I have been looking at the various wifi modules Sparkfun offers, but I am still not sure which will be best for my application. I have a machine I need to monitor from about 50 feet away. I want to be able to use my Kindle Fire to view the sensor readings and such. I hoped I could set up a wifi module to serve up a web page with the sensor readings that the wifi on my Kindle could connect to and display. The browser on my Kindle seems to work very reliably and it also has a function to easily request between mobile and desktop versions of web pages. I am familiar with HTML and I am confident I could build a GUI in HTML for the display.

I will also need the ability to send configuration commands from the web page on my Kindle back to the device.

There is no Internet in the area and no room on the machine for a computer or separate router. I was hoping for a stand-alone module that could possibly interface serially with an Arduino on the machine, then send the data to my Kindle via wifi.

I had built an XBee based system, but that required that I set up a specific LCD monitor on a serial link. I am trying to get away from the need to build monitors for all of my devices and go toward a setup where I can use my Kindle for all of them. I had considered a Bluetooth connection, but I know next to nothing about the Bluetooth my Kindle uses and can only assume it is meant for headsets or HID's and not intended for raw data transmission (I am also clueless as to how to build the app that such a setup would require).

Is this module capable of doing what I described without a separate router, computer, or Internet connection?

Rob

$36 at digikey. The $13 different is swaying... I like supporting sparkfun, but there's an extent.

I like this chip a lot but the stock firmware is absolute crap (version 2.X build year 2012) . There should be a disclaimer to immediately do an upgrade on the firmware because Roving Networks or Microchip has made substantial improvements in the latest revision (version 4.41 1/17/2014).

The stock firmware had a hard limit on the number of bytes transmitted during an HTTP Client GET/POST request which was causing my parameter string to abruptly get cut off before sending. Really random error, tracked it down in the HTTP access logs and firmware upgrade fixed it.

I also had an issue with the 'sleep' command bricking the module into an unrecoverable Web interface. Contacted Microchip support and was informed that this is internally documented issue. Upgrading to new firmware seems to have fixed any problem.

In summary, upgrade the firmware the second you solder it down.

Hello all, Quick question.. Does this module have the ability to automatically connect to any available unsecured wifi network or do you have to explicitly define the network to connect to? Example would be something like having this on a quadrotor that's flying through a neighborhood and connecting to any available unsecured network to transmit back its GPS coordinates. To elaborate, I would like to know if this can be done without a microcontroller for other applications. I would imagine it would be very easy to get a list of available networks from this module hand them over to a microcontroller and have the microcontroller select one of the unsecured networks found and connect to It so in short, can I use this module on its own to accomplish connecting to any available unsecured network? Thanks!

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

Here's an example use of this module (actually the RN-134, which is simply Roving Networks' board around this very model) to connect a vacuum tube to the internet and display tweets:
https://trandi.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/vfd-clock-connects-to-the-internet/
Dan

It says clearly on this front page: Secure WiFi authentication WEP-128, WPA-PSK (TKIP), WPA2-PSK, EAP-TLS for WPA1 & WPA2 Enterprise
Yet in the reference guide it says: We also currently do not support WPA2-Enterprise (radius server authentication, EAP-TLS)
So which is it, do you or do you not support WPA2- Enterprise???????

"Supports Adhoc connection" this mean that i can connect it and another device without need a router?!

I have one of these but it keeps crashing even when simply sitting there doing nothing. This is an example output form the terminal when it crashes :-
Unrecoverable failure (7) Misaligned address at PC=0002fcd0
The system will be reset
WiFly Ver 2.15, 10-15-2009
MAC Addr=00:06:66:00:3b:b3
Auto-Assoc roving1 chan=1 mode=NONE FAILED
READY
ERR WATCHDOGAuto-Assoc roving1 chan=1 mode=NONE FAILED
Auto-Assoc roving1 chan=1 mode=NONE FAILED
It always seems to be the same address. Anyone else had this? Note Firmware is 2.15 The REALLY annoying thing is that it seems to do a full factory reset so after a crash has to be set up again from scratch!

Is it possible to use this module as an access point in order to have my smarthphone connect to it without a WLAN?

Hi all again.
I tried differen method to make this module work.
When I was touch regulator I found it becoming very hot.then after measure between vdd pin 21 and ground I found there was a short circuit..which mean it is corrupted.That mean no internal protection inside this module.
Why there is nothing to inform the client about this module.
It is difficult to make it work.
till now even I read carefully manual I could not make it works.
when i make search on the wifi devices using my pc i could not find.
really it becoming me to dissappointment.
Please any one can make it working provide mme with solution for this module.
with my pleasre

Hi every one
I just received this device
and sloldering it
but likely the pins were broken this is the first problem
Pins easily removed even though my solder was smooth and I have good exprience.
Second I want to ask just to make it works,only connect vdd pin 21 and ground or there are should be other pins,also are there any led indicator to show there is power on this device??
thank you

I apologize for the basicness of my question. I read through the datasheet, but found no distinct "yes or no":
Can I directly communicate with the WiFly via UART?
I want to have a host uController that has whatever function to send and receive with uart to my pc. Obviously I'm going to have to develop the computer side of things too.
For example I'd like to make a computer controlled rc car, controlled over wifi, and have some sensor feedback (but I want it to be easy, hence the UART ;p)

Is there a solder stencil for this?

The price went back up to $50, are you going back to the G instead of C version? I'd rather through it in a order from SFE instead of Digi,etc.Just looking for some clarity on this.Thanks for any info ahead of time.

This is great, but will there be a breakout version that will handle 5V TTL & RS-232? I'm not good at getting that right.

Wow, out of stock already!
That's okay, just placed an order yesterday, it would be terrible to have to place another one today ;)

Could someone tell me if this device can act as a webserver, meaning it's configurable via a browser just like the XPort module.

The summary and datasheet for the wifly modules make it sound like it's possible to run user code on the module in some way, but there's no documentation on that. Is that something that we can actually do? Or it it something that I'd need to sign an NDA / promise to buy a million units / etc to get the info for?

For the pricing this definitely will be a great addition to the robot project im running along with. Is there a breakout board planned in the future?

I'm going to go ahead and be foolishly politically incorrect here, but only because SFE has overpriced this item by more than 25%.
This is available at Mouser and Roving Networks for $39 (the MSRP), and the industrial (better temperature range, which can be handy) is also available there too. I won't go totally overboard and post links to these products on your competitors sites; but they are pretty easy to find if you want to.
SFE, you aren't still trying to make up for the losses on the fake ATMega328s you got stuck with, are you?