Basic vs Pro Boards + projects

El_Ingeniero 2014-11-27 11:38:57 UTC #1

Hi Taylor,

I was wondering what the differences between the Basic and Pro boards were, because I didn't really understand the information on the Kickstarter or the website.

I've only just recently discovered Flutter Wireless while doing research for a quadcopter project that I'm planning, and I think it's an awesome idea that you've had. I want to try and make a quadcopter brain from scratch (ain't nobody got time for a $250 flight controller). I saw that your'e thinking of making a quadcopter shield for Flutter too, which sounds pretty cool so good luck with that

Cheers,
El_Ingeniero

JustAGuyInAustralia 2014-12-08 10:24:49 UTC #2

From the FAQ at the bottom of the kickstarter page.
"The Flutter Pro has all the features of the Basic, but adds battery charging and a screw mount antenna."

hlieberman 2014-12-08 16:43:27 UTC #3

The Basic board now also has battery charging, per the later updates.

El_Ingeniero 2014-12-09 03:27:16 UTC #4

I know what it says on the website but what does that mean? Does a screw mount antenna mean longer range or is it purely aesthetic? And how about the battery charger, it's a LiPo charger yeah? How many cells can it charge at a time, and what kind of current can it supply?

taylor 2014-12-22 21:44:14 UTC #5

Hello!

The Pro comes with an RP-SMA adapter you need to solder onto the board (takes a few minutes with a soldering iron) and a compact RP-SMA antenna that has better range than the antenna in the basic. You can also attach other antennas to it, or wire up your own.

The battery charger is the pretty standard MCP73831, which is a 1 cell USB charger. The battery goes to Flutter's RAW voltage input, and is charged via 5V power from USB or into the UVCC pin. It is currently set to charge at the max rate of 500ma, but this can be adjusted by swapping out the 2k Resistor at R3 for something else. See the datasheet for details:
https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Prototyping/Batteries/MCP73831T.pdf