN171 has not trouble associating, I use "set wlan auth 4" on it and it correctly shows WPA2 in get wlan output.

Should I be concerned that the phone number in the footer of the data sheet has been disconnected?

Tried using the other WiFi Module - ESP8266 only to watch them go up in smoke from over-heating. Figured I would give this ole hunk a go again, now that I own 4 of these, only 1 that I know of "kinda" works, and only in adhoc mode, with no uart access. The other one has a working uart, but cannot join a network. Bricked one trying to force a upd connection. And one more to soldier up, expecting similar disaster.

Sad to say, I think it is time to quit messing with these and buy a module that is tried and true.

Has anyone been sucdessful using a RN-171 on a WiFi shield for Arduino? I'm simply trying to send collected data from the Arduino to a REST API over WiFi. The HTTP mode doesn't ever seem to be able to correctly send the HTTP header and body. Just curious if anyone else is using this product for that type of project.

I am looking for the footprint files for the module as it comes from Sparkfun. I have the data sheet, however the footprint appears to be for the actual module only, not mounted on the small PCB? Not sure on that any help is appreciated. Also where is the Sparfun-RF.lbr I have an older version which does not have the RN-171 Thanks

Do you have Eagle files for this module?

Ok, so it has been a while since I have posted here about this product. I finally managed to get it working, however, only in ad-hoc mode. I went threw 2 modules trying to get it figured out. And by that I mean 1 I am 100% locked out of after trying to set it up to connect to my network & establish a tcpip connection on bootup. The second module will still work in adhoc mode only. connecting to my network will never happen again with my second module, however the adhoc mode still works.

As for its functionality. Eh... so so. easy to use once you figure out how. Once it is setup it will create its own adhoc network connection which you can connect to via pc or other RN171. Bootup time is minimal, usually under 30 seconds from power on till I can connect to it.

Speed... thats the "Eh". when I got locked out of my first module I switched to a Raspberry Pi via serial to ip software to use its WiFi capability. When I got my second module, I went from between 80-120 transfer's per second (with video downlink on the same wifi card at the same time) to 8-10. That's pretty bad. So I checked to make sure it was running the same as my network then checked again. Still 8-10 Max. Running the same identical software as I made my second module on a breakout board to be plugged in the same spot the RPi was just to be able to test this feature.

Other info to note, it occasionally crashes & needs to either be reset completely or can be just reconnected to. In one night this could happen 20-30 times (~8 hr period). And the occasional hiccup where data slows to a stop then starts flowing again.

For something WiFi compatible, pretty much drop in useable part, fairly easy to code & somewhat robust, it is a decent little chip. I am still using it & plan to buy another. I am going to combine this radio with a much more powerful RFM23BP for a 5 Mile datalink for under $20 (the 5 mile part). Not to mention having 2 Digital RSSI outputs. Tho, it has a bit more intensive setup method, it is just sending 15 or 20 1001011010011110's to the SPI interface to setup the chip, all documented (I used both RFM23BP & RFM22 Datasheets). Not to mention the radio is a Software Defined Radio and can be set from 400 to 900 mhz (the datasheet says 240 Mhz to 960 Mhz) and the output power can be set from low ~+10 dbm to a whopping high +30dbm (1 Watt)!

Being that they can be obtained fairly cheep (got my 2 for $20 here in America) & could use a simple interface / breakout board for the average user, perhaps someone at SparkFun would enjoy the privilege of handling that project. They are a nice High Power Radio to add to any RC project or other Long Range systems. I know you have the Xtend 1W, that takes 2 to work as well. Unfortunately they cost $185 each so I will not be able to afford this radio for a while being that you have to buy 2 of them in order to get it to work. 5 Miles is good enough for now. Once I reach that point I might be about to run out of battery or gas anyhow (I am using these for a UAV project), I will only need 40+ miles on a HUGE RC Aircraft, and at that point, why settle with just 40 miles? Ive seen 100 Mile & 150 Mile datalinks for the same price as the XTend module. Which btw the RFM23 Data Rate = 0.123 to 256 kbps. Which is up to 2 times Faster than the Xtend. Just a thought guys. $9 + tax per module, 2 for under $20 with shipping (free). Thats less than just One RN171 at $30 per module. Even if you made a simple breakout (dirt cheep), sold it for the same price as the module itself and sold the set for $20 your still making a killing & putting out a good product to the community. Sales would go up with new interest in UAV's & Long Distance Data Transfer.

Well thats my $0.02

Thanks for this pretty cool WiFi solution, I look forward to seeing more diversity in your long range department of data links.

