Did you miss it? You told us so, and we believed you because we missed him, too. We're talking about our e-store if you want to call it an e-shop.
Over the past few months, we've been working hard to fine-tune every detail so that we can introduce you to the next generation of our online store. The result is the HARDWARIO Store—more modern, clearer, and designed to make the shopping experience as pleasant as possible.
At the end of last year, we decided it was time for a change. The road to the new solution was not easy. We built the new store from the ground up, focusing on simplicity, flexibility, and trustworthiness. As of April 2025, the HARDWARIO Store is fully operational again and can be found at https://www.hardwario.store.
The new Store runs on the Czech e-commerce platform Upgates, which allows us to easily manage products and respond quickly to your needs. For payments, we have chosen the proven Comgate gateway with support for CZK, EUR, and USD currencies. We ship orders worldwide in cooperation with proven carriers. We have designed the entire environment with an emphasis on intuitive operation and a simple purchasing process.
What can you find on the HARDWARIO Store? First of all, our key products. TOWER - powerful and flexible IoT modules whose price has dropped significantly. CHESTER - an industrial IoT platform for connecting sensors, PLCs, and other devices. Also, STICKER - a compact LoRaWAN sensor for measuring temperature, humidity, and air quality, EMBER - a LoRaWAN gateway built on the MikroTik platform, and GAUGER - a pulse counter for monitoring devices or meters. There is also a wide range of accessories, batteries, antennas, and mounting components. And more new products are on the way.
We have created the new HARDWARIO Store for you. Check it out, browse the offer, and let us know how you like it: https://www.hardwario.store
The CHESTER Range ultrasonic sensor measures distances up to 10 m with 1 cm accuracy. Its wireless connectivity, battery power, and temperature monitoring make it ideal for industry, agriculture, and smart city applications.
CHESTER Range is a configurable distance sensor that uses the MaxBotix MB7066 ultrasonic sensor to accurately measure from 0.2 to 10 meters with a 1 cm resolution.
It supports up to four DS18B20 external temperature sensors (depending on the variant), allowing you to combine distance measurement with temperature monitoring.
The device has the following key features:
Wireless connectivity:
Power supply:
Built-in sensors:
The CHESTER Range combines distance, temperature, and humidity measurement with low power consumption and long endurance. This makes it ideal for applications where a fixed power supply is not available or long-distance wireless monitoring is required.
The CHESTER Range is ideal for a wide range of applications in industry, agriculture, and public administration. Its accurate distance measurement, multi-sensor support, and long battery life help optimize processes and reduce operating costs.
- Monitoring grain levels in silos - accurate real-time measurement of inventory levels helps optimize logistics and minimize losses.
- Monitoring temperature and humidity in warehouses - protecting crops from spoilage and better-managing storage conditions.
- Water level monitoring in irrigation areas - more efficient management of water resources.
- Measuring water levels in reservoirs, wells, and retention systems - provides early warning of water shortages or overflows.
- Detection of groundwater levels - useful for geological surveys and water resource management.
- Monitoring sewer systems, preventing blockages, and efficiently maintaining infrastructure.
- Parking space occupancy detection - optimizing traffic management in cities and commercial zones.
- Monitoring the presence of objects in transport infrastructure, including the height of bridges, tunnels, and safety zones.
- Logistics warehouses and pallet storage - control of free space and more efficient use of storage capacity.
- Monitoring the level of waste pits and containers - optimizing collection routes and reducing operating costs.
- Monitoring waste levels in industrial plants - better waste disposal planning and reduction of environmental burden.
- Automated management of collection points - digitization of waste management for municipalities and private companies.
The CHESTER Range is available in several variants that allow it to be adapted to different applications:
With its flexibility and robust design, the CHESTER Range is the ideal solution for industrial and environmental applications where measurement accuracy and reliable data transmission are key.
Do you want to offer your customers smart solutions based on reliable and proven IoT devices developed in the Czech Republic? Become our partner. Together, we will implement solutions for your customers.
Accurate meteorological data is becoming crucial for many industries today, and CHESTER Meteo is a compact and reliable solution for long-term environmental data collection. The wireless IoT sensor with NB-IoT/LTE-M/LoRaWAN connectivity can measure temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind speed and direction, rainfall, and other parameters.
Why is it important?
Accurate meteorological data helps farmers to optimize irrigation and minimize water consumption.
Early warning of ground frosts or dry spells can protect crops.
Monitoring wind speed and direction helps in planning sprays, reducing the risk of unnecessary contamination of surrounding crops.
A HARDWARIO Soil Sensor can also be connected to the CHESTER Meteo to plan the irrigation of fields.
