BB-400
Industrial Edge Controller - Powered by Pi - DIO + Serial + BT WiFi NFC USB + EthernetKey Specs
- 2181
- Ports: 1 Port
- Protocol: RS232 + RS422/485
- Test
Hardware Built for Industry
8 Digital IO lines & Serial
Works with common 0-30V sensors
Sink 0.85 Amp per channel output
RS232/422/485 port
Bluetooth - for wireless sensors
Can be used with other Brainboxes devices
Industrial Format
Integral DIN mount
Colour coded and numbered terminal blocks
Heatsink
Dual redundant 5-30 VDC power supply
Multiple ways to Connect
Separate LAN and wider network ports
Extendible Wi-Fi antenna
Wi-Fi can be used as access point
Tap to read settings with NFC
UPS power management - prevents corruption
Power management system supplying correct voltage to Pi
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) making sure the Pi shuts down cleanly
Edge Processing with Raspberry Pi
Power Supply
Factory environments run on 12 or 24VDC
The Rasp Pi requires 5.1V – not suitable for factory environments which run on 12 or 24V
If power is lost unexpectedly the SD card can corrupt so Rasp Pi must shut down cleanly
BB-400 is more than just a Pi:
- Power management system supplying correct voltage to Pi
- 5-30VDC Dual Redundant Power Input ideal for factory floor
- Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) making sure the Pi shuts down cleanly, preventing corruption of the disc
Heat Dissipation
Industrial products need to work at high temperatures
When the Pi gets hot it reduces it’s core frequency to keep the CPU temp below the threshold. This reduces processing power and can cause shutdown in extreme situations.
BB-400 meets the right spec:
- Custom heatsink over the Pi
- Tests show no throttling even at 100% CPU usage
- Doubles the performance of the Pi compared to no heat sink
Realtime IO
In a world of PLCs you need instant response
The Raspberry Pi has an operating system that is more than capable of handling the edge processing and data visualisation. However because it is a full operating system it has to multi task and isn’t dedicated to real time I/O.
BB-400 is twice as smart:
- We give the job of real time I/O to a dedicated on-board Ardunio.
- Out of the box your BB-400 comes with firmware designed to monitor and control the I/O lines through the Ardunio.
- This open source firmware can of course be modified should you need.
Mounting & Connections
Industry format is DIN mount and terminal blocks
The Rasp Pi is just the base you have to build your application
Doesn’t have an enclosure and you need to build theconnections you need
BB-400 is quick to install:
- Integral DIN mount
- Colour coded and numbered terminal blocks
- Multiple network options
- Can be used with other Brainboxes devices to expand the connections
Customise your experience
Use out of the box or customise
Built on Open Source Tech
Highly compatible
Great online Community of resources and support
Free sample code for: C#, .NET Core, Python, Node-RED, Node.JS
Complete Customisation
Customise with APIs and Docker, REST, WebSockets, or .NET APIs
Program in your favourite language
Command line interface - deploy your configuration across 1,000s of devices
Docker containers
Docker provides applications in “containers” that can be downloaded through the web interface on the BB-400
Pre-built Brainboxes containers are available
Each container runs like a mini virtual machine holding an application in isolation from its environment
Node-RED
Node-RED is a visual programming interface originally developed by IBM
It is quick and easy to get started with, even if you have little to no programming experience
A simple Node-RED application comes pre-loaded onto the BB-400
Worked examples are available in our FAQs
