Questions tagged [hardware]

For questions concerning IoT hardware, hardware recommendations, and hardware support. Read the full tag wiki before asking for hardware recommendations; there are specific requirements for a good question. Additionally, consider asking at Hardware Recommendations for general hardware questions.

Use this tag for questions that are about hardware for Internet-connected devices.

For hardware recommendation questions, read everything in the checklist below - poorly specified questions are likely to be closed!

Consider the question check list if your question fits the tag. You can also look at the example questions. If this tag doesn't fit your question have a look below at somehow related tags that might fit your question better.

Question checklist

  • Recommendation questions:

    • Have you read Are any shopping questions on topic? and the related answers?
    • Have you specified your requirements in detail, including cost/availability if relevant?
    • Have you listed any research that you have done beforehand, and stated why the options you found are not appropriate?
  • General hardware questions:

    • Is the question related to the Internet of Things specifically? General hardware questions may not be on-topic here.

Example questions

Not what you are looking for?

  • For hardware 'shopping questions' with less specific questions, consider asking in chat.

  • General hardware recommendations not related to the Internet of Things may be on-topic at Hardware Recommendations.

110 questions
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8 answers

As a Computer Science student, how can I develop skills for an IoT job outside of formal education?

In order to do well in a Computer Science related field, a college student has to do much more than just getting a degree—they must go above and beyond to be competitive with others in the field. As a CS student, I'm relatively comfortable with the…
Greg
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3 answers

How can I properly test my device's PCB antenna?

I'm in the middle of testing a Z-Wave device I created with a PCB antenna. I want to make sure that the antenna has a good range and the signal strength generated is strong enough and comparable to similar devices in the field. How can I properly…
Dom
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24
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4 answers

Making a smart light switch

I want to make a home automation system, and I need some computer-controllable switches. The reason I can't use relays is that I also need the switches to be switchable manually and not programmatically (because I don't want the light to get stuck…
Danya02
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22
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7 answers

Cheap IoT microcontroller with PoE

Can anyone recommend a simple micro-controller with some I/O (<8) that can be powered using PoE, something cheap like Raspberri Pi Zero. The requirements are: Support PoE integrated. No power battery maintenance. Support TCP/UDP communication few…
Snake Sanders
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21
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4 answers

Battery backup for small IoT devices?

I'm making a number of small devices such as temperature sensors, RF433 transmitter and receiver (for controlling and receiving devices => MQTT) mostly using EPS8266. They work fine, and are USB powered because it's simple and works. They probably…
jcoder
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20
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2 answers

Selecting a microcontroller for a battery operated data collection project

I am planning to measure water level in a well, which is about 10 m deep with maximum water level up to 5 m. My plan is to use ultrasonic sensor HC SR04 to measure depth, transmit it via ZigBee to a Raspberry Pi inside my home. As discussed in my …
Raj
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17
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1 answer

Are there any devices with open-source protocols over Wi-Fi?

I know how to program IoT using Arduino; but I want some ready made portable IoT devices that do not need any programming at device side. Just I want to buy and add these devices to the network (after some configuration) and (by using documentation…
Shahrzad
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17
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1 answer

Is there a way to turn on large numbers of IoT devices remotely?

I have a lot of IoT devices that I am currently working on (read playing with). One of my biggest headaches is turning on the ones I need without climbing under my desk and plugging in a lot of wires. I looked at IoT controlled power switches but…
AstroDan
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4 answers

Why are Zigbee hardware modules so expensive?

The Zigbee hardware looks quite simple to produce1, why are they so expensive? For comparison I can get a 855 Mhz wireless module for 2-3€ but I can't find Zigbee modules under 15€. [1]
jwillmer
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14
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4 answers

Which microcontroller and programming language should I use for an Internet-enabled weather display?

I am a newbie in IoT and want to start my career in IoT. As I search on Google for startups in IoT, I found many blogs. And I found the languages used in IoT like C#, Java, Node.js, and the microcontrollers like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Intel,…
Jigarb1992
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14
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1 answer

How does an Azure IoT Hub interact with Embedded/IoT devices?

I am working on the Azure IoT platform, and I understand how devices send data to the IoT hub (if I am not wrong, It is just web service call or something similar to that). But I wonder how the IoT hub sends Data/Command/Input to the devices,…
Shri
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13
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4 answers

How does an experienced developer get started with IoT

I'm an experienced developer using variety of technologies as well as real time. I want to learn how to develop for a device which is not a computer, tablet, or any of the familiar devices everybody knows about. I noticed that global shopping sites…
TheUnreal
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13
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1 answer

Reusing / recycling a Petzi Treat Camera?

A few years ago I helped crowdfund a Petzi Treat Camera to feed my pet. Due to a broadcast pushed firmware update that I missed, it was rendered unusable. Thankfully, they did however send me a replacement unit but I am now left with a second…
Zeitsperre
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13
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2 answers

Running Philips Hue Entertainment with 3rd-party lightbulbs?

I bought this innr light bulb for my Hue system and it works just fine except for the fact that it isn't compatible with Hue Entertainment. As it turns out, no 3rd-party light bulbs are supported by Hue Entertainment (yet). So I tried the…
fûX
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13
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1 answer

Can I implement a (weak) entropy source in FPGA?

I'm working with an IoT platform in FPGA for evaluation and prototyping. I need to provide support for TLS, and for that I need an entropy source. I understand that true random noise sources are quite specialist (if even practical) in FPGA, since…
Sean Houlihane
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