Spark Core

Plugins & Plugin Development General Plugin Discussion
#1

Hi All

My spark core (Check it out at https://www.spark.io) will be arriving soon and when it does I will be attempting to write a plugin for it in for Vera.
My idea is to just get the process started. I will need a bit of help though as I have not coded for a while. Mostly been in marketing and sales and UI design.

It is relatively cheap and has a lot of capabilities. There is also a lot of resources online for those who are interested: Particle Welcome to the Particle docs
Let me know if anyone wants to be involved.

Cheers
Ben

#2

Very interesting! I’ve messed around a little with some Arduino boards, but I like the Spark’s form factor. Having this hooked up to Vera would be great for situations where there’s no Z-wave alternative available.

#3

Hi, count me in too, my Spark Core arrived and it will be a nice way to control remote relays and our DC roller shade motors and window openers.

Adrian

#4

This should mirror what is done with MySensors.org … it’'s just a different hardware platform …

#5

Hi, well, I went to set up my Spark Core and discovered I had to have Android 4 or IOS, neither of which I have. So I downloaded the Windows driver for my Vista laptop and set it up for a USB serial connection, but when I ran putty to contact it, there was no response.

Then I noticed I have to go through a complex ‘claiming’ procedure if I want to set it up from Windows, so I bailed at this point and went to find my wife’s Android phone (no easy task either).

I finally found my wife and then we finally found her Android phone and attempted to download the app but discovered her battery was dead, so I had to recharge it for a while with her veery slow charger.

I finally got the Spark page loaded in her browser and clicked on the app install link, but then I discovered I had to jump through all kinds of hoops with google, while they set up their lifestyle tracking system on me, which prompts a severe allergic reaction where I break out in hives.

So I bailed and took a hard look at the Spark Core to decide if it really is suitable for what I want it to do. Essentially, I want a very low power device that can wake up when it gets the right signal and turn a relay on, which will apply DC power to all my other devices in my greenhouse project. I realized that the Spark Core is probably not the right choice because it seems to have a very high low power state.

I had much better luck getting my WiFly alternative to work (seemed very easy), and since it has a low power state of around 4 microamps, it may be a better choice. The other thing I liked was that it has a few GPIO ports built into it, a few of which are actually capable of driving a relay directly (24 ma). So I think I’ll jump back on that for a while and see if I can get Vera to telnet some simple commands to it.

If anyone out there has any other ideas, I’d love to hear them, while I wait for my rash to subside.

Cheers, A