{"id":1962,"date":"2009-06-10T11:31:32","date_gmt":"2009-06-10T18:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/?p=1962"},"modified":"2015-09-26T11:11:06","modified_gmt":"2015-09-26T18:11:06","slug":"wifi-radio-cost-breakdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/wifi-radio-cost-breakdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Wifi Radio Cost Breakdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Many people have asked me for a cost breakdown of my <a href=\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/wifiradio\/\">Wifi Radio project<\/a>.\u00a0 Well, here it is!<\/p>\n<p>I added a link to possible sources for as many parts as I could.\u00a0 However, there were a few things I scrounged from local surplus electronics stores and couldn&#8217;t easily find a good equivalent online.\u00a0 I&#8217;m not expecting everyone to copy my design exactly (not everyone has a woodworking shop at their disposal), so use these numbers as a rough estimate only.<\/p>\n<p>If you shop around you should be able to beat the listed prices on many items, so I see this as sort of a worst case scenario.<\/p>\n<h4>To flash the wireless router and create a minimal radio (with no user interface), you will need:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.anrdoezrs.net\/click-3238164-10440897?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newegg.com%2FProduct%2FProduct.aspx%3FItem%3DN82E16833320023%26nm_mc%3DAFC-C8Junction%26cm_mmc%3DAFC-C8Junction-_-Network%2B-%2BWireless%2BRouters-_-ASUS-_-33320023&amp;cjsku=N82E16833320023\" target=\"_top\">Asus WL-520gU wireless router<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ftjcfx.com\/image-3238164-10440897\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/> &#8211; currently <strong>$34.99 with MiR<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dpbolvw.net\/click-3238164-10440897?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newegg.com%2FProduct%2FProduct.aspx%3FItem%3DN82E16812186035%26nm_mc%3DAFC-C8Junction%26cm_mmc%3DAFC-C8Junction-_-Adapters%2Band%2Bgender%2Bchangers-_-Syba-_-12186035&amp;cjsku=N82E16812186035\" target=\"_top\">SYBA SD-CM-UAUD USB Stereo Audio Adapter<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ftjcfx.com\/image-3238164-10440897\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/> &#8211; <strong>$7.99<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.adafruit.com\/index.php?main_page=product_info&amp;products_id=70\">FTDI USB TTL-232 3.3V serial adapter cable<\/a> &#8211; <strong>$20<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparkfun.com\/commerce\/product_info.php?products_id=116\">0.1&#8243; Break-away Header Strip<\/a> &#8211; <strong>$2.50<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Total: <strong>$65.48<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>To make the LCD display and tuner interface, you&#8217;ll also need:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.adafruit.com\/index.php?main_page=product_info&amp;products_id=46\">USBtinyISP AVR programmer<\/a> &#8211; <strong>$22<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.adafruit.com\/index.php?main_page=product_info&amp;products_id=46\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparkfun.com\/commerce\/product_info.php?products_id=255\">16&#215;2 Character LCD (5V)<\/a> &#8211; <strong>$13.95<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparkfun.com\/commerce\/product_info.php?products_id=255\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparkfun.com\/commerce\/product_info.php?products_id=210\">ATmega168 microcontroller<\/a> &#8211; <strong>$4.11<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparkfun.com\/commerce\/product_info.php?products_id=7942\">28-pin socket<\/a> &#8211; <strong>$1.50<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparkfun.com\/commerce\/product_info.php?products_id=536\">16MHz crystal<\/a> &#8211; <strong>$1.50<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparkfun.com\/commerce\/product_info.php?products_id=536\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>2<\/strong> x <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparkfun.com\/commerce\/product_info.php?products_id=8571\">22pF capacitors<\/a> &#8211; <strong>$0.25 ea.<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparkfun.com\/commerce\/product_info.php?products_id=8571\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/mouser.com\/Search\/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=sGAEpiMZZMsDYiCshOPiYPA8OPeQ5yVdJ1TfVnXXDs0%3d\">Contrast trimpot<\/a>, 1k (or similar) &#8211; <strong>~$0.75<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/mouser.com\/Search\/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=sGAEpiMZZMtxdMMi52izynEhmAl%252bkFzE9zb02h8Wo7A%3d\">Tuner potentiometer<\/a>, 10k &#8211; <strong>$1.40<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/mouser.com\/Search\/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=sGAEpiMZZMtxdMMi52izynEhmAl%252bkFzE9zb02h8Wo7A%3d\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparkfun.com\/commerce\/product_info.php?products_id=97\">Reset microswitch<\/a> &#8211; <strong>$0.35<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Serial connector (cut an old CD-ROM audio cable in half) &#8211; <strong>$0<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Protoboard &#8211; <strong>$5<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Some hookup wire<strong> <\/strong>&#8211;<strong> $0<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>0.1uF bypass cap and a few resistors (10Ohm and 1K) &#8211;<strong> <\/strong>around <strong>$1<\/strong> at any decent electronics store<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Total: <strong>$52.06<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>(This is on the high end, the interface can certainly be built for less by using scrounged\/surplus components.)