How does it work?
CHESTER Meteo can be placed directly in the field or greenhouse to collect real-time climate data.
The data is transferred to the HARDWARIO Cloud platform, where it can be analyzed and routed to a visualization app.
Farmers can better plan irrigation, optimize pesticide use, and increase crop yields based on this data.
Why is it important?
Dense urban development causes heat islands, affecting residents' health and energy consumption.
Air quality monitoring helps to reduce pollution and improve living conditions.
Meteorological data helps optimize urban transport operations (e.g., snow clearance and smog prevention).
How does it work?
CHESTER Meteo can be installed on lighting poles, on the roofs of buildings, or in city parks.
The data is transmitted to the city's data center, which is used to optimize city services (irrigation, road maintenance, energy management).
Combined with other sensors, it can help reduce the impact of climate change on urban agglomerations. For example, CHESTER Clime products, combined with dust sensors or CHESTER Radon, are proving to be suitable sensors.
Why is this important?
Standard weather forecasts often work with general data and cannot accurately predict extreme events (storms, gusty winds) locally.
Local weather stations allow more detailed data collection for more accurate weather models.
Accurate measurements of precipitation and wind help, for example, in air transport, shipping traffic management, or dam management.
How does it work?
CHESTER Meteo can be part of a more extensive network of weather sensors that help refine weather forecasts at a local level.
Warnings of high winds or storms can help power companies prepare for potential outages.
Why is this important?
Efficient solar and wind power generation depends on accurate monitoring of weather conditions.
Wind strength and direction data are crucial for adequately managing wind power plants.
Accurate monitoring of solar radiation helps to optimize the performance of photovoltaic plants. Such data will also help better balance the power grid in the case of community energy. For example, in cities, it is possible to see different areas shaded more by clouds and some less depending on the airflow, hence clouds. A town with only a few weather stations cannot make an accurate model. Sometimes, multiple less accurate measurements can give more values than one super-accurate one.
How does it work?
CHESTER Meteo can be installed directly at wind or solar power plants.
The power plant's output control can be automated using the API based on the current climatic conditions.
The data helps to minimize outages and increase the efficiency of power generation.
Why is it important?
Accurate environmental data is crucial for scientific research on climate change.
With CHESTER Meteo, students and researchers can collect accurate data and analyze climate change in the field.
Schools can use the weather station to teach meteorology and physics.
How does it work?
CHESTER Meteo can be part of school and university laboratories.
Students can analyze real data in real time, make their predictions, and learn practical applications of meteorology in different disciplines.
Conclusion
CHESTER Meteo is a versatile tool for accurate and reliable weather monitoring. Its robustness, wireless connectivity, and long battery life make it ideal for agriculture, smart cities, meteorology, energy, and research.
If you're looking for an efficient way to obtain quality environmental data, CHESTER Meteo can help you automate data collection and optimize processes in various industries.
Do you want to offer your customers smart solutions based on reliable and proven IoT devices developed in the Czech Republic? Become our partner. Together, we will implement solutions for your customers.
CHESTER Clime is a versatile IoT solution for monitoring temperature, humidity, and air quality in industries, offices, and public spaces. Its modular design adapts to various applications, including industrial plants, warehouses, and smart buildings.
In today's world, there is a growing emphasis on environmental monitoring—whether in industrial facilities, offices, warehouses, or public buildings. Monitoring temperature, humidity, and air quality is a key factor for effective indoor climate management. That's where CHESTER Clime comes in—an IoT device that enables accurate and reliable measurement of key environmental parameters.
CHESTER Clime is a versatile sensor platform that offers real-time monitoring of temperature, humidity and other environmental parameters. Its modular concept makes it easily adaptable to different applications, for example:
- Industrial plants - monitoring conditions in production halls, warehouses, and technology centers.
- Logistics centers and warehouses - monitoring temperature and humidity to ensure the quality of stored goods.
- Smart buildings and offices - optimizing the indoor environment for employee health and productivity.
Urban environments and green space maintenance—By measuring humidity and temperature, for example, irrigation of parks and urban green spaces can be better planned, contributing to more efficient water management.
In addition to standard environmental measurements, CHESTER Clime can also be extended with dust sensors to monitor environmental dustiness. This is essential, for example, in:
- Production plants with a high dust content - e.g. wood processing, concrete plants, or heavy industry.
- Logistics centers and warehouses where dust can accumulate and affect goods and working conditions.
- Smart city projects, where air pollution levels can be measured in real-time to better plan environmental measures.
- Health and social care facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes, children's homes, etc.
