A basic question, but if I wanted to buy a separate electric imp card, and install it in the Budweiser red light, then would I be able to add that imp to my account and start (from scratch) programming my own custom code for the hardware, or is the device itself locked to Budweiser and therefore a second imp card wouldn’t interface to the device or accept custom programming?
Sure…
Gut the light, remove their imp and put in your own. You will also have to modify circuitry so that you’re using an april board? The imp server needs to know what it’s connected to. The april board has that id chip on it. A bit of reverse engineering might be needed.
If I just purchased an imp and blinked up to the imp in the device, that wouldn’t allow access to the hardware? I’d still need a developer board if I had the card and the red light itself?
I think changing out the atsha204 ID chip would do what you want. Then you have just the hardware.
Could he perhaps hack an sdcard extender/cable to insert an alternative id chip, without having to crack open a bud 
I tried using a developer card and inserted it into the BRL device but could not see the device listed in my accounts IDE. I even uploaded code based off this post: http://blog.tahnok.me/hacking-the-budweiser-red-light while plugged into an April board, removed the card, put it into the BRL and nothing (I thought that the connection was relative to the card not the hardware inserted into). Any who if anyone has any success, please post.
See this post. Basically, the device is bound to a specific set of code that was written by the manufacturer.
In order to write custom code for a manufactured device, you will likely need to either:
- Replace the ATSHA chip (if it uses an imp SD card), or
- Replace the imp module (if it uses a solder down imp module)
This is a somewhat unreversible operation. If you replace the ATSHA or imp module, the original code will no longer run unless you put the exact original component back.
Got it. Thanks for the post. I think I will just crack it open this weekend and see what I am working with.
Has anyone gotten anywhere with this!? I would like to do the same thing for Baseball, where if my team scores a run a light and sound would go off… any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated… I found this, and its pretty similar… https://community.electricimp.com/blog/world-cup-goal-light/
I’m talking about using the lamp hardware itself, but not any of the imp parts. Gutting-out the entire imp circuitry and then use an April board with your own imp. The only original part of the light will be the plastic case, power supply, and lamp. I’ve never seen one in real-life, so I’m not sure how well it is constructed.
If you just wanted to use the hardware, you would desolder the ATSHA (which is the unique ID) and replace it with a new one. That’s how the imp card knows it’s plugged into one of those devices.
Note, though, that newer lights use an imp002 so there you’d have to swap the entire imp out.
Either way, you’ve voided the warranty, so YMMV
Just out of curiosity, how much are the Bud Red Lights?