SDI-12 USB adapter upgraded

After some more firmware development and testing, I am happy to announce that the upgraded SDI-12 USB adapter is now available. The above is the first batch of these adapters and one hi-res analog input add-on board.

The upgraded board features the following:

1. 4 analog inputs. 12-pole terminal block that features 4 analog voltage inputs. These are 10-bit or 5mV resolution inputs without differential reading. There are there to provide basic voltage inputs for projects that don’t require hi-res analog voltage inputs.
2. Pulse counters. Alternatively, these 4 inputs can be used as pulse counters. Say you have a rain gauge or flow meter that outputs pulses, these pins can count the pulses. You may need additional filtering (one capacitor and two resistors) if the pulses are noisy. Each time you read the pulse counts, you get the counts since you last read and the adapter will start counting from zero again. This way, if you collect data every minute, the counts will be counts/min. Because each data point is accompanied with date-time information, you can always calculate the count rate with your data set.
3. Extension port. There is now an 8-pin extension port for add-on boards. The first extension board I have designed and tested is a hi-res analog voltage input board. This board features the same four 16-bit auto-scaling inputs and differential inputs as the SDI-12 + Analog USB adapter, with an added benefit of address jumper. You can add as many as 4 such extension boards to the new SDI-12 USB adapter, with each extension board taking a different address. That is up to 16 hi-res voltage inputs.
4. Serial port. There is also a serial port connector with RX, TX, etc. This port helps you connect the adapter to an arduino or a micropython board that don’t have USB connections but have serial ports.

With the added features, comes added costs of parts, quality checking, and development times. So I am currently offering two-tier pricing:

1. The board with everything included and tested at $55
2. The board without the 12-pole terminal block or these pins tested at $45
3. If you need the serial port, I can solder the header and configure it free of charge.
4. The hi-res analog add-on board is $35 each. If you want the 4 additional SDI-12 port soldered on it, I can do it for $5 extra.

The full-featured board has the additional terminal block and needs to be tested with all the analog pins to make sure they are all properly connected (reflowed). In the photo, the bread board and 4 blue potentiometer is the test rig I use to test hi-res analog inputs for the SDI-12 + Analog USB adapter. You CAN solder on your own 12-pole terminal block and test the pins yourself too. You will have to do a lot of screw/unscrew of a potentiometer or resistors though. The firmware is the same so once you solder the connector on, you can use the features.

Although the analog add-on + new adapter costs the same as the original SDI-12 Analog USB adapter, the stack of two boards does add to its height so the board needs more space. My intention is to add flexibility to the adapter so I can later add more features to the ecosystem without scraping the existing devices. I did a custom board for someone that wants magnetometer, accelerometer, and gyroscope with SDI-12 sensors:

I glued the sensor board on top of the adapter board and wired them together via the extension header. This way I didn’t have to spend time designing a new board, which will likely cost more time and money. Also, designing a new extension board is easier than designing a whole new adapter with the sensors on it. I can do more custom sensor boards even if there is only market for a few.

The purchase links to the full-featured adapter and the hi-res add-on board have not been established yet. I’ll get them up and running on my blog and at inmojo soon.