<\/p>\n<h4>To make the finished radio, add:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Volume and tune knobs &#8211; <strong>~$2<\/strong> @ <a href=\"http:\/\/halted.com\">HSC<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/mouser.com\/Search\/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=sGAEpiMZZMuiwDVLTMm01UmQJIldByZu8xNgsVCH7DA%3d\">Cool tuner knob<\/a> &#8211; <strong>$8.55<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>5V\/12V power supply brick &#8211; <strong>$10 <\/strong>@ <a href=\"http:\/\/weirdstuff.com\">Weird Stuff<\/a><\/li>\n<li>5-pin mini-DIN power connector &#8211; <strong>~$3<\/strong> @ <a href=\"http:\/\/halted.com\">HSC<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Power switch &#8211; <strong>~$1<\/strong> @ <a href=\"http:\/\/halted.com\">HSC<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Cheap set of PC speakers (gutted for the speakers and amplifier) &#8211; <strong>$5 <\/strong>@ <a href=\"http:\/\/weirdstuff.com\">Weird Stuff<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Total: <strong>$29.55<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh yeah, and I almost forgot&#8230;<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An awesome friend named Tony with a full woodworking shop in his garage who will make you a killer wooden enclosure for free &#8211; <strong>$priceless<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Grand total (excluding the box) &#8211; <strong>$147.09<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you take out the cost of the development tools, namely the FTDI cable and the USBtinyISP, the total comes out to <strong>$105<\/strong> (without the box).<\/p>\n<p>By scrounging materials and using parts from your junkbox you should be able to reduce that figure even more, but obviously the grand total hinges on what kind of enclosure you use.\u00a0 Not everyone has a friend with serious woodworking skills willing to donate time and materials, but use this as an excuse to get creative.<\/p>\n<p>I wanted a box that showcased the time and effort that I spent on the electronics inside, but that doesn&#8217;t mean an old <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Boombox\">boombox<\/a> from the Salvation Army couldn&#8217;t work just as well.<\/p>\n<p>When I first started this project, my goal was to keep the total parts cost under $100.\u00a0 On paper, it looks like I came pretty close to that, thanks to the donated box and excluding the reusable development tools like the FTDI cable and AVR programmer.\u00a0 To be honest, I probably spent twice that amount on spare power supplies, extra knobs, a second router to bring to NOTACON, and a bunch of other stuff that I didn&#8217;t end up using in the final project.\u00a0 But I&#8217;m pretty ok with that.\u00a0 I think this just highlights the fact that:<\/p>\n<p>If you just want a Wifi Radio, it will always be cheaper to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.anrdoezrs.net\/click-3238164-10440897?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newegg.com%2FProduct%2FProduct.aspx%3FItem%3DN82E16882728010%26nm_mc%3DAFC-C8Junction%26cm_mmc%3DAFC-C8Junction-_-Electronic%2BGadgets-_-Aluratek-_-82728010&amp;cjsku=N82E16882728010\" target=\"_top\">buy one off the shelf.<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.lduhtrp.net\/image-3238164-10440897\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/> But if you make your own, it will be infinitely more rewarding.<\/p>\n<p>It certainly has been for me.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many people have asked me for a cost breakdown of my Wifi Radio project.\u00a0 Well, here it is! I added a link to possible sources for as many parts as I could.\u00a0 However, there were a few things I scrounged from local surplus electronics stores and couldn&#8217;t easily find a good equivalent online.\u00a0 I&#8217;m not &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/wifi-radio-cost-breakdown\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Wifi Radio Cost Breakdown<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,443],"tags":[198,83,231,151,233,168,232,162,123],"class_list":["post-1962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-electronics","category-projects-2","tag-adafruit","tag-asus","tag-bom","tag-hsc","tag-newegg","tag-sparkfun","tag-weird-stuff","tag-wifiradio","tag-wl-520gu"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pioCd-vE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":888,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/asus-wl-520gu-for-1999-after-mir\/","url_meta":{"origin":1962,"position":0},"title":"Asus WL-520GU for $19.99 after MIR","author":"Jeff","date":"December 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Newegg.com has the ASUS WL-520gU Wireless Router on sale again for $19.99 after MIR. This is the cheapest I have seen it this year.\u00a0 You can do a lot of cool stuff with this device, aside from using it as intended - as a very low cost wireless router +\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Asus\"","block_context":{"text":"Asus","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/tag\/asus\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wifi Radio Project","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/2950279643_374493fa81.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":470,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/detailed-specs-for-the-asus-wl-520gu-uber-hacking-platform\/","url_meta":{"origin":1962,"position":1},"title":"Detailed specs for the Asus WL-520GU uber hacking platform","author":"Jeff","date":"October 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In my previous post about the Wifi Radio project I'm working on, I concluded that the Asus WL-520GU wireless router was the perfect choice for an embedded wireless platform, thanks to its builtin 802.11g WiFi, Linux support, and extremely low cost. (In fact, the price after rebate has dropped since\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Projects&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Projects","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/projects-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Asus WL-520GU Wireless Router","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/2950279643_374493fa81.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":367,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/building-a-wifi-radio-part-2-choosing-an-embedded-platform\/","url_meta":{"origin":1962,"position":2},"title":"Building a Wifi Radio &#8211; Part 2, Choosing an Embedded Platform","author":"Jeff","date":"October 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the second part of an ongoing series about building a low cost, open source streaming internet radio.\u00a0 if you haven't already, check out part one for some background about the project. Onward... In part one, I discussed the merits of streaming internet radio and the motivations for my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electronics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/hammer_01-large-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1655,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/video-hacking-the-asus-router-for-the-tweet-a-watt\/","url_meta":{"origin":1962,"position":3},"title":"Video: Hacking the ASUS router for the Tweet-a-Watt","author":"Jeff","date":"April 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"As I mentioned last week, Adafruit Industries is hacking the Asus WL-520gU wireless router to talk to the Tweet-a-Watt. Their hack is based on the work I did to create my Wifi Radio project. Check out the video below to learn more about their cool hack!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electronics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1938,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/wl-520gu-for-3499-after-rebate-neweggcom\/","url_meta":{"origin":1962,"position":4},"title":"WL-520gU for $34.99 after rebate @ Newegg.com","author":"Jeff","date":"June 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Newegg.com is currently offering the Asus WL-520gU for $34.99 after rebate. This is the lowest price I have seen in a while, so if you've been debating picking one of these up to play with, it might be a good time to buy. The WL-520gU is the very hackable wireless\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Asus\"","block_context":{"text":"Asus","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/tag\/asus\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.ftjcfx.com\/image-3238164-10440897","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1630,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/tweet-a-watt-uses-wl-520gu-for-data-acquisition\/","url_meta":{"origin":1962,"position":5},"title":"Tweet-a-watt uses WL-520gU for Data Acquisition","author":"Jeff","date":"March 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Ladyada of Adafruit Industries created the Tweet-a-Watt to monitor energy usage in her apartment. Each Tweet-a-Watt device contains some power monitoring electronics and an Xbee module.\u00a0 The Xbee modules relay energy usage data for each Tweet-a-Watt back to a single receiver, which collects the data. In staying with the overall\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electronics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/3318289854_a80e2ea6e4.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1962"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5002,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962\/revisions\/5002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}