octal apparently followed up on our TI Deals discount site post and ordered this Chronos wireless watch for half off! He writes:
Leave it to Texas Instruments to bring you the coolest development platform that harnesses the wireless capabilities of the CC430F6137 microcontroller. The eZ430 – Chronos development tool is all of that and MORE. Not only does it utilize the ultra-low power advantages of an MSP430 microcontroller, but also features a fully integrated sub-1GHz wireless transceiver in the same chip.
ordered one too, wanted to play wiht it for some time but just couldn’t justify the price cause i don’t really need it ;-)
I,ve just purchased one.
Thanks for the advice ;)
Thanks for the tip absolutely did not needed one, but ordered one just in case :)
Note that you need to choose a frequency. A quick search shows that 433 works
everywhere but is subject to potential interference. 868 is non-north america and
915 is north america.
This thing looks like a serious geek-flag!
Great! Really want to get me one of these. Does anyone know what range I will get with this at 433MHz? I did a search, but could not find info on this…
I saw 100m (open field) range in one of the TI documents.
Is that for the Chronos-433 specifically, or 433MHz in general?
OK, obviously not 433MHz in general, but was the info you got for the Chronos-433 specifically? I really need to know, since the range can be seriously messed up if they couldn’t fit an appropriate antenna into the watch.
I ordered a 915MHz one, which is legal in Australia. I was considering the 433MHz ones, but there are more accessories for the 868/915 models. Gonna have to buy one for my wife now, too. :)
Bought two (different frequencies). Two for the price of one isn’t bad ;-)
We can do a “strip down” to find the differences between the models, maybe it is a software thing.
868 and 915 MHz are the same hardware, different software. 433 MHz is different hardware and software. They include the PCB and BOM files for the two versions.
I couldn’t check out of the TI eStore. Kept getting a hung page asking me for my company’s URL and whether I’m going to use this for military biological research or some such nonsense. I gave up.
They are required to ask for that information for customs… if you don’t have a company URL you can put in http://example.net/ and for the rest of it answer it honestly. What field is it going to be used for, pick one, then select no it is not for military use, and select yes you agree to the TOS.
Simple.
Don’t do that. They ask you to put in N.A. if you don’t have a website.
TI has two new watches being release to shipment next Monday. They’re $199 USD each (Ouch!). Cannot ship to Asia and Japan. See here:
http://www.metawatch.org
Maybe DP will make a separate Blog post for these new watches. I send the lead in via the Contact Form.
I don’t think 433MHz is strictly legal “everywhere”. According to Wikipedia (yeah I know)…
433.050 MHz-434.790 MHz ITU Region 1 only and subject to local acceptance.
ITU Region 1 comprises Europe, Africa, the Middle East west of the Persian Gulf including Iraq, the former Soviet Union and Mongolia.
902.000 MHz-928.000 MHz ITU Region 2 only.
Region 2 covers the Americas, Greenland and some of the eastern Pacific Islands.
I don’t know about the 868 MHz band, maybe that’s ITU Region-3?
ITU Region-3 contains most of the non-former-Soviet-Union, Asia East-of and including Iran, and most of Oceania.
I do think however a lot of countries around the World have locally allowed devices on the 433 MHz band in.
Just a heads up, the 70cm band (433 Mhz) is perfectly fine to use in America so long as you have a HAM radio license (technician class or higher) or read on and find out why it may be okay anyway. There is an exception made in the unlicensed ISM band for the 433 Mhz [1] but in Part 15 of the FCC rules it is only to be used for tagging containers with RFID like devices, however in Part 18 which regulates the ISM bands a device is explicitly allowed to transmit on anything above 9 kHz so long as it follows the rules [2].
See Part 18, subsection 301:
“ISM equipment may be operated on any frequency above 9 kHz except as indicated in §18.303. The following frequency bands, in accordance with §2.106 of the rules, are allocated for use by ISM equipment:”
Part 18, subsection 303:
“Operation of ISM equipment within the following safety, search and rescue frequency bands is prohibited: 490–510 kHz, 2170–2194 kHz, 8354–8374 kHz, 121.4–121.6 MHz, 156.7–156.9 MHz, and 242.8–243.2 MHz.”