So far, a pain in the ass. Refuses to enter command mode over serial. Can access the module over ADHOC & make updates to the wifi config, BUT, does nothing other than that. Cant make a TCP connection (not even in adhoc), Cant connect to my network, cant update.

i have been struggling with this little module all day. i see other people seem to have no problem at all getting this little guy to work.

What is the deal?

This is suppose to be easy. now im just getting aggravated... about as bad as trying to get MLX90615's to work (still NOTHING from them, not even PWM).

1. Does this module come with antenna?
2. If we compare RN-131 and RN-171, what are the functional differences besides, pin count and operating current Thank you all

I'm having a hard time finding downloads for the firmware. Any ideas?

anyone know if the unused U.FL footprint you see on the picture (of the module) will work for the antenna, if solder a connector on to it?

cant find anything in the datasheet on it. just seems a waste of time to bother with correct impedance layout in my design, if i just can use that connector.

Is it possible to put this into promiscuous mode?

I am working on rn-171 module..so I want to ask u guys how to disable adhoc mode bcoz I dont want to use that ..and right now I am facing problems bcoz of this

MCU(DATA)----WIFI RN 171(UDP)------USRERS,WIFI RN 171 CAN REALIZE?

have anybody real example with sensor(s) and this module connected as server? Maybe any other source of useful information on this module?

Does anybody know what the ftp IP is for updating the firmware. I need to update to 2.45 but the IP isn't working. Apparently they keep changing it.

Can someone give me a good idea on the pin numbers to use for the minimum 4 wire connection? On the diagram it looks like I could use 45 (as rx), 47 (tx), and 48 (gnd), with 10 (3.3v). I dont seem to be seeing any signs of life after using a Saleae Logic to verify that I am actually sending $$$ on 45. Are there other pins I should be using, or is this an ex-wifi module?

*Chip level development requires the purchase of additional support contract

does anyone know the approx cost of this per annum?

Can I build my own firmware into this? if so, where is the chaintool/compiler and manuals. thanks.

Haha "ROVING" on the label looks like "RDUINO"

How to hook this thing up? Just connect the uart_rx and tx, vbatt and gnd? Can't get it to work ..

Is the integrated non-volatile memory (ROM and FLASH) user accessible?

i am using rn171 for sometime. i am using it as a webserver. i want to stream the data at more that 40 KBps, so configured tha module at 460800 baudrate. following are the considerable settings that i used;

set uart b 460800 set comm idle 2 // idle timer set comm time 3 // flush timer set comm size 1460 // flush size

i am sending GET requests from the browser and the response from the wifi rn171 webserver is of 4 to 5 KB (i.e around 300 ms timeline). The GET requests from the browser is onLoad event based so its continously sending the requests one by one.

i am getting the throughput date rate needed but the problem is the streaming is not continous, some times it gets delayed by the more that 2-3 seconds for one request.

i am sure that the data streamed by my controller to the uart of the wifi module is accurate and continous at 460800 baud.

i guess the problem is with the module configured. i used flush size of 1460, but when i set it to 1000 it didnot worked. i guess its internal buffering issue with the module.

how an i solve this? please help me out

Thanks in advance.

I want to make some project based on ardino and i need wireless communication. What best option to consider this one or WRL-10822?

http://shop.8devices.com/carambola Price the same like this module but you will get much more powerful module

What is used for the antenna for this product. Seems if you want a PCB trace antenna you need a 4 layer board. Does SparkFun have the antenna products also?

According to RN, SPI is coming but actually wont gain you much

Looking at the manual this thing really begs for something special in a breakout board or shield, probably both. It's not really programmable by default but the settings for this thing are so rich you could literally make it poll an analog sensor every x seconds and POST the results to a web server with NO microcontroller attached at all. And that's a pretty trivial example!

Can this thing be configured for AP mode? (Why, yes, I am too lazy at the moment to d/l the manual :) I just thought somebody might have a quick answer...)

I've found that it is very convenient for robots to act as an AP -- obviously, there isn't any back-haul connection, so you can't route anything, but it sure is convenient if your laptop/phone/tablet can be served a WiFi connection and a DHCP address directly from the robot so that you can talk to it, instead of having to carry along and configure a WiFi AP everyplace you take your robot.

The challenge here is finding something small and low power that will work in AP mode -- most of the USB WiFi sticks don't support AP mode -- it can be really vexing to find one.

This module looks like a winner, but it doesn't appear that the SPI is actually implemented for communication, It's probably just used for programming at the factory. All the lines are marked "Do not connect" in the datasheet.

I would love to connect to it with SPI, but the fallback position of using the SC16IS750 SPI UART chip is a known good solution.