BEEP PCB

The BEEP PCB

At the heart of the BEEP base is the PCB. This printed circuit board contains all connections for the sensors that are included in the BEEP base - temperature, sound, weight - and offers space for more. With the BEEP PCB you can design your own measurement system. This BEEP PCB comes with a LoRa antenna. 

Technical details

The PCB has been especially designed and produced for BEEP. Because of the purpose of the BEEP base, it is crucial that the energy usage is very low. It is based on the Nordic nRF 52840 64 MHz ARM®️ CortexTM-M4. It can collect data every 15 minutes for over 1 year on 2 AAA batteries. You can adjust the interval in the iOS or Android BEEP base app. In sleep, it uses only 4,5 μA. With its 8MB of memory the BEEP base can store two years of sensor information. 

Furthermore it consists of:

• 2 channel weight amp (HX711) screw terminals, fully configurable
• 1 to 9 parrallel temperature sensor (1Wire DS18b20) connector
• 1 Microphone mini jack (3.5mm) input with 4 pins to audio ADC (92 dBA SNR)
• 1 I2C sensor screw terminal (for e.g. BME280 T/H/P sensor)
• 2 AAA battery holder 
• 1 Push button to turn the base on and off
• 1 Buzzer (beep!) for auditive feedback
• 1 uFL SMT antenna
• Processor: nRF 52840MHz ARM®️ CortexTM-M4
• 8MB flash memory (storage for approximately two years of measurement data)
• Firmware updates via Bluetooth (BLE)
• PCB is fully configurable by BLE via the BEEP base app or open source BLE API
• Wireless connection via LoRa RFM95 868 MHz (EU)
• Size: 75x50x23mm. Fits into a standard waterproof plastic box

Adding sensors

You can add sensors to the PCB to collect data in and around your hive. The current firmware supports:

• Up to nine temperature sensors (type DS18b20)
• One microphone (3.5 mm jack input with 4 pins). Define which microphone you are using in the BEEP base app.
• One temperature/humidity/air pressure sensor (I2C BME280)
• One or two load cells for weight measurements (e.g. Bosche H40A 150kg) 

The PCB has a I2C connection where you can connect multiple I2C sensors. When you want to add your own (I2C) sensors, on top of the supported sensors as listed above, you need to write the corresponding code in the open source firmware. You can upload the new firmware to the BEEP base using the BEEP base app.

Note for customers outside the EU and Southern Africa: The LoRa chip in the BEEP PCB only complies with the LoRa frequency in Europe and Southern Africa. In other countries, you can use the PCB and all it's functions except the data transmission with the current LoRa chip.

We ship to a variety of countries. Is your country not in the list of shipping options, please contact us and we will help you further.