Last Updated on April 16, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org
- according to William Croft from www.OpenBCI.com the OpenBCI WIFI shield is depricted, but Shirley Zang from www.OpenBCI.com before said that the WIFI shield was not given up but delayed.
- But there are shops on Aliexpress and on eBay which offer OpenBCI modules with WIFI support.
- OpenBCI with WIFI offers different features, for instance fast EEG data transmission over WIFI
- OpenBCI Cython modules with the WIFI shield can be used with BrainFlow.
- OpenBCI Cython modules with cable version can also be used with BrainFlow, but who uses cable version?
- We do not know if Cython with a Bluetooth dongle can be used with Brainflow. We do not find any information about it there.
- We already bought OpenBCI modules on Aliexpress cable version, but we did not test it yet.
- Shipping was 2-3 weeks.
- We also bought a WIFI shield, before we knew that it is known to have issues. We did not test ths yet, either.
- Then we ordered a Bluetooth dongle for OpenBCI on Aliexpress, but the seller has sent us again a Wifi shield. Shipping costs are too high to send it back.
- We made before experience with another product with defective WIFI antenna which was sent us from the US. We bought an expensive camera in the US, but when we realized that it was not possible to mount the WIFI antenna to the camera, the warranty of the camera was gone. The screw to mount the antenna was defective. The seller refused to replace it since it was out of warrant. We asked ourselves if it was a camera which was sent back before by buyers and which is sent again to a buyer until there is one who does not sent it back again? We where this buyer. We cannot use this camera with WIFI to this date. We where not able to repair it. The seller offered us to buy a new camera from him. But there were already new cameras on the market which were more interesting for us personally which are not sold from this seller.
- Another user recently reported to have bought a WIFI shield which has issues. We reported about it in our journal.
- OpenBCI modules are offered as “sale” on ebay, but the price is the same as before.
- new OpenBCI EEG caps have been listed on ebay, similar to those which we have critizised to be exensive on Aliexress. They are sold now for a lower prize on ebay.
- Some offers for Eeg cap on Aliexpress with a high price reduced the price and are now cheaper.
- some OpenBCI modules which are sold on ebay are offered with a lifetime warranty. But shipping costs to China from Switzerland are high and the question is open if it is worth to send it back.
- Several WIFI shields are offered on Aliexpress. Are these old ones with isses?
- There are also other WIFI shields listed on Aliexpress which are listed as updated. But we do not know if they are issue free.
- The new listings on ebay are labeled with “WiFi Shield for OpenBCI has improved the known bug of the original version (the bug will cause noise during the acquisition process)”:
- This WIFI shield with is updated to remove issues seems not to be sold separately. If we already have OpenBCI modules, and want to have as WIFI shield which is potentially issue free, we have to buy this new module which is attached to an 8 channel OpenBCI module.
- We saw similar modules before on Aliexpress, and we do not know if the new listed modules are completely new. But the the information in the OpenBCI offers seems to be updated and new tests where performed and shown, for instance accelerometer tests.
- These new modules with the information that the WIFI shield has been updated to remove issues, are currently not sold on Aliexpress.
- On Aliexpress, offers with WIFI shields which potentially have the described issues are still listed.
- We asked a seller on Aliexpress to update the information of the modules not to connect OpenBCI cable versions to a high voltage power source. This information was updated in the prduct information.
- This information migrated from one Aliexpress shop to the other and also to shops on ebay.
- We do not know if all of these OpenBCI shops on Aliexpress and ebay are shops from one single seller, or from a company who does updates for OpenBCI products and OpenBCI product information every now and then.
- If we have users who confirm to use OpenBCI with WIFI, then OpenBCI and WIFI is not depricted, since it is an interesting feature of OpenBCI.
- What are OpenBCI modules with a WIFI streaming option?
- In times where developers use Python and InfluxDB, it is highly desirable to have OpenBCI modules with WIFI support.
We suggest as an alternative single EEG modules and InfuxDB, but we do not know of any development about this: