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The Panther Logger board with screw terminal plugs removed and without the cellular modem or battery connected
Pinouts
The processor on the Panther Logger is a SAM D21 Cortex M0+. The WiFi module is a WINC1500 and the LoRa modem is the RAK11720. Most of our cellular tutorials currently use the Nimbelink BG96 Quectel modem (CatM and NB-IoT).
The Panther Logger pinouts are arranged in eight, 4-pin screw terminal blocks plus the two-pin battery screw terminal and two-pin solar input screw terminal blocks (see image on the right). These are pluggable screw terminals that for convenience can be unplugged to loosen and tighten wires and then plugged back in. We recommend unplugging the screw terminal blocks to attach any wires.
The function of each screw terminal pin is listed below. The tutorials in the learning center show detailed examples of using these pins to hookup and read various kinds of sensors for monitoring applications and code descriptions for how to send that data to the internet using the available communication technologies embedded on the board.
Navigating the Terminal Blocks:
The connector blocks are arranged in two rows of 4-pin screw terminals. The pin definitions below start with the top row (row 1), listed left to right. See image to the right for where these blocks are located on the Panther Logger board. You may wish to label the blocks with a permanent marker. The abbreviations below are also marked on the board.
Panther Logger Pinout Descriptions (per block, left to right):
Row 1, Block 1
- VCC = 3.3V power supply (always on)
- GP6 = General input/output
- GP5 = General input/output
- 5V = 5V power supply (always on)
Row1, Block 2
- A3 = Analog input
- A2 = Analog input
- A1 = Analog input
- A1 = Analog input
Row1, Block 3
- TX3 = Transmit UART
- RX3 = Receive UART
- GND = Battery GND
- 12VS = 12V power supply, switched on/off (described here)
Row1, Block 4
- TX2 = Transmit RS232
- RX2 = Receive RS232
- TX1 = Transmit RS232
- RX1 = Receive RS232
Row2, Block 5
- 3VS = 3.3V power supply, switched on/off (described here)
- GND = Battery Ground
- SCL = I2C clock pin
- SDA = I2C data pin
Row2, Block 6
- 3VS = 3.3V power supply, switched on/off (described here)
- D6 = Digital pin 6
- GND = Battery Ground
- 5V = 5V power supply (always on)
Row2, Block 7
- 5V = 5V power supply (always on)
- D11 = Digital pin 11
- GND = Battery Ground
- 12VS = 12V power supply, switched on/off (described here)
Row2, Block 8
- GP3 = General input/output
- GP2 = General input/output
- GP1 = General input/output
- GP0 = General input/output
Battery Block
- Battery Ground (left)
- Battery Positive (right)
Solar Block
- Solar Negative (left)
- Solar Positive (right)
Note, the board also contains a two-pin header on the UART0 pins of the LoRa module for uploading new firmware and an unpopulated (bare) two-pin header for a battery temperature monitor with ground connection (not currently used, but can be).
Keep in mind that for safety and convenience there is an on/off switch. We will generally ship the board with the switch off. Make sure you turn it on when you are ready to use the board.
How does the Panther Logger board work?
At the core of the Panther Logger board is the ARM Cortex M0+ processor. It communicates with peripheral components to achieve various tasks such as turning on a voltage rail, reading an analog or digital sensor or sending data to the internet using WiFi, cellular or LoRa.
The Panther Logger board has an expanded set of serial interfaces that allow it to communicate with hundreds of serial sensors as well as multiple communication methods. The main UART line (RX/TX) of the processor is dedicated to the cellular modem. An additional UART line is created from pins D10 and D12 and this line is expanded to four with use of the UART MUX chip. Of these four channels two are for reading RS232 sensors, one for communicating with the LoRa modem and one that is left open to further expand this port even further with our UART MUX expansion board or to (for example) add our RS485 communications board if you have to read RS485 sensors.
The MCP23017 GPIO expansion chip is used to turn on/off LEDs, turn on/off 12V and 3.3V power rails, the WiFi module and to set the channel of the UART MUX that is in use. Other GPIO expansion pins are brought out to screw terminals for other uses (examples given in Learning Center tutorials). Four analog pins (A0 - A4) and two general usage digital pins (D6 and D11) on the processor are also brought out to screw terminals. The analog pins are put through a voltage divider allowing use of sensors with up to 5V output to be used on this 3.3 volt logic system. The two digital pins D6 and D11 may be used for communicating with SDI12 or OneWire (for example). The processor communicates with the WiFi module (WINC1500) and the SD card via the processor's SPI pins as well as D9, D7, D3, and D4. The processors I2C pins are used to communicate with the GPIO expander and are also brought out to screw terminal block 5 for communicating with multiple addressable I2C sensors.
Power
Power is supplied to the Panther Logger from a 3.7 volt lithium ion polymer battery (purchased separately). See battery recommendations here. The battery can be charged from either USB or solar panels delivering less than 10 volts (typically USB provides 5V). USB charging occurs when a micro USB cable is plugged in from either a computer or wall outlet. When USB or solar power is applied the green charge LED at the top of the board will light up. When a battery is plugged in then the red power LED next to the charge LED will also light up (as shown in the image to the right). When the battery is fully charged the red LED will turn off. It is normal for the charging chip at the top of the board to become warm during charging.
The cellular modem is only powered by the battery positive pin, so a battery must be plugged in to use a cellular modem. The WiFi and LoRa modems are powered by the 3.3VS switched power rail. This is turned on in code. Additionally, to deliver power to WiFi or LoRa modems the appropriate dip switch for each modem must be turned on.
The 12VS and 3.3VS power rails are turned on in code while VCC (3.3V) and the 5V rails are always on. The maximum current provided by each rail is shown in the specifications below.