So 433 Mhz is perfectly fine for use, but it has limits attached to it:
Part 18 subsection 305 explains in detail what the requirements are. The 433 Mhz Ti Chronos falls well within those limits.
Part 18 regulates ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical equipment), and Part 15 regulates Radio Frequency Devices, specifically consumer devices and getting certifications for it.
As I am not a lawyer, and I’ve been doing research on this in my spare time I am not exactly sure what part of the FCC rules apply, is it Part 18 or Part 15.
Ti from the beginning has been selling the 915 Mhz as the US only version, and 868 Mhz as Europe only version. 433 Mhz was marketed as a world wide version, so I am guessing that Ti is suggesting that it falls under Part 18 here in the United States.
You can find a lot of small transceivers in the 433 Mhz range that can be picked up for a couple dollars a piece since they are cheap, Sparkfun for example sells one. There are also a lot of home security systems that use 433 Mhz as the wireless frequency for their devices, and I’ve seen it used in various different wirelessly networked smoke detectors. Most of them are Part 15 certified, and they are not really RFID devices …
Either way, 433 Mhz seems the safest band to use if you are traveling between the United States and Europe, in Europe the 868 Mhz band is probably the best one to use since it is going to be the most empty, and 915 Mhz in the US is going to be the best one to use because it purposefully exists for that reason.
Happy radio’ing from KE7ULZ :-)
[1]: http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=11d998736ab84e70aea470f60e14e45d&rgn=div5&view=text&node=47:1.0.1.1.14&idno=47#47:1.0.1.1.14.3.242.26
[2]: http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=11d998736ab84e70aea470f60e14e45d&rgn=div5&view=text&node=47:1.0.1.1.16&idno=47#47:1.0.1.1.16.3.245.1
Another quick note on 868 Mhz in Europe. The transmitter may be on for a maximum of 10% of the time, so in an hour you have 6 minutes of allowable transmission time because there are no extra channels.
See http://www.bb-europe.com/tech_articles/WP35_868MHz_Radio_Modems.asp for more details.
As an update to the research I’m doing on the range of the 433MHz version, I did notice on the product guide that they use an antenna designed for 868MHz on the 433MHz version of the watch and an antenna designed for 915MHz on the 868MHz and 915MHz versions of the watch.
As I’m no RF expert, can someone tell me how this will affect the range on the 433MHz version? I don’t want to buy it (even if it is on special) if I’m going to be stuck with about 3 meters range…
From the QA section of the User Guide:
13. What is the range of the eZ430-Chronos kit?
In free field distances of up to 100 m (328 ft) have been measured. The range in other conditions,
especially within buildings, is hard to predict. It also depends on the protocol stack that is used.
15. How do I know whether I have a 915-MHz, 868-MHz, or 433-MHz kit?
Each eZ430-Chronos kit has a sticker on the box that includes the part number/frequency. The 915-
MHz/868-MHz watches are the same for both frequencies from a hardware perspective. The USB
access points are slightly different. The 868-MHz version has a 0-Ω resistor next to the antenna, and
the 915-MHz version does not. The 433-MHz watches and access points (with blue antenna, larger
than 915-MHz/868-MHz versions) are different from a hardware and software perspective and cannot
be used for other frequencies.
So it appears the 433 version has a different board and larger/different antenna.
Don’t waste your time, they are bouncing the orders, after processing, and canceling off, EVEN after confirming the order.
My order is currently in the processing stage waiting to be shipped, out of the people I know that have purchased a watch none of them are seeing any bounces or cancellations.
mine has been shipped yesterday
WOW ok that was quick – it arrived a minute ago. nice job fedex
Got it about 3 hrs ago, and playing with it. :)
Just complained to TI.
It seems that the people who cannot get the goods are blocked because of the country they are in.
You enter all the information, then when your country is selected , the TI system automatically deletes your order.
This info. is directly from TI
The forum will probably be a better place for further discussion
http://dangerousprototypes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2677