The ability to link CHESTER Clime with dust sensors opens up new possibilities for air quality monitoring not only indoors but also in industrial zones or outdoor applications.
What about air quality in schools or offices, for example? Take a look at the CHESTER Clime IAQ
If you are interested in a more comprehensive air quality solution, we recommend you read our in-depth article on this topic: [You Can't Live Well Without Good Air Quality].
Interested in deploying CHESTER Clime in your project? Contact us to find out more about integration options
Do you want to offer your customers smart solutions based on reliable and proven IoT devices developed in the Czech Republic? Become our partner. Together, we will implement solutions for your customers.
In a modern world where efficiency and accuracy are emphasized, weighing systems can play a key role in many industries. Yet integrating them into digital solutions is often considered complex and costly. However, the misconception of complicated implementation can be easily disproved by the examples of CHESTER Scale.
Imagine a construction project where the weight of materials—for example, sand, cement, or gravel—needs to be constantly controlled. Traditional manual measurements are time-consuming and error-prone, while precise adherence to proportions is crucial to adhering to recipes (e.g., concrete).
With CHESTER Scale, you can easily monitor the weight of components on-site in real-time, for example, before they are poured into the mixer. Measurements can be transmitted directly to the digital system, for example, using LoRaWAN technology. Thus, the construction manager can have an immediate overview of material consumption, which simplifies planning and minimizes downtime and associated losses.
A device that monitors the bin's weight can be configured to send an alert when, for example, 70% of the volume is used. This allows additional material to be replenished in a timely manner, minimizing the risk of interrupting production continuity
Accurate weighing of feed and yield is essential in a farming environment. The CHESTER Scale can be used to monitor the weight of feedstocks, hay bales, or production during harvest.
The system can automatically alert farmers to declining feedstocks or deviations in yield weights that may indicate crop problems. With wireless connectivity, data can be shared with other systems to ensure the farmer is in control even when not on site.
CHESTER Scale can monitor the weight of beehives, milk storage tanks, and other farm parameters.
CHESTER Scale can be used in a logistics center to monitor the weight of goods when they are transferred between vehicles. Automatic weighing at each stop ensures compliance with maximum vehicle load capacity legislation.
The system can also be used to check goods on arrival at the warehouse. For example, when a pallet is delivered, its weight can be automatically compared with the expected weight according to the order, saving time and eliminating human error.
In an industrial environment, the CHESTER Scale can measure incoming raw materials on the production line. For example, the weight of individual batches of granulate or any other feedstock can be monitored before processing.
Thanks to its long battery life and robust design, the CHESTER Scale is also suitable for harsh environments such as production halls with high dust or vibration.
What do all these scenarios have in common? CHESTER Scale is a flexible, easy-to-integrate solution with robust IoT connectivity. Connecting up to 10 scales with different measuring ranges makes it the ideal tool for modern digital process transformation.
If you are looking for a reliable and cost-effective way to simplify weighing and transfer results to digital form, CHESTER Scale is the right solution.
Find out more about CHESTER Scale here.
Do you want to offer your customers smart solutions based on reliable and proven IoT devices developed in the Czech Republic? Become our partner. Together, we will implement solutions for your customers.
Challenges on the modern construction site Every modern construction site faces challenges and tasks that must be addressed quickly and efficiently. HARDWARIO IoT products can help you meet these challenges easily and elegantly.
On a construction site, it is often crucial to track material movement, including preventing tampering, ensuring a stable private network, and monitoring environmental conditions. Each challenge can be approached in two ways, either with one-off tools or comprehensive solutions. For example, a conventional GPS tracker can track material movement, but it requires specialized software, a SIM card to operate, and regular charging. Tools for creating a private network or monitoring the environment also exist, but combining them can be complicated and expensive. While individual tools may be affordable, their combined use often loses financial advantage.
Let's look at how HARDWARIO's IoT products can help digitize your construction site.
Private network with EMBER
Our EMBER product is the ideal choice for creating a robust and secure private data network. Built on the MikroTik platform, it allows you to cover your construction site with a stable LoRaWAN signal and prepare it for other IoT applications.
Motion monitoring with STICKER
Once the construction site is covered by the signal from the EMBER device, you can use our compact STICKER sensor. It can monitor temperature, movement of people and material handling thanks to the integrated accelerometer. The STICKER is not waterproof, but placing it in an IP67 box (e.g. printed to mimic a brick) ensures protection and stealth. With three EMBER devices, even triangulation of material movement can be performed. Unlike GPS trackers, STICKER does not need a SIM card - it sends a packet when it moves, allowing easy tracking.
