So what’s the size differenace between the two. I’m not entirely sure I can fit the 4 in place of my 3. I do not need the screen. But need to don rail mount it.
Also what’s the plan on a module to use with analog temp sensors.
Brewblox Spark 4 - Featured products lists Spark 4 size with and without enclosure. A picture is provided to illustrate how the Spark and its modules are mounted to a DIN rail.
PT-100 IO boards are on the backlog, but I can’t provide an ETA. We first have some software features we want to get done, and there’s a global chip shortage going on. We may not be able to immediately source all components.
Where can I find the print files for the enclosure and DIN mounts?
From what it looks like, the Spark 4 modules click into one another. This is cool, but a bit impractical in my case given that all the components are housed in a box and need to fit together more like puzzle pieces. Do the modules include a ribbon wire to connect them to each other?
I should add…
I’m excited to upgrade my current setup to Spark4, but as of now, there isn’t a strong enough reason to do so. The two main reasons I plan to upgrade are PT-100 sensors and direct Tilt support. Once these things are available, it’s a no brainer! In the meantime, I’m thinking about how I might adapt my current system to physically house the new components so I can be ready to upgrade once these other features are available.
A big cause of problems has always been the cables between different parts. The module system eliminates this source of these problems.
The bigger reason is that over longer cables, we can only use OneWire, which is very limited in what kind of devices are available, or protocols that require a processor on the other board, like RS-485. Having a processor on the extension boards increases their cost, complexity and maintenance.
By connecting directly to the main processor, we can just use SPI and I2C and bake all the firmware support into the main firmware.
If you already have a Spark 3, there is no big reason to upgrade at the moment. The Spark 4 has more memory and processing power to do things in the future that we cannot do on the Spark 3, but the firmware at the moment is nearly identical.