Ciseco K000 Slice of Pi Kit

Though I have long known about it and recommended it to OV-1 integrators, I finally got my own paws on Ciseco’s Slice of Pi adapter board. (I bought it from Acme Unlimited for $7. This is an easy and affordable way to get a Grid Insight OV-1 receiver module (or any XBee-footprint device) hooked up to the UART and power pins of a Raspberry Pi.

I don’t love the mechanical design, in that the Slice of Pi is supported merely by the header pins. The board, module, and antenna cantilever out over the Raspberry Pi and don’t seem terribly sturdy. For quick-and-dirty prototyping, though, it beats fabbing up a custom board. I may eventually design something similar, though more robust, adding a battery-backed real-time clock for when the Pi is logging data offline.

For a more flexible anternative, the OV-1 can be wired up to just about anything (including the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi) using 2mm to 2.54mm pitch jumper wires available from Adafruit. I haven’t personally tried these, but I hear from people who have that they work fine (though a little hot glue goes a long way when it comes to keeping them from coming unhooked during handling).