STICKER Motion for monitoring people
STICKER Motion is ideal for monitoring people's movement in confined areas of a building. It is equipped with a precision PIR detector that sends an alert to the dashboard when motion is detected so that the responsible person can react immediately. And no, there's no need for the foreman or construction manager to sit permanently at a computer. He or she can view the alert and all other data on a mobile phone.
Environmental monitoring and other options
The CHESTER platform makes it easy to connect various sensors. Do you need to monitor the moisture content of curing concrete? With precise wireless humidity and temperature sensors, you can do it easily. Our sensors are compact and elegant and, thanks to Bluetooth low-energy technology, rightly boast a long service life.
With HARDWARIO products, you can also monitor other key parameters on-site. We can accurately measure CO2 concentration, air temperature and humidity, wind direction and speed, or soil moisture. The weight of the bins or their filling can be monitored using precise digital scales or ultrasonic probes. You don't even have to worry about dangerous radon—we have also considered this harmful gas when designing our solutions.
The complete solution for your construction site
With HARDWARIO products, you don't have to rely on single-purpose solutions. Our technology allows you to build a fully equipped digital construction site. Your data is transmitted securely and integration into your systems is quick and easy.
Do you have answers to your questions? Don't hesitate to contact us - together we will create a solution tailored to your needs. And if you haven't found the answer, our application engineers are ready to propose a suitable solution.
Become our partner
Do you want to offer your customers smart solutions based on reliable and proven IoT devices developed in the Czech Republic? Become our partner. Together, we will implement solutions for your customers.
In any production line, the quality of production, the efficient management of the tact, and overall productivity are crucial. Tracking OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) allows manufacturing companies to understand better how many products they can produce and sell and thus plan their processes and resources more efficiently.
HARDWARIO's IoT solution delivers detailed parameter measurements on production lines that enable the individual components of OEE - availability, performance, and quality - to be discerned. While basic OEE calculations can show how many products are being produced in a given time, our solution helps uncover the specific causes of low efficiency, whether they are issues with tact, quality, or other factors. This gives companies the accurate data they need to target improvements in their line performance.
OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) is a key indicator of production efficiency that measures how well a production facility is being used compared to its maximum potential. It focuses on identifying and eliminating losses in availability, performance, and quality. Availability monitors how often the equipment is available for production without downtime. Performance measures how fast the equipment produces compared to its maximum capacity. Quality assesses what proportion of products produced are free of defects.
Combining these three components produces an OEE, which is reported as a percentage. The ideal value is 100%, which means that the equipment is running at full capacity, with no downtime, at maximum speed, and no defective products.
A value of 85% or more means that production is achieving peak efficiency and is world-class. Values between 60% and 85% indicate average efficiency and significant room for improvement. Production is underperforming if efficiency is below 60% and requires significant interventions.
OEE helps to identify losses caused by, for example, downtime, where equipment is not working due to malfunction or poor planning. Low performance can be another issue where the device runs slower than it should. Losses can also occur due to poor-quality products that do not meet manufacturing standards.
HARDWARIO IoT solutions make it easy to monitor and optimize these factors. CHESTER Current can monitor machine tact. CHESTER Input can monitor scrap rates, which are connected to the OK and NOK counters. Other variables can be measured with CHESTER Clime. The ANDON system CHESTER Push allows reporting the current production status or calling for help or maintenance. The data collected enables better planning, predictive maintenance, and more efficient decision-making.
In the plastics industry, accurate measurement of the input material's temperature, humidity, and weight can prevent losses caused, for example, by condensed moisture during material transport. Data like this not only helps to reduce losses but also increases OEE values.
Want to achieve the highest possible OEE values in your production? Contact us with confidence - we'll help you find the ideal solution.
In almost every production workshop, whether it is a small workshop with a few machines or a large factory floor, the operation of the machines needs to be monitored.
Data from an existing PLC or industrial sensors must be obtained or connected to the monitoring machine. Very often, the tact of a production line or machine can be obtained using optical, capacitive, inductive, or ultrasonic sensors.
There is a robust and elegant solution called HARDWARIO GAUGER for these situations. The GAUGER meets the basic needs required by modern digital plant operations.
The product is compact and easy to install on a DIN rail. The dimensions of the GAUGER are only 80 × 90 × 33 mm (W × H × D). The device can be imprinted with your company's logo. Using our high-resolution UV printer, we can print your logo or other imprints on the front of the product.
On the GAUGER board, you will find an RJ-45 connector connecting a 10/100 T-Base Ethernet (LAN) network, a USB connector for service access, and a connector connecting an antenna and control buttons. The product's power supply range is 9-28 V. Power is connected via a push-in terminal block, providing a split power cabling feature for easier installation.
