Notecarriers are available in several form-factors to facilitate rapid prototyping. Depending upon the variant, a Notecarrier may be designed with direct host integration, size optimization, integrated LTE and GNSS antennas, or even to be soldered directly into a solution for low-volume production.
Notecarriers are designed to bridge the gap between prototype and production for the Notecard. The Notecard is designed to be socketed directly onto the circuit board using an edge connector socket, along with a customer’s MCU, sensors, and controls. While such a model provides a highly modular configuration for the final product, it can make prototyping unnecessarily difficult.
Notecarriers offer breakout connections for the Notecard, as well as circuitry to provide power management, protection and signal amplification.
- Simple. Provides breadboard compatible pins or solderable mask for direct connections.
- Compatible. Level shifters ensure compatibility with 3.3V or 5V equipment.
- Convenient. Powered by a micro-USB connector (requires 2A supply).
- GPS Ready. Models are either active GPS compatible, or feature a built-in antenna to enable GPRS connectivity.
Notecarrier-AF (CARR-AF) is designed for drop-in development with any Adafruit Feather or compatible microcontroller. It includes two female pin headers (12-pin and 16-pin) for directly plugging in a Feather compatible board. It also includes Grove and Stemma I2C ports for attaching external peripherals to your project.
- Adafruit Feather compatible header socket.
- Breadboard compatible Notecarrier-AF 13-pin header.
- Breadboard compatible 24-pin Adafruit Feather breakout header.
- Notecard edge connector socket and mounting screw receptacle.
- Micro-USB port to power Notecarrier and provide a USB Serial command interface to Notecard.
- Onboard cellular and active GPS antennas.
- External Nano-SIM slot for additional carrier connectivity.
- 2 Seeed Studio Grove I2C ports for attaching external peripherals to your project.
- JST PH connector for a LiPo battery.
- JST PH connector for a solar panel.
- JST SH 3.3V I2C port (Adafruit STEMMA QT and Sparkfun QWiic compatible).
- Battery slide switch to disconnect battery when not in use.
- Momentary button connected to Feather B0 pin.
| Pin Name | Dedicated | Description |
|---|---|---|
| RST | N | Reset |
| BAT | Y | 3v3 supply |
| EN | N | Module enable |
| SDA | N | I2C Data |
| SCL | N | I2C Clock |
| B0 | N | Momentary button |
noteBAT pin is not connected directly to VBAT pin on the Notecarrier AF pin out. It is supplied by the onboard 3v3 voltage regulator. See schematics for more detailed information.
All Notecarriers can be powered by connecting directly to the Micro-USB port. However, most installations will not have USB power available, so several alternate power options are provided by the various Notecarrier models:
attaching a LiPo battery.
The LiPo battery must be a single-cell 3.7V battery with a 2-pin JST PH connector.
attaching a solar cell (must be accompanied by LiPo).
The solar charging circuit is designed for use with a 4.5-7V solar panel.
- applying 2.5-5.5VDC to the
V+pin.*
warningIt is NOT recommended to use the JST connector, on your Feather compatible
device, to supply power to the Notecarrier-AF. Instead it is recommended to
utilize the JST connector, labeled BATTERY, on the Notecarrier-AF.
Doing so will provide the following advantages:
- Reverse voltage protection.
- Defer to
V+andUSBpower sources.
warningTypical USB ports may only be capable of supplying 500 mA of current, which might not be enough to power Notecard during a cellular connection.
All Notecarrier models are designed to support active GPS, and several Notecarrier models provide built-in antennas ready to be connected to Notecard using the included U.FL cables.
The Notecarrier-A models feature built-in, active GPS antennas and are designed with a sufficient buffer to isolate the antenna and minimize interference with the other electronics. Notecarrier-A models do NOT support external GPS antennas.
| Pin Name | Direction | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| AUX1 | IN/OUT | Access to alternate modes of operation |
| AUX2 | IN/OUT | Access to alternate modes of operation |
| AUX3 | IN/OUT | Access to alternate modes of operation |
| AUX4 | IN/OUT | Access to alternate modes of operation |
| AUXRX | IN | Diagnostic Interface |
| AUXTX | OUT | Diagnostic Interface |
| AUXEN | IN | Enable diagnostics |
| ATTN | OUT | Configurable interrupt signal |
| VUSB | IN/OUT | Access to VUSB pin of the USB jack |
| VBAT | IN/OUT | Access to battery voltage |
| <3V3 | OUT | Access to 3.3V supply voltage |
| <VMAIN | OUT | Access to either VUSB or VBAT, whichever is available |
| GND | IN | Ground |
| Pin Name | Direction | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| RST | IN | Active-high reset |
| EN | IN | Module enable |
| SDA | IN/OUT | I2C bus data |
| SCL | IN/OUT | I2C bus clock |
| 5 | IN/OUT | Digital input pin 5 |
| 6 | IN/OUT | Digital input pin 6 |
| 9 | IN/OUT | Digital input pin 9 |
| 10 | IN/OUT | Digital input pin 10 |
| 11 | IN/OUT | Digital input pin 11 |
| 12 | IN/OUT | Digital input pin 12 |
| 13 | IN/OUT | Digital input pin 13 |
| B0 | IN | Button pin 0 |
| TX | OUT | UART serial transmit |
| RX | IN | UART serial receive |
| MISO | IN | SPI Main In Secondary Out |
| MOSI | OUT | SPI Main Out Secondary In |
| SCK | OUT | SPI clock |
| A5 | IN | Analog input pin 5 |
| A4 | IN | Analog input pin 4 |
| A3 | IN | Analog input pin 3 |
| A2 | IN | Analog input pin 2 |
| A1 | IN | Analog input pin 1 |
| A0 | IN | Analog input pin 0 |
| AREF | IN | Analog REFerence voltage (max input voltage) |
| Description | Minimum | Maximum | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supply Voltage | 2.5 | 5.5 | V |
| Supply Current* | - | - | mA |
| Solar JST Charging Range** | 3.94 | 7.18 | V |
*See the individual Notecard and Feather board datasheets for more details.
**For detailed information regarding the solar charging circuit calculations and behavior, please refer to the Blues Notecarrier-A Series Solar JST Input application note.
| Description | Minimum | Maximum | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storage temperature | -35 | 70 | °C |
| Solar JST Voltage | 0 | 18.18 | V |
| Solar JST Input Current | - | 1250 | mA |
noteActual values may vary based on local conditions such as atmospheric conditions and distance to the cell tower.
Open source hardware designs for all Notecarriers are maintained in the note-hardware GitHub repository.
Visit Blues Hardware Terms & Conditions.
| Author | Date | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Ray Ozzie | 2019-2020 | Document drafted |
| John Wiedey | 2020 | Various improvements |
| Sean Taylor | 2020 | Various improvements |
| Zachary J. Fields | 01 OCT 2020 | Updated information and translated to markdown |
| Brandon Satrom | 04 JAN 2021 | Added link to design resources |
| Greg Wolff | 13 JAN 2021 | Added BAT pin information to Notecarrier AF datasheet |
Blues Inc.
https://blues.io
50 Dunham Ridge Suite 1650
Beverly, MA 01915
support@blues.io
