Using an Arduino w/ a RoboRIO

[rbhl]

Apologies if this is under the wrong section, but I had a question about connecting an Arduino to a RoboRIO.

As of now, my team is using an Arduino (primarily for some timing specific WS2182b LED Strips) that is connected to the RoboRIO via Serial over USB, but we've been having some issues with getting serial communication to work properly between the two devices. The serial libraries in WPILib on the RoboRIO do not seem to send data to the Arduino reliably (even when the flush method is called) and the serial link has (on occasion) held up the entire robot (I believe it was when disabling the robot). Additionally, the serial link sometimes doesn't send data over when the appropriate method is called, but instead sends over everything in a short burst right as the robot is being disabled.

I was wondering if any teams have managed to get Serial to work properly on the RoboRIO to communicate with the Arduino. If not, does anyone have any other suggestions as to how to interface the Arduino and the RoboRIO? We choose this method of communication as it's relatively simple to wire (one wire for power and signal), but I know i2C is an option (though I've heard/read mixed reports about i2C on the RoboRIO) and as is a simple one way two or three pin connection to some relay pin. There's also SPI.

Thanks in advance.