The primary function of the GAUGER is to monitor up to 4 digital PNP inputs. For example, industrial sensors or PLCs with PNP output logic can be connected to the galvanically isolated inputs (the connected outputs switch from the positive branch of the power supply). GAUGER can count the activation and deactivation of individual inputs. Each input can be individually set to digital filtering - precisely the minimum duration of the logic level to evaluate the activation or deactivation of an individual input. Activation and deactivation counters can be read for each input using the Modbus protocol (GAUGER acts as a Modbus server). The Modbus server can be connected via Ethernet or WiFi (supports 802.11b/g/n standards).
GAUGER provides a REST API interface that allows easy management and integration of devices into different systems. Using the REST API, you can quickly check the device's availability, retrieve and update its configuration, and upload new firmware versions. You can also reboot the device, restore factory settings, reset counters, and get the latest logs and metadata about the device.
Detailed technical specifications of the HARDWARIO GAUGER can be found on our website, where possible usage scenarios for the GAUGER product are also available.
65. We evaluate the International Engineering Fair as successful. The gates of the Brno Exhibition Centre have closed behind the last visitor, the exhibition areas have become orphaned, and exhibitors have no choice but to use the contacts they have gained.
Visitors also had the opportunity to visit the stand of HARDWARIO, a leading player in the IoT segment. In the Digital Factory 2.0 stand, HARDWARIO presented its products at the joint stand of the Electrotechnical Association of the Czech Republic, of which it is a proud member.
However, HARDWARIO representatives were not only present at the booth but also presented IoT in a block of lectures and were interviewed on live Internet TV.
Visitors were treated to presentations of IoT products that can be used in a wide range of industries. Using modern products from the Liberec company's workshops brings considerable financial savings in manufacturing, agriculture, energy, etc.
For example, the compact sensor HARDWARIO STICKER, which is successfully deployed in many healthcare facilities to monitor the temperature in vaccination cold stores, was of great interest. The CHESTER wM-Bus, which makes it easier for apartment building managers to read the energy consumed and process the data for further use, for example, in billing, also attracted much interest.
Visitors could view the exhibited products up close and see their quality and deployment possibilities. The main advantages of HARDWARIO products are their vast flexibility, long battery life, the possibility of installation even in inaccessible areas, and wide connectivity options.
"The four days in Brno were challenging but also fulfilling. We met a lot of people and made many useful contacts. It would be difficult to name everyone and not forget anyone. The word "digitalization" was heard in all senses throughout the week, and the technologies for industrial IoT applications were of legitimate interest. I look forward to seeing you at the next edition of the fair," said Pavel Hübner, CEO and founder of HARDWARIO.
Modern construction brings several bonuses to everyone on the planet. Buildings are becoming more sophisticated, with better and more efficient insulation, offering a pleasant microclimate in which to live.
However, there are two sides to every coin; the other negative side is radon. Radon is a naturally occurring gas produced by the decay of uranium in the ground. Staying in an environment contaminated with radon is dangerous for the human body in the long term. Exposure to this gas, which cannot be seen or smelled, carries a risk of lung cancer, for example. And the ever-improving insulation carries the risk of 'sealing' radon inside buildings.
One of HARDWARIO's long-term goals is to improve the conditions for life on planet Earth. Therefore, it has joined forces with PIKETRONIC, which has given rise to the CHESTER Radon product.
The radon probe features a high-precision sensor based on a semiconductor photodetector. It is robust and easy to mount on a wall. The probe communicates with the CHESTER device via the RS-485 bus. This RS-485 bus feature helps to resolve the signal availability issue for the CHESTER connectivity (e.g., when installed in basements or caves), so CHESTER can be conveniently placed in a location with a strong LTE signal for communication. Thanks to the addressable bus system, up to 32 probes can be connected to a single device, monitoring large areas.
Data can be transferred to the cloud, and alarms can be set in the dashboard if higher radon values are measured. The building management can then react accordingly and, for example, start ventilation in the building.
We cordially invite you to the HARDWARIO stand in Hall F, where HARDWARIO CEO Pavel Hubner and CSO René Gubančok will welcome you.
An exhibition called Digital Factory 2.0 will be waiting for visitors in the hall. Digital Factory 2.0 will present the future of industrial production. From October 8 to 11, it will feature companies and institutions dedicated to transforming production processes with innovative technologies.
The Electrotechnical Association's stand will be part of the exhibition in Hall F, where solutions that are fundamentally changing the face of today's manufacturing and moving it towards greater flexibility, efficiency, and sustainability will be presented.
