It is time again to introduce new Bricklets! Since yesterday we got eight new Bricklets in our shop. Some of them are improved versions of existing Bricklets, but we also released some completely new developed Bricklets.
The following Bricklets are new in our product range:
- Remote Switch 2.0
- Motion Detector 2.0
- Analog In 3.0
- NFC
- Temperature IR 2.0
- Rotary Encoder 2.0
- Solid State 2.0
- Outdoor Weather
To be able to introduce all eight new Bricklets in detail we will start with four in this blog entry and introduce the next four in a second part. In the first part we will introduce Remote Switch 2.0, Motion Detector 2.0, Analog In 3.0 and NFC Bricklet. The second part will deal with Temperature IR 2.0, Rotary Encoder 2.0, Solid State Relay 2.0 and the new Outdoor Weather Bricklet.
As we already wrote, the new Bricklets will replace the old counterparts. All of the new Bricklets have a co-processor and thus a 7-pole connector, as we already announced in the Outlook for 2017.
Since we have some of the predecessors still in stock, we will sell them off with a discount of 30%. Of course only as long the the stocks last!
Remote Switch Bricklet 2.0
The Remote Switch Bricklet 2.0 will replace the old Remote Switch Bricklet. The new Bricklet has all of the features that the old Bricklet has. You can still use it for home automation and it come with a 433MHz radio module including a corresponding SMA antenna. You can use the Bricklet together with the standard (PT2262 or HX2262) remote mains switches, as the predecessor. Additionally the new Remote Switch Bricklet 2.0 can now also receive data from a remote!
Motion Detector Bricklet 2.0
The Motion Detector Bricklet will be replaced by the Motion Detector Bricklet 2.0. The new Bricklet has many improvements. We don't use a ready-made module anymore, instead we developed our own PIR solution. The Bricklet is more compact and it has a detection angle of 120°, compared to 100° of the old Bricklet. The PIR sensitivity of the new bricklet can be controlled via API. So you can change the detection range depending on your application. A special gimmick of the Bricklet is the blue backlight. The backlight is dimmable and can be controlled via the API (for example during a motion detection). Since the backlight consists of three individually dimmable LEDs, you can also use it to show small animations!
Backlight in action:
Analog In Bricklet 3.0
The Analog In Bricklet 3.0 replaces the Analog In Bricklet 2.0. The specification is comparable to the predecessor, but it has the advantage that the analogue signal is measured directly on the Bricklet, it is not transferred through the Bricklet cable anymore. The voltage measurement is done on the Bricklet by the processor and the measurement is transferred digitally. Additionally the API more averaging possibilities.
NFC Bricklet
The successor of the NFC/RFID Bricklet has the name NFC Bricklet. For the old Bricklet we put "RFID" in the name, since technically the 13.56MHz NFC frequency is part of RFID. Unfortunately some customers falsely believed that the Bricklet is also compatible to the 125-134kHz RFID frequency. To make sure that there can't be any confusion we just removed "RFID" from the name. Because of that the Bricklet does not need the "2.0" at the end.
Like the old Bricklet, the new Bricklet can read and write NFC Forum Type 1 and 2 as well as Mifare Classic tags. Additionally it supports NFC Forum Type 3 and 4 including the necessary encryption. It also supports NFC P2P as well as card emulation. The API now has support for reading and writing NDEF directly. In sum the new features are a huge improvement and it is easier to use too.
While i am writing this blog entry we have already sold 41 of the new NFC Bricklets (they are available in the shop since yesterday) although there has not yet been any announcement. So this Bricklet obviously attracts a large interest! We are very sorry for the long waiting time. The transition from the old NFC/RFID Bricklet to the new Bricklet unfortunatly took way longer then we expected.