- Home
- Product Categories
- Bluetooth
- RFduino - DIP
RFduino - DIP
This is the RFduino DIP board, a finger-tip sized, Arduino compatible, wireless enabled microcontroller. What makes the RFduino great is the fact that it runs Arduino code and can do everything an Arduino can, plus much more. When used in conjunction with the RFduino USB shield, simply plug the RFduino into a USB port of any computer and use the Arduino IDE to load your Arduino sketch, which automatically begins running on the RFduino. Then you can detach the RFduino USB shield and plug the RFduino directly into your project. It's that easy!
The RFduino is a Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy BLE RF Module with Built-In ARM Cortex-M0 and RFD22301 SMT module for rapid development and prototyping projects. The RFduino operates at 3V and 18mA (4uA ULP), transmits of a 2.4 GHz band, and offers 128kb of flash memory with 8kb of ram. Via a Bluetooth connection with your iOS device you even run a series of free apps to control various shields through the RFduino DIP board.
Note: The RFduino DIP requires USB Shield for programming.
- Operating Voltage: 3V (Max 3.6V, Low 1.9V)
- Transmit/Recieve Current: 18mA (4uA ULP)
- 16MHz ARM Cortex-M0 CPU
- 128kb Flash
- 8kb Ram
- Bluetooth LE RF Module
- 2.4 GHz Band
- Transmit Power: 4dbm
RFduino - DIP Product Help and Resources
Core Skill: Programming
If a board needs code or communicates somehow, you're going to need to know how to program or interface with it. The programming skill is all about communication and code.
Skill Level: Rookie - You will need a better fundamental understand of what code is, and how it works. You will be using beginner-level software and development tools like Arduino. You will be dealing directly with code, but numerous examples and libraries are available. Sensors or shields will communicate with serial or TTL.
See all skill levels
Core Skill: Electrical Prototyping
If it requires power, you need to know how much, what all the pins do, and how to hook it up. You may need to reference datasheets, schematics, and know the ins and outs of electronics.
Skill Level: Noob - You don't need to reference a datasheet, but you will need to know basic power requirements.
See all skill levels
Comments
Looking for answers to technical questions?
We welcome your comments and suggestions below. However, if you are looking for solutions to technical questions please see our Technical Assistance page.
Customer Reviews
4 out of 5
Based on 1 ratings:
2 of 3 found this helpful:
Doesn't live up to the hype
This idea holds a lot of promise for IoT projects. But the implementation leaves much to be desired. I want to develop on Linux, but it isn't supported by their tools. I also want direct access and full control of the bluetooth hardware, but that is not available either. Sounds like it is an issue with licensing by the company that actually manufactures the bluetooth chip, but the end-result is that this is NOT the open-source hardware solution it was advertised to be. Hoping it will improve in the future, but disappointed right now...
How do I edit the star rating? It does not deserve 4/5...
You have a note that the usb shield is required. Has anyone tried working with another serial programmer with these?
About time!!!!
I've been trying to get you guys to carry these for months! however there's not much support from the manufacturer/developer side... so if you need help with their library's integration into an iOS app you'll wait for months and months... and never receive an answer....
the RF chips are pretty good using them on a few of my projects but, you can't have BLE connections between them (RFDuino to RFDuino) you need a middle man (Android, iOS, Mac... no windows unless its the surface pro)....
The iOS apps that are out there are for iOS 6, and do not support storyboards. Having expressed my bad thoughts about this product, I also must express the good ones, it is a very capable product that has tons and tons of potential and although the manufacturer seems to just have disappeared after their successful kickstarter campaign, many people can create many things from this product that is worthwile if put enough time into it...
For reference, they provide good sample code here: http://www.rfdigital.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/RFduino_2.2.zip
It compiles just fine in the most recent version of XCode (Version 6.1 (6A1042b)).
Yeah I've been working with these for more than a year now, I know they provide code that just compiles and just works. And by good sample you mean objective-c working samples, because although you can use objective-c in Xcode now, they're moving to swift... If you are trying to integrate their libraries with the newest iOS swift and so on you won't have a walk in the park, because most of their libraries are written with deprecated functions up to and including iOS6. So if you try to make a custom app that supports all the newest features of iOS then you're in for a long headache. Anyway I'm just saying, support from owners could be much better but they don't help like Sparkfun helps their customers!
I dont understand this product they buy someone else module put it on a PCB with nothing else and resell it? This means I'm just paying for their software...?
Replacement for RFduino will be available shortly, according to manufacturer; However, it still needs more time to become useful unless you are on an iPhone
Can this be connected to a linux desktop or Raspberry Pi? I see lots of talk about iOS apps, but no mention of how to connect it to other devices.
Also, the 'sample code' link in the product listing gives me a 404.
The reason you hear the talk about iOS is that anyone can get an iOS app approved using the RFduino. With devices that are not BT-LE you needed a special hardware review. Now if you want an iPhone app for a sensor or a remote controlled car you can base it on this chip and get it into the App Store. This is probably the easiest and lowest cost way to get simple hardware interaction with an iPhone.
Hi there. I wrote a blog post a while back on connecting an Arduino to a Pi via serial communication - should work just as well with this: http://robotblogging.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/raspberry-pi-chats-to-arduino.html
Does anyone have a Fritzing object for the RFDuino and any of their connectors? That would be great to have
Does anybody know about this product's compatibility with Android? I see mention of iOS, but would this not work with Android? Is it just that there isn't much documentation/libraries/etc for Android, or would the hardware simply not work?
Sorry, answered my own question. Here is a resource from the manufacturer for anyone else with the same question! http://www.rfduino.com/product/rfduino-android-application/
So this 'should' allow compatibility with Android? I've tried every way possible to get Arduino to communicate with Android 2.2 and can't find anything that will connect. I'm working on the Entourage Edge which isn't the most sophisticated platform, but the perfect system for what I need (if I could get it to connect with Arduino).
As far as I know, BLE support only came on Android 4.3. Unless you have a modified version of Android 2.2 that added support to it, I don't think it will work.
Yes, Entourage has standard Bluetooth, but not BLE. I can connect, but can't seem to go much further. Very discouraging and is forcing me back to Windows. If only it were possible to upgrade Entourage any further, but it seems it's at it's maximum with 2.2. The concept could have been an excellent platform and is still usable for many tasks.
RFDuino site pathetic. Nice idea & product but sparse help!
Not pathetic... just not very helpful... since it was a kickstarter campaign, it just seems like the manufacturer just got their funding and said hey its done i'm done with it no more working on this... yes they do update their libraries to allow little to no extra functionalities once in a while, but not the features that everyone keeps asking for at their forum...
but agree with the great idea and product...
RFDuino isn't going to support S120 / S130 Nordic's stacks for central mode. What a shame. What is 51822 / 2 ?
It doesn't at the moment... and seeing how they never answer support or their forums, then I will say don't hold your breath
Indeed ! (BTW: my comment was an assertion, not a question). I moved to 'native' Nordic, and recently to Edison. Never looked back @ rfduino again....