IoT with Cayenne for Arduino
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Cayenne is entirely built around a dashboard, available through a browser or with an iOS or Andoird app. The dashboard includes widgets, and each widget is connected to sensors or actuators. On top of that, Cayenne adds two unique features: a scheduler and triggers.
Cayenne is available on two platforms, Rapsberry Pi and Arduino. However, the later is still in beta, and beta it is; I was unable to complete my project. On the right, the project includes an Arduino board, a WiFi 101 shield and a Grove shield. Unfortunately, it never materialised. |
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Cayenne with Arduino
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I went through two projects. The first was the classic remote-controlled LED. The second was the Weather and Security Station with Blynk I wanted to replicate with Cayenne was the
After selecting the Arduino platform and installing the Cayenne library, step 3 lists the Arduino boards supported. Unfortunately, most of the AVR-based boards don't sport enough Flash for the WiFi library and the Cayenne library. I took the Arduino Pro. |
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Cayenne then generates the code with the authentification token and all the #include statements for the libraries.
Just edit the SSID and the password for the Wifi network, build and run. Cayenne waits for the board, connects directly and updates to the dashboard page. |
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I wanted to add a widget with a direct connection to a digital pin, D5 in this case.
I went through the different pull-down menus for the setting and asked for the sketch file. The connectivity pull-down menu offers three options: analog, digital and virtual, very similar to the Blynk options. Indeed, the Cayenne library includes the Blynk library. |
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Surprisingly, the code generated created a virtual pin 1 and selected the pin 4 instead of 5 for the output. Similarly, the code generated no longer mentions the correct #include statements for the libraries.
Here, the code includes CayenneEthernet, while the original code used CayenneWiFi101. Virtual pin 1 was already used by other widgets I've created before. |
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I wanted to remove two widgets. Alas, two hours alter, the system was still trying to remove them.
Despite the help of the friendly support, I had no alternative but to delete the whole project and start from scratch. The second tentative faced a freeze of the GUI. I went through a third tentative with another browser, Chrome, to no avail. |
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Conclusion
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I was unable to complete my second project. Even during the first remote-controlled LED project, the whole experience was marred with annoying glitches and inconsistencies (with Safari and Chrome), and the code generated wasn't consistent.
Despite the promising features and versatility, Cayenne needs more development to be enjoyable. In the meantime, go for the real thing: Blynk. |
Pros
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Cons
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Wrap-Up
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Links |
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