"HARDWARIO is a proud member of the Electrotechnical Association, and it is with them that we will be presenting our solutions, products, and services. We are happy to meet our partners and those interested in our products there," invites Pavel Hübner, CEO and founder of HARDWARIO, to the fair.
HARDWARIO will offer its traditional and field-proven solutions and services and several new products in its portfolio at the fair. For example, HARDWARIO GAUGER will be presented to interested parties. A product that is easy to install on a DIN rail and can read data from PLC machines and devices and transmit it via WiFi or Ethernet. Thanks to this, it is possible to have an overview of production and production line utilization and also, for example, to predict maintenance and thus prevent failures and losses.
The HARDWARIO STICKER, a compact sensor powered by two AA batteries that can sense, measure, and transmit data from many sensors, also has many applications. The STICKER has been successfully deployed, for example, in the healthcare sector. In healthcare facilities, it monitors the temperature in refrigerators where vaccines are stored.
Those interested can also see the HARDWARIO CHESTER products that have been proven in practice. These include, among others, CHESTER wM-Bus which is a wireless gateway designed to communicate with energy meters using the Wireless M-Bus protocol. The gateway receives signals from wM-Bus T1 and C1 meters at regular intervals, allowing it to aggregate received wM-Bus packets and transmit them over the NB-IoT/LTE-M network. In addition, CHESTER wM-Bus can detect faults such as gas leaks, backflows, or water leaks. The collected data is sent by CHESTER wM-Bus to the cloud, where the building manager can immediately use it for billing.
Using the HARDWARIO Manager app, the device can be easily configured directly from a mobile phone. Thus, costly manual meter readings can become a thing of the past.
In addition to its products, HARDWARIO will also offer its services, including custom electronics development, software development, and expert consultation.
Can't make it to Brno but want to discuss a possible cooperation? Answer this blogpost confidently, and your inquiry will go directly to our specialists.
HARDWARIO a.s. will attend the IoT Tech Expo in Amsterdam from October 1 to October 2, 2024. The Czech manufacturer of IoT devices recently won the regional round of the Volkswagen Company of the Year 2024 competition, and its stand will feature several exciting innovations.
A big topic today is e-metering, which can effectively reduce the costs associated with building management. HARDWARIO offers the CHESTER wM-Bus product, a wireless gateway designed to communicate with energy meters using the Wireless M-Bus protocol. The gateway receives signals from wM-Bus T1 and C1 meters at regular intervals, allowing it to aggregate received wM-Bus packets and transmit them over the NB-IoT/LTE-M network. In addition, CHESTER wM-Bus can detect faults such as gas leaks, backflows, or water leaks. The collected data is sent by CHESTER wM-Bus to the cloud, where the building manager can immediately use it for billing.
Another exciting feature at the HARDWARIO stand will be the miniature STICKER sensor. Two AA batteries power the STICKER and can run on them for a long time. It can collect environmental data, has a motion sensor, and has two digital inputs for 24 V industrial logic. It can connect many other external sensors.
It communicates wirelessly via LoRaWAN. It has been successfully deployed, for example, in the healthcare industry.
For simple OEM installations, HARDWARIO CHESTER-U1 is a compact module that serves as a gateway. It is easy to install and has many features and expansion options. It has an accelerometer and can send instant messages via NB-IoT/LTE-M. The module already has a Nano-SIM slot. CHESTER-U1 can also track its location using GNSS.
All the new products can be seen in person at booth number 8. If you cannot attend the fair, please make an appointment by e-mail.
HARDWARIO offers customers top-quality products not only in terms of technical aspects but also in terms of design. IoT products are often placed in prominent locations and they must look manageable.
HADRWARIO was the first company in the Czech Republic and one of the first companies in Europe to become the proud owner of the high-end Rolland MO-240 UV printer. This is the latest model that Rolland has launched on the market, and there can be no doubt about its quality.
The printer can print virtually any flat surface. In HARDWARIO it is mainly used for printing on plastic. In addition to boxes, the Rolland MO-240 can print on electronic boards or labels in addition to boxes. Printing is done in CMYK and the resulting print can be finished with a matt or gloss varnish. This ensures long color fastness and high durability. The printer can also layer the print, which is useful if the print surface is uneven. It is also possible to achieve a plasticity effect in the print.
The printer also prints in white, allowing a uniform product appearance. Together with varnishing, a uniform and high-quality appearance of the resulting print can be guaranteed.
"We bought the printer because we want and offer our customers custom branding of their products. We know that we can achieve top quality without compromises with a high-end UV printer," says Pavel Hübner, CEO and founder of HARDWARIO.
