Hello and welcome! As with every Friday, we have new products to show off to you fine folks. So what do we have this week? To start, the brand new LIDAR-Lite v3HP (High Performance) is in stock and ready to be incorporated into your next project! On top of that, we also have a much-needed revision to our classic SparkFun ProtoShield Kit and Arduino ProtoShield; a new, SparkFun-branded 16GB USB thumb drive; and a non-latching Hall Effect sensor! Without further delay let's take a closer look at all of these fantastic new products!
Sleek, fancy and powerful! The LIDAR-Lite v3HP is here!
LIDAR has never looked so good! This is the LIDAR-Lite v3HP, a compact, high-performance optical distance measurement sensor from Garmin™. The LIDAR-Lite v3HP is the ideal optical ranging solution for drone, robot, or unmanned vehicle applications. Each sensor is housed in a durable, IPX7-rated housing and includes all the core features and user configurability of the popular LIDAR-Lite v3.
The v3HP is very similar in function to that of the v3 but it can now sample faster at rates greater than 1kHz (where as the v3 is only capable of up to 500Hz). Another improvement is that this v3HP model is more power efficient, with current consumption rates 40mA less than the v3 (that's 65mA as opposed to 105mA while idle, and 85mA instead of 130mA while acquiring).
Turn your experimental project into reality!
The SparkFun ProtoShield Kit lets you customize your own Arduino shield using whatever circuit you come up with, and then test it to make sure everything is working the way it should! The SparkFun ProtoShield Kit is based off the Arduino R3’s footprint, which allows you to easily incorporate it with your favorite Arduino-based device.
One of our favorite features with this version of the ProtoShield Kit is the solderable-like breadboard prototyping area! Half of this area was designed with a breadboard in mind. On the underside of the shield, you will be able to see open jumper pads between each through hole to make a connection like a breadboard. Once you add a component, simply add a solder jumper between holes to make a connection. For those that prefer the standard prototyping pads, we left the other side (near the BlueSMiRF and Serial UART ports) as is.
If you are looking for just the PCB, we have you covered! The SparkFun Arduino ProtoShield is the same bare PCB found in the kit above, without any of the parts.
With the cost of microSD cards on a consistent rise, it's always useful to have an economical and reliable option as a backup for storing your files. This sleek, red 16GB thumb drive has been emblazoned with our SparkFun Electronics logo and our motto – Start Something!
The AH1815 is an integrated, non-latching Hall Effect sensor. That’s nice, but what does it do? Holding a magnet near the sensor will cause the output pin to toggle. This makes for a robust presence sensor. A reed sensor also works nicely, but can be limited by the glass encapsulation and size. A Hall-Effect sensor is much smaller, but can handle less current than a reed switch.
If you need a latching Hall Effect sensor, we've actually carried the US1881 for a number of years!
Alright everyone, that's all we have for you this week. Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out all the new products we have. 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!
We'll be back next week with even more fantastic new products!
Brilliant skills!