Friday Product Post: March CAN Come in Like a Lion
Yeah, the name of this Friday Product Post isn't necessarily the correct saying, but we are just too excited to announce the SparkFun AST-CAN485 Dev Board!
Hello there, everyone, and welcome back to another Friday Product Post! We have a pretty large week in terms of new products in store for you, so let's quickly do our introduction so we can dive deep into everything coming out this week and watch some videos!
For the first week of March 2018 (oh jeez...it's already March...) we are supremely excited to announce a new partnership with Atlantis Specialist Technologies (AST) with the new SparkFun AST-CAN485 Dev Board! We also have two brand-new fingerprint scanners that can store more fingerprints than ever before, no-clean flux pens from Chip Quik®, a new version of the popular OpenMV M7 Camera and finally a special edition of our LilyPad Sewable Electronics Kit. Alright, now let's take a closer look!
Merging CAN bus and RS485 into a Mini Package!
The SparkFun AST-CAN485 Dev Board is a miniature Arduino in the compact form factor of the Pro Mini. In addition to all the usual features that a mini Arduino has, it possesses an onboard CAN (Control Area Network) and RS485 ports, enabling quick and easy interfacing to a multitude of industrial devices. The CAN485 Dev Board bridges the gap between the maker and industrial spaces!
The CAN485 builds on the massively popular Arduino platform and is pin-compatible with the Arduino Pro Mini, giving it a small form factor ideal for embedding in projects. It supports the Arduino IDE and Arduino core libraries and is installed using the Arduino boards manager. Libraries are provided to support the CAN and RS485 ports, making it easy to get started and interface with. Thanks to the onboard CAN and RS485 transceivers, this development board allows for out-of-the-box interfacing to any CAN or RS485-based network.
AST-CAN485 Hookup Guide
March 1, 2018
The AST CAN485 is a miniature Arduino in the compact form factor of the ProMini. In addition to all the usual features it has on-board CAN and RS485 ports enabling quick and easy interfacing to a multitude of industrial devices.
Scanning... Scanning...
Fingerprint scanners are awesome! Why use a key when you have one right at the tip of your finger? Unfortunately, they're often unreliable or difficult to implement. Well not anymore! These great GT-521F32 and GT-521F52 fingerprint modules from ADH-Tech communicate over TTL Serial so you can easily embed the scanner into your next project. The module itself does all of the heavy lifting behind reading and identifying the fingerprints with an onboard optical sensor and 32-bit ARM Cortex M3 processor.
The only difference between these two fingerprint scanners (besides price) is that the GT-521F32 (on the left) is capable of storing 200 unique fingerprints, while the GT-521F52 (on the right) is capable of storing an astounding 3,000 unique fingerprints!
Fingerprint Scanner (GT-521Fxx) Hookup Guide
March 1, 2018
This tutorial provides information about how to connect to ADH-Tech's fingerprint scanner (GT-521F32) and how to use it with Hawley's FPS_GT511C3 library for Arduino.
The solder must flow!
Do you need help soldering a difficult project, reworking a botched pin or just making your life easier? This 10mL no-clean flux pen from Chip Quik is great for all of your solder, desolder, rework and reflow purposes! For those of you unfamiliar, flux is a handy substance that prevents beading of the solder and helps the solder flow cleanly onto the parts you are soldering. This is a must-have tool for any hobbyist's workbench.
The OpenMV M7 Camera is a small, low-power microcontroller board that allows you to easily implement applications using machine vision in the real world. The best part about the OpenMV is that it is not only capable of image capture, but also face detection, color tracking, QR code reading and plenty more. If you are looking for an economical camera module boasting multiple high-end features, look no further than the OpenMV M7!
This version of the OpenMV M7 Camera has a few new changes for you! Each version of the OpenMV now comes equipped with a handy protective acrylic case and has also removed the pre-soldered headers from the board. Instead, you now have the option between normal male headers (like the ones found on the previous version) or female stackable headers, allowing you to decide how you use your own OpenMV!
The LilyPad Sewable Electronics Kit lets you explore the wonderful world of electronic sewing (e-sewing) and e-textiles through a series of introductory projects using the LilyPad system. You'll learn how to sew basic circuits to light up LEDs, control them with buttons and switches and even experiment with a pre-programmed LilyMini circuit that reacts to ambient light levels. In addition to LilyPad LEDs and battery holders, the kit comes with two LilyPad ProtoSnap boards that let you explore the circuit before you sew the pieces into a project.
The original cases used to house our LilyPad Sewable Electronics Kit were unfortunately unable to find their way to SparkFun HQ. Therefore, all units of the Special Edition kit will be housed in one of our tried-and-true SIK Carrying Cases instead of the magnetic latching LilyPad case.
And now we've reached the end! Thank you all for joining us for this week's Friday Product Post. As always, we can't wait to see what you make with these products! Shoot us a tweet @sparkfun, or let us know on Instagram or Facebook. We’d love to see what projects you’ve made!
Thanks for stopping by. We'll see you next week with even more fantastic new products!
It would be awesome if you guys carried the M5Stack product line