"We will help our customers develop a graphic design that exactly fits their ideas. The printing of various products requires the production of special products and we produce these ourselves in our HARDWARIO Studio," informs specialist Štěpán Danko.
We will help you finalize and print your products. Don't hesitate to contact our specialists.
Without air, we can barely last a few minutes. Staying in a room with poor air quality can cause fatigue, headaches, loss of concentration, and other unpleasant effects.
While the solution may seem simple—ventilate—significant savings in heating costs can be achieved when ventilation is based on air quality measurements.
The CHESTER Clime IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) device is an excellent solution for measuring and evaluating air quality. Thanks to the collaboration between HARDWARIO and EDIH, CHESTER Clime IAQ will be installed in several schools.
HARDWARIO is a leader in deploying IoT solutions in practical applications, aiming to create innovations that contribute to a better quality of life on Earth. European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) are one-stop shops that support companies and public sector organizations in responding to digital challenges and becoming more competitive. Schools can use the CHESTER Clime IAQ equipment as part of the 'Test Before Invest' initiative, which allows them to try the technology before committing to a purchase.
Test kits containing three CHESTER Clime IAQs will be placed in schools to measure temperature, humidity, CO₂ (carbon dioxide) concentration, and light levels. Depending on the CO₂ concentration, the device's LED changes color, signaling poor air quality and the need for ventilation. The device can also emit an acoustic alert when the air quality is unsatisfactory.
QR codes will be included on the test kits, linking to dashboards that display the classroom environment's current status and historical data. This allows students and teachers to view the real-time conditions in their classroom at any time.
The CHESTER Clime IAQ is suitable for use in public buildings, schools, homes, and anywhere indoor air quality needs to be monitored. The system also has excellent potential for future expansion. It can establish a local LoRaWAN network for a school, and with additional extensions, it can control remotely operated thermostatic valves. Flood sensors can also be added to monitor water leaks.
Monitoring water, gas, and electricity consumption is straightforward. Building managers can use the people-counting sensor to gain accurate insights into people's movements and occupancy levels. Additionally, fire detectors can be integrated into the system.
The installation process is quick and easy, without cabling or modifications to existing IT infrastructure. Sensor installation takes about five minutes. The CHESTER Clime IAQ is battery-powered and can operate for several years without maintenance.
If you're interested in monitoring air quality, please don't hesitate to contact us.
If you ever face a challenge to design a battery-operated electronics device, one of the most crucial decisions is to select the correct battery type for the given project.
The original article can be found on LinkedIn
Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet solution. There are many factors to go through - the requirement for rechargeability, expected battery lifespan, demanded operating temperature span, size constraints, pulse current capability, etc.
Also, there are strict regulations about transportation for Lithium-based batteries (the document IATA Lithium Battery Guidance Document is an excellent place to start if you need to ship such batteries by air).
You have to decide how to get the chosen batteries to your customer. For example, will they be pre-installed in the devices, or are they supposed to be inserted by customers? If you don't ship the batteries with the devices, how is their availability at the particular destination?
Besides clarifying all these questions, you need to know the estimated power consumption of your to-be-born product. As you guessed, this can be a chicken-egg problem, and you have re-iterate your decision later in the design process. Your estimation might not have been necessarily wrong, but the application requirements have changed, and you are doomed to start over.
In HARDWARIO, we have made a lot of low-power designs, and we know there were not too many options for our configurable IoT gateway CHESTER. As the device often operates in outdoor conditions, only a few chemistry options can match the criteria for a wide operating temperature range. Welcome to lithium thionyl chloride (or LiSoCl2) - the primary lithium cell with a nominal voltage of 3.6 volts.
This LiSoCl2 chemistry has several key characteristics - apart from its operating temperature range from -60 to +85 centigrades, it provides the highest energy density of all lithium batteries. Also, it is very well known for its ultra-low self-discharge rate (i.e., how much capacity will it lose on a shelf in time).
On the other hand, you have to cope with some challenging aspects of the LiSoCl2 batteries. One is the relatively high internal resistance. While several ohms might not be an issue for many devices, it certainly will for those featuring cellular IoT connectivity. In CHESTER, we use nRF9160 from Nordic Semiconductor (support both NB-IoT and LTE-M). Despite its leading power consumption parameters, you still have to provide at least 500 mA current capability.
If you start draining any current, the battery voltage will drop in the proportion of current and its internal resistance. As a hardware designer, you have to provide a minimum operating voltage to your circuits to ensure the device's proper functionality. Voltage drop during NB-IoT or LTE-M transmission might be big enough to cause a microcontroller to reset. Or it will get your cellular connectivity module unregistered from the carrier's network.
