Hi everyone, I am currently developing a new shield for the Pico series and the idea is to make the shield versatile enough to do a wide range of automation tasks, but affordable enough to make it an attractive option for beginners and "semi" professional tasks.
At work I often find myself needing a board that can do a few common tasks(switching, stepper control, temperature sensing) and we don't really have the budget for PLCs so this is where I got this idea. I have already made a few board just for myself, but they used Arduinos and recently as I started playing with the Picos they seemed like a much better option in many regards.
What I have at the moment is a few I2C sensors already wired to the board(temp, humidity, pressure and lux) so that info is easy to get without wiring in additional sensors.
6 Relay outputs and 2 Triac outputs(for when you want to dim lights and that sort of thing)
Screw terminals for all of the GPIOs.
2 MOSFET outputs for DC switching.
RS485 and Serial pinouts for easy communication.
Most of the inputs and outputs have optocoupler isolation so the board is pretty rugged.
I basically want to make something that allows beginners to easilly get started with more complicated automation tasks without worrying too much about the wiring(I'm thinking automatic irrigation, lighting control etc.), but that the board is also very usable in an industrial setting where you need a very afforable control option for things like simple general automation.
My question is, what kind of features would you like to see on a board like this? I obviously can't go too broad, otherwise the board becomes too expensive to manufacture, but I would really like to make it useful to a wide range of people.
At work I often find myself needing a board that can do a few common tasks(switching, stepper control, temperature sensing) and we don't really have the budget for PLCs so this is where I got this idea. I have already made a few board just for myself, but they used Arduinos and recently as I started playing with the Picos they seemed like a much better option in many regards.
What I have at the moment is a few I2C sensors already wired to the board(temp, humidity, pressure and lux) so that info is easy to get without wiring in additional sensors.
6 Relay outputs and 2 Triac outputs(for when you want to dim lights and that sort of thing)
Screw terminals for all of the GPIOs.
2 MOSFET outputs for DC switching.
RS485 and Serial pinouts for easy communication.
Most of the inputs and outputs have optocoupler isolation so the board is pretty rugged.
I basically want to make something that allows beginners to easilly get started with more complicated automation tasks without worrying too much about the wiring(I'm thinking automatic irrigation, lighting control etc.), but that the board is also very usable in an industrial setting where you need a very afforable control option for things like simple general automation.
My question is, what kind of features would you like to see on a board like this? I obviously can't go too broad, otherwise the board becomes too expensive to manufacture, but I would really like to make it useful to a wide range of people.
Statistics: Posted by jluysvi — Wed Aug 28, 2024 11:25 am — Replies 0 — Views 34