WiFly no work and blinks my TX/RX LED's FAST

Wireless & IoT
1

Hello,

About 6 months ago I ordered/got a RN-XV WiFly Module (WRL-11048) but was busy and until last night had not opened it.

with much excitement to make use of WiFi and Arduino I cracked it open and soldering on 4 leads:

Pin 1 - Power 3.3v, Pin 2 - TX, Pin 3 - RX and Pin 10 GND… no problem easy enough with soldering paste, helping hands and a magnifier.

I weird it up to the Arduino and upon powering it I see my Arduino RX/TX LED’s go nuts and my PC thinks I have disconnected the USB. I inspect the soldering job with microscope and things look just fine…

NOTE: I do not need to connect the rx/tx to make the Arduino LED’s go nuts, Only ground and 3.3 power.

  • None of the LED’s on the back of the WiFly Module light up.

Any ideas here as to why my Arduino RX/TX LED would go crazy…

Some pics of the leads/soldering job and wire up.

http://www.9screws.com/images/WiFly2.jpg

http://www.9screws.com/images/WiFly1.jpg

Thanks for any help on this!

/Shane

2

Well this is disappointing…

3

Careful! WiFly is not only powered by 3.3V, its also 3.3V for data communication (and even 1.5V ONLY on some pins!!), where your arduino is 5V. You need to use a level shifter, or setup your arduino to run at 3.3V (probably not a great idea if you want to use other shields).

Probably want to pick up one of these breakout boards that will regulate 3.3V for power as well as do level shifting for IO - https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10854