IoT Cricket Wi-Fi Module [Discontinued]

The IoT Cricket is a very easy to use, ultra-low power Wi-Fi module, which can run directly on batteries, designed for developers at all skill levels from advanced to those who just start building IoT devices.

You can build various IOT devices within minutes and power them directly with batteries - with ZERO code & programming. It's the perfect choice if you want to build IoT end nodes such as sensors, alarms, buttons, switches etc to report data and events instantaneously from remote locations.

What's really cool is the ultra-low-power feature, which will make your devices to run on single batteries for a very long time (for years in many use cases!).

With Cricket you can connect various peripherals to Wi-Fi out of the box; send data and events either within a local network or to the internet. Simply attach a battery and peripheral(s) to the Cricket and your device is ready to go.

The Cricket comes with native support of MQTT and HTTP POST / GET protocols that allow you to integrate your devices to a huge ecosystem of software and internet services such as IFTTT, Home Assistant, Node-RED, automate.io, Google Docs, Emails, Mobile Apps and more.

Cricket works with all standard Wi-Fi routers and it doesn't require IoT hubs. No coding or programming is required either as it comes with pre-installed software.

You configure Cricket entirely over the air either from a smartphone or a laptop (without fiddling and troubleshooting toolchains). It can be done either locally or remotely from the HTTP micro-service (https://cota.thingsonedge.com)

The board can work in conjunction with other boards as well, such as using the Raspberry Pi as an MQTT broker and Crickets as nodes for a complete MQTT home automation system. Or how about using Crickets and a Raspberry Pi with Node-RED! There are even examples of using IoT Crickets with AdafruitIO to visualise data (more project examples in the Resources section below).

The IoT Cricket also has excellent documentation, helping you to easily understand and use the board.

Features

• Ultra-low power, true 0A current when not in operation!
• Operates directly on batteries below 3.5V (AA, AAA, AAAA, ...)
• Configurable Analog or Digital inputs for sensors, buttons, switches etc
• Local configuration (directly on a Cricket Wi-Fi hotspot)
• Remote configuration (from TOE microservice)
• Configurable MQTT (use either FREE Things On Edge or any 3rd party MQTT broker)
• Configurable secure / non-secure HTTP POST/GET requests
• Configurable battery monitor
• Built-in configurable Real-Time Clock (RTC) for regular wake-ups with specified time intervals
• Built-in configurable temperature sensor
• OTA Firmware updates

Applications/Uses

Below are a few example scenarios of what you can do with Cricket:

• Send notifications when someone is at your doorstep
• Ring your phone when someone presses a doorbell button
• Report moisture level in a flower
• Raise alarm on your phone when the moisture level goes below or above certain thresholds
• Report a local temperature information (garden / home / room)
• Report information about windows/doors are closed/open
• Report information when the alarm goes off
• Report a detected movement either via email or ringing your phone
• Report noise detection

… there are literally endless applications for reporting various data from any remote sensory devices!

Latest Version!

This is the very latest version of the IoT Cricket, which comes with the following improvements:

• Local configuration added (neither cloud nor internet is required)
• Remote configuration made optional (cota.thingsonedge.com)
• Dashboard with logs added to inspect devices locally
• Captive portal added (mobile app is no longer needed)
• IO3 enabled to support one extra Digital Input
• HTTP protocol: HTTPS (SSL) added and POST / GET request types added content type
• OTA firmware updates
• Improved documentation and added a quickstart
• ...and many more improvements and bug fixes!

Resources

• IoT Cricket Documentation Hub (Summary sheet, Quick Start Guide and Developers Guide)
• Project Examples:
  • Raspberry Pi Pico + Cricket WiFi + Blynk Phone Alerts
  • Raspberry Pi + Cricket + WiFi + MQTT
  • Cricket with Node-RED on Raspberry Pi
  • HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Sensor + Cricket
  • micro:bit + Cricket + Phone Notifications
  • AdafruitIO + Cricket WiFi module
  • IOT Doorbell - with custom voice calls
  • IOT Door sensor - with Cricket
  • Bringing IoT Cricket into Home Assistant
  • IoT WiFi Motion Sensor with Email alerts
  • Wi-Fi button for HUE lights - IFTTT
  • WiFi Moisture Sensor with AAA battery

Support

For technical support with the Cricket, please use the following options:

• Send an email to either support@thingsonedge.com or contact@thingsonedge.com
• Send a message via the web form: https://www.thingsonedge.com/contact
• Chat via https://thingsonedge.com

Hardware Specification

• Chipset: ESP8266EX
• CPU 32bits @160MHz
• Operating Voltage: 1V~3.5V
• Operating Temperature Range: -20°C~80°C
• Distance range: up to 100 meters
• ESP8266EX
• 2.4GHz Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n WPA / WPA2
• Dimensions: Length: 37.2 mm / Width: 16.4 mm / Height: 4 mm

Pinout

FAQs

• Which Wi-Fi routers are compatible with Cricket?
  • Cricket works with all standard Wi-Fi routers

• Does Cricket require any IoT HUB e.g. ZigBee or Z-Wave?
  • No, it does not. Cricket works with all standard Wi-Fi routers

• What is the distance range/network coverage of Cricket?
  • Up to 100 meters

• Is there any Cloud service cost?
  • No, there is none. Cloud services are OPTIONAL and FREE of charge!

• Can Cricket send payloads directly to my service?
  • Yes, Cricket is fully configurable to send payloads directly to your services:
    • Local network or internet services
    • 3rd party MQTT brokers
    • Webhooks (HTTP(s) POST / GET) e.g. Blynk, IFTTT, ...

• Does Cricket support smart-home integrations i.e. HA, IFTTT, NodeRed etc?
  • Yes, via HTTP(S) POST / GET or MQTT API

• Do I need to program the device?
  • No. Configuring devices is done over Cricket's local Wi-Fi hotspot or remote micro-service (cota.thingsonedge.com)​

• How long the device can run on a battery?
  • It depends on the use case. Cricket can last many years on a single battery as it supports true 0A. Longevity should be measured by the number of events sent.
  • Cricket can send ~15000 events to the internet on 2x AAA batteries on average.
  • For example, a temperature sensor which reports data every 1 hour runs 625 days on a single AAA battery.

• Which batteries can power up Cricket?
  • Practically almost any battery i.e.: 3LR12 (4.5-volt), D, C, AA, AAA, AAAA, A23 (12-volt) and PP3 (9-volt)
  • Batteries below 3.5V can be connected directly
  • Batteries above 3.5V must be connected via a step-down DC-DC regulator

• Can Cricket be powered from a power adaptor?
  • Yes, it can

• What mobile app can be used?
  • There is a huge ecosystem of mobile apps (both FREE and commercial) that users can choose. Cricket supports HTTP(s) and MQTT APIs which allow users to integrate their devices to services & apps such as Blynk, IFTTT, Pushsafe, automate.io and the like