Voltage Differences Cause Issues

Alright, so I got four more Energizer rechargeable batteries, charged them up again like I had to do on the last set, and finally I had a separate power source for my Arduino board.  Hooray!  I then reconfigured my cables on my breadboard to clean it up, hooked up my TX/RX connections between my WiFly module and the Arduino board, and then I ran into another road block.  I wasn't receiving any communication between my laptop and the Arduino board.  After some research and reading over both datasheets, come to find out that the WiFly module's TX/RX connections are 3.3V tolerant and the Arduino's TX/RX connections are 5V tolerant.  Well how can I fix this issue?  I'm needing to step up and step down the voltage for communication to happen between the WiFly and Arduino board.  Luckily, SparkFun has already developed a breakout ready to go for purchase on their site.  Here's the link: Logic Level Converter

I should be receiving it on September 3rd, 2013 so as of right now I'm on hold till then.  All I have to do is run some wires connections between the two to this converter and my problem will be solved.  Apparently, some others have came across this issue and have developed a board to switch between a 3.3V and 5V tolerance.  Very smart idea and something that Arduino should put in place on their next board that they develop.

After this implemented into the project, hopefully by then I will have a new video to post up of the progress.  I hope everyone enjoys the progress and possibly encourage someone to start their own robotic project.  If you decide to take one on, use our forum to post your progress and make a blog.  BizSol Systems Forums It's neat to see your progress as you go along and easy to follow up to see what you've done so far.

When There's a Will, There's a Way

I'm so excited that after my research of wireless connections, ADHOC networks, and WiFly commands finally paid off with getting the WiFly RN-XV module to connect to a wireless router.  I wrote out a tutorial to hopefully help at least one other person trying to achieve what I was trying to do.  The information was out there but not all in one place.  With the tutorial I wrote, anyone should be able to follow and get the module working with no issues.  You can read the tutorial here.

Now that I was finally able to overcome that obstacle, I can move on to setting up the separate power source and test uploading sketches wirelessly with the new setup.  I will post my update on this once I go get some new rechargeable AA batteries to put in my AA holder that I bought.