Pulsar
What is the Pulsar?
Pulsar™ is a 4G Cat M1 cellular board bringing connectivity and remote management to low-bandwidth projects.
What can I use the Pulsar for?
Pulsar’s low to medium bandwidth capabilities (up to 200 kb/s) are perfect for less data intensive applications such as irrigation controllers or digital signs.
What products does the Pulsar support?
Can the Pulsar be used as a standalone board?
Which models of Raspberry Pi can I use with Pulsar?
Which BeagleBone models can I use with Pulsar?
Which Arduino models can I use with Pulsar?
Are the mounting holes on the Pulsar standard?
What about the rechargeable battery?
What about radio?
What about AC power supplies?
What is included with the Pulsar?
Can I use any antenna I want with the Pulsar?
Quasar
What products does the Quasar support?
Rubicon
What is the Rubicon?
The Rubicon is an electronics enclosure made for single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and others.
What can I use Rubicon for?
It’s made to keep your electronics safe outdoors in direct sunlight and around humidity, but it’s also good looking enough to be used wall-mounted indoors next to your smart home control center.
Can I get spare parts – if I need another base plate or a different cover?
The spare parts are now available at our store.
What products does it support?
The interior screw-down hole pattern and accessories support Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and BeagleBone. Other boards can fit with some customization.
Which models of Raspberry Pi can I mount inside Rubicon?
Models A+, B+, B 2, B 3, B 3+ are supported without any modifications. Models A and B may be mounted after drilling and tapping a few holes in the base plate.
Which BeagleBone models can I mount inside Rubicon?
BeagleBone Classic, Black, and Green.
Which Arduino models can I mount inside Rubicon?
Uno, Zero and any other boards with Uno mounting pattern. The Due board is a bit too big and will not fit without significant modifications.
Do I have to drill any holes in order to mount any of the above “supported” boards?
No. You will have to screw a few stand-offs into the base plate and then mount the board. As long as you are mounting the “supported” hardware, there is no need to drill or tap the base plate. You will have to drill holes for glands and/or conduit in order to get the wiring into the box.
Are all plugs accessible on all boards?
Most plugs are accessible but many have limitations. For instance, the HDMI plug on Pi is accessible only in certain mounting positions, which make some of the USB plugs not accessible and vice versa. We worked hard to achieve balance between the enclosure size and what can go into it.
Is there room for a rechargeable battery?
Yes, as long as it is less than about 5mm thick, it can fit underneath the board while leaving the rest of the box fully accessible.
What about radio?
Rubicon is designed to be radio-friendly with one metal plate and plastic on all other sides. The deep cover has two antennae “ears”. The base plate may be used as the ground plane for monopole antennae and is equipped with a grounding screw.
What about AC power supplies?
In USA, most electrical codes prohibit high voltage and low voltage wiring from cohabitating in the same “junction box”. Also, AC power supplies may be quite large and hot. However, this is no problem – simply use a second Rubicon box to mount an AC power supply (see the datasheet for the list of supported power supplies). We recommend keeping the boxes separate (as opposed to stacking them) due to heat dissipation concerns.
How did you choose the box size?
We evaluated many parameters, including dozens of common deployment scenarios and a lot of popular maker hardware. We also made sure it is robust and good-looking – and also that it is very easy to deploy and maintain. For instance, the 3.45” dimension is just a bit under the thickness of standard American 4” deep stud, so that Rubicon may be mounted inside walls. The 5.4” dimension is chosen to be compatible with many trade sizes as well. We made sure that, if needed, all parts for successful waterproofed installation may be obtained in any hardware story (such as conduit, fittings, silicone, etc.).
Can I mount other hardware (other than the listed Raspberry Pi / BeagleBone / Arduino boards)?
Just about any board of suitable size and connector layout may be mounted. The aluminum base plate is thick enough to drill and tap blind holes in just about any pattern.
Why the aluminum base plate?
The 0.138” (3.5mm) thick base plate reduces the chance of enclosure breakage or warpage due to mounting on uneven surfaces. The base plate is also substantial enough to allow for blind threaded holes, which is how some of internal hardware is secured in the enclosure. Lastly, the large aluminum surface area works as a heatsink for the entire enclosure.
How is everything held together?
With stainless steel bolts and thread-forming plastics screws. All seams have viton rubber seals.
Are all the screws included?
Yes, hardware is included, along with some spare screws and standoffs.
Do I have to open the box or take anything apart in order to mount it?
No! The mounting holes are on the exterior of the box and are easily accessible by standard power tools. We designed Rubicon to be installable by electrician and tradesmen without any specialized knowledge. Just assemble your boxes, prepare the wiring harnesses, and it is ready to be installed without ever opening the box.
What can I use to mount Rubicon?
The mounting holes will take up to #10 wood screws as well as M5 and #8 bolts.
What is the purpose of the finger icon on the side of the box?
Our upcoming accessories will have touch support – and that would be the button.
Is Rubicon UV resistant and how is that achieved?
Rubicon is UV resistant. All materials used are inherently UV resistant – aluminum, ASA plastic (Acrylonitrile styrene acrylate) and/or PMMA (Acrylic) for clear covers. ASA is the same material used in exterior automotive parts. Acrylic has very high UV resistance. Aluminum does not care for UV at all.
