4G Base Station - 4G Controled board with relays and optocoupled input : micopython ready

Hackable 4G base station development kit - ready to use

The 4G Base Station is a Open-Source MicroPython Development Kit designed to build your own remote devices.
Thanks to the underlying A7682E library, the board can handle phone call as well as SMS (in both way sending and receiving).

The onboard relays allows you to control higher power device or to simulate a button activation (they can be switched on and off or toggle for fews seconds).

The two opto-isolated inuts can be used to connect 12V~24V devices and detecting their activation (after testing they also looks to work with 5V). They would be welcom to detect intrusion, user action or movement in a room.

The two low-voltage inputs (3V3) can also be used for cases requiring more than 2 inputs.

The Qwiic/StemmaQT connector ship an I2C bus, a very convenient solution to connect sensors on the board.

UEXT connector ship the I2C bus plus SPI bus, UART and power. The standard UEXT connector can be used to append UART devices (like GPS), SPI devices (like display or sampling device) as well as I2C sensors and expansion board (like additional relay board).

The station.py library available on the micropython-4G-Base-Station repository provide a quick access to all the connectors of the board.
Using our micropython-A7682E-modem library offers the required support and examples for the 4G module.
For sensors support under MicroPython, you can check our drivers repository or awesome micropython.

For sure, this board could also be programmed with Arduino (you will have to write your own library).

All-in-all, it is a nice development board for Pico + MicroPython together with 4G connectivity. Using Thonny IDE made the development and file transfer super simple.
Best of all, you are not left alone with this board. Our repository contains projects to quickly implement solution with this board.

Gate-Control Software

The main project application is the gate-control which is installed by default on the board.
Implementing Gate-control is simple, no code change is required (only configuration SMS are required).
Check the User manual (gate-control.pdf) for details.

SMS-Control Software

SMS-Control is the second application available for this board. A simplified software used to remotely control a device via SMS.
That application and its user manual (sms-control.pdf, english) are specialy designed to freely adapt SMS-Control to your needs.
In its default state, the SMSS-Control already alllows you to control the relays and read the inputs.

Required hardware

To use the 4G-Base-Station product, you need:

•  5V micro-USB power supply (available on this Shop).
• ready to use SIM card with PinCode removed.
  Already activated on the target mobile network.

Features

• 1x 4G GSM Module : module manufactured by Garatronic based on SimCom A7682E.
• 2x relay output : this galvanic isolation allow to control high power devices 24V DC or 48V AC.
• 2x opto-isolated input : read 12V / 24V input signal. Can also be used with 5V. Can be reconfigured in 3.3V INPUT GPIO.
• 2x 3.3V input GPIO : for extra application
• 1x UEXT port : exposing a SPI bus, I2C bus UART and 3,3V power for custom application
• 1x Qwiic/StemmaQt port : exposing 3V3 I2C to connect i2C board/sensor for custom application
• Raspberry Pico Powered : powered with Raspberry-Pi Pico 2 microcontroler.
• MicroPython Powered : see 4G-BASE-STATION repository for technical documentation for schematic and details.
• 5V Powered : the board runs with 5V micro-USB power supply.

content

For each order, you will receive 4G-Base-Station board + 4G interface board.
The 4G-Base-Station is shipped with the preprogrammed microcontroler with MicroPython with Gate-Control software.

All fully assembled and tested. This product requires a micro-USB power-supply (not included) and an initialized SIM card (not included) to work!