Up Close and Personal Distance Sensing
The SparkFun VL53L4CD Qwiic Distance Sensor is here along with a new 500GPH bilge pump!
We are back, yet again, with another Friday Product Post here at SparkFun Electronics. We are hard at work on several larger product releases (over the next month or two) so we only have a few new products to showcase this week, but we'll start with the new VL53L4CD Qwiic Distance Sensor. This new SparkFun Original Qwiic breakout provides highly accurate distance measurements at 1.3 meters, and though that may not sound a lot, you'd be surprised what sort of applications you can use this board in. Following that, we have a new 500GPH water pump. This is an upgrade to our 350GPH option that we've had in our catalog for years, and this new one is only a dollar more! Let's jump in and take a closer look!
This SparkFun Distance Sensor Breakout utilizes the VL53L4CD next generation ToF (Time of Flight) sensor module to give you highly accurate measurements at short ranges (for its size). The VL53L4CD from STMicroelectronics uses a VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) to emit an infrared laser to time the reflection to the target. That means that you will be able to measure the distance to an object from 1mm to 1300mm away with millimeter resolution! To make it even easier to get your readings, all communication is enacted exclusively via I2C utilizing our handy Qwiic system, so no soldering is required to connect it to the rest of your system. However, we still have 0.1”-spaced pins in case you prefer to use a breadboard.
Do you have some liquids that you need to move? This fluid pump will move 500 gallons per hour! The SEAFLO mini water pump has a heavy duty 12V, 1.5Amp motor and a tough thermoplastic body. This bilge pumps offer water evacuation activated by a panel or float switch. It includes anti-airlock protection, exclusive moisture tight seals and marine grade blocked wiring. It's totally submersible and water-cooled (but it won't burn out if run dry). Use this pump to make a fountain or waterfall, even to water your plants!
That's it for this week. As always, we can't wait to see what you make. Shoot us a tweet @sparkfun, or let us know on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn. Please be safe out there, be kind to one another (especially if you live in Cincinnati or Los Angeles), and we'll see you next week with even more new products!
Small nit to pick, Chris: The "New Products" list on the home page is showing "smol RTC", but not "Liquid Pump". A minor difference from the Blog post...
I added the pump to the New Product Carousel, but it looks like the smol board released after our New Product deadline for the week so it'll make an appearance in next Friday's Product Post. Thanks for the head's up, as always!