In CHESTER, we deal with it using supercapacitors. While the primary cell battery provides bulk energy reserve, the supercapacitors cover the demand for immediate high-current peaks. You cannot simply connect them in parallel as their typical cell voltage cannot go over 2.7 volts, though you can use special supercapacitor chargers. We selected Analog Devices' LTC4425. This chip can balance the voltage across the supercapacitors connected in series and limit the current from the battery. We source supercapacitors with a capacity of 5 farads from AVX, part number SCCS20B505PRBLE. This part features a typical leakage current of 15 microamps - a critical parameter to consider when choosing supercapacitors for your design.
Another LiSoCl2 chemistry challenge is its flat discharge curve. It will keep its voltage at approximately the same level for about 90 % of its lifetime (sure, it depends on how you discharge it, but we speak about low-power devices). While that sounds good as it provides surface area (read energy) under the voltage/current curve, it is ultimately difficult to give a reasonable estimation of the remaining power in the battery. I have even observed a temporary voltage increase before the sharp voltage fall at its end-of-life cycle. The battery voltage also varies with temperature. So measuring LiSoCl2 voltage on its own to deduct any conclusion is simply pointless.
However, one way to go around this is to track its internal resistance. You can do it by measuring battery voltage "under the rest" and "under the load," and by a known load current, you can apply simple Ohm's law formula:
R(batt) = | V(rest) - V(load) | / I(load)
You can observe resistance growth over time in your device and provide an alert to your product's users at least a few days before the battery dies when its internal resistance trips over a certain threshold. Or you can make your algorithm more sophisticated and track the speed of resistance change in time. Finally, suppose you want to go even more accurately. In that case, you can monitor battery voltage, current, and temperature in time and apply some sophisticated technical analysis / neural network models to get better state estimation. I have not implemented those, but some companies focus solely on such algorithms, e.g., BatteryCheck.
The second method is to monitor the total energy consumed by the device continuously. Such a method is called coulomb counting, and there are specialized integrated circuits (referred to as fuel gauge ICs) that can help you with such tracking. However, you must configure them properly and provide a battery model (parameters) to get any meaningful figures.
Last but not least, sometimes, a single battery cell will not do the job, and you have to use multiple batteries in your project. In HARDWARIO, customers often demand years of operation in the field and provide guarantees for the worst possible signal conditions. Therefore, installing multiple battery cells during deployments is usually more economical than sending technicians to replace them sooner than later.
How do you solve it? It might be tempting to connect multiple lithium in series to get a higher voltage and use step-down converters to reach all the energy potential. But, please, don't do that - NEVER. Before installation, you don't know the battery conditions, and the cells are always slightly imbalanced. Then, one of the cells will start being charged, and this is a forbidden zone for the LiSoCl2 chemistry for safety reasons!
What is the solution? Connect them parallel via a Schottky diode with a very low reverse current. Manufacturers like Saft do not permit more than a few microamps of reverse current to the battery, so the diode selection is critical. However, with this approach, you don't need to worry about the battery cell state at the time of installation for safety reasons.
To make life easier for our customers and partners, we have designed a carrier board CHESTER-B1 with up to 6x D-cell sized or 8x C-cell sized battery holders. This array of battery holders can carry Saft LS 33600 (total capacity of 102 Ah) or Saft LS 26500 (total capacity of 47 Ah). Furthermore, the carrier board is inside a rugged IP-67 waterproof enclosure and ready to serve the IoT projects in the field in the years to come.
I hope this gave you some valuable tips and insights about your battery-powered IoT project. I will be happy to hear your thoughts and experience.
HARDWARIO declares that all components needed for the production of its devices are purchased exclusively from authorized distributors, and the electronics are manufactured in the Czech Republic.
Thanks to the modern and well-equipped HARDWARIO studio, the company can control the entire production process, from design through prototyping and testing to packaging and distribution.
The HARDWARIO studio is located directly at the company's headquarters. It is equipped with top-notch soldering stations, quality hand tools, a CNC milling machine, a climate chamber, and a UV printer.
The UV printer ensures high-resolution color printing on custom boxes for individual customers, with the resulting print having long-lasting durability. The CNC milling machine allows each box to be customized for a specific application.
Additionally, we can conduct stress tests of the devices in the climate chamber, where both temperature and humidity can be regulated over a wide range. Thorough testing ensures that HARDWARIO products can operate without issues, even in challenging climatic conditions.
HARDWARIO also pays great attention to product packaging. The company uses custom-made packaging that is fully recyclable, contributing to reducing environmental impact.
A more detailed description of our custom engineering can be found on our website.