Introduction

The BeagleBone Black is a low-cost, community-supported development board with lots of usable pins for developers and hobbyists. Users can boot Linux in under 10 seconds and start development in under 5 minutes with a single USB cable.

The BeagleBone features an ARM® Cortex-A8 processor with 512 MB ram. It has two 46-pin connectors containing LCD, UART, ADC, I2C, SPI and PWM. In addition to these possibilities, it can be adapted to most of your projects thanks to accessories that you can plug into the board’s connectors.
Let’s take a look at the different types of connectors.

Accessories

BeagleBone Servo Cape

Providing servo outputs for a wide range of remote control, robotics and automation projects, the BeagleBone Servo Cape enables BeagleBone Black to control up to 16 servos. A servo is a rotary or linear motor that provides precise control of angular or linear position, speed and acceleration.

Using the PCA9685, a 12-bit 16-channel PWM servo driver, this BeagleBone Servo Cape connector allows all servos to be controlled by the Beaglebone Black over I2C with just two pins.

BeagleBone Fan Cape

This connector includes a fan that will keep the BeagleBone Black board below 38 Celsius while providing easy access to the pins. This fan uses a PIC16F15313 to emulate the Cap’s EEPROM, supply PWM to the fan, read the temperature sensors and read the jumper input. Power BeagleBone Black via the USB Type-C port and the fan will automatically start working!

BeagleBone Robotics Cape

The BeagleBone Robotics Cape features numerous connectors and directly usable components such as the 9-axis IMU, a barometer, H-Bridge DC motor controllers, a quadrature encoder, and much more.
Powered by a comprehensive software library, the BeagleBone Robotics Cape is designed to take your robotic concepts effortlessly from concept to reality.

Here is a detailed list of the components used on this Cape:

  • 9-axis IMU: Invensense MPU-9250
  • Barometer : Bosch BMP280
  • 4 x H-Bridge DC motor controllers
  • 8-channel servo/ESC output
  • 5 V 2 A switching regulator for robust power supply (input voltage 8 V -18 V)
  • 6 V 4 A regulated power supply for servo protection
  • Charges a 2-cell LiPo battery
  • 4 quadrature encoder inputs
  • GPS input with EM-406/EM-506-style UART connector
  • Headers for I2C, UART, SPI, ADC, PWM, GPIO connectivity

Supports DSM2 and DSMX satellite radios

BeagleBone Relay Cape

The BeagleBone Relay Cape is a quick and easy relay solution for your home or other automation needs. The Beaglebone Relay Cape provides a bridge between BeagleBone Black and higher voltage and/or current devices. This cape features four 15A @ 24VDC / 12A @ 250VAC relays.

These programmable electrical switches can be controlled by the BeagleBone Black to turn circuits on and off for common household appliances such as lights and small pumps.
Beware of the risks involved in handling high voltage. Arduino Factory is not responsible for any damage caused.

BeagleBone Proto Cape

A prototyping plate for designing any kind of application you can imagine directly on top of the Beaglebone Black board, the BeagleBone Proto Cape offers the flexibility you need.
There are a few built-in components, such as buttons, a multicolor LED and a basic LED to ease the design process.

The EEPROM ID is also able to reassign the address for seamless integration into the BeagleBone cape scheme.

BeagleBone Power Cape

 

This connector provides a complete interface for our BeagleBone Black.

It provides a regulated 3.3 V output and a system output (typically 5 V) from the Beaglebone Black itself, as well as a built-in regulator to provide an additional separate 3.3 V (up to 1.0 A) and 5 V (up to 1.3 A) output. Input voltage can be up to 30V.

It also includes an interface to the BeagleBone Black power button and a Reset button.

BeagleBone Load Cape

The Beaglebone Load Cape connector has 8x 3A 50V heatsinks for high-current loads to control relays, motors or bulbs or other…

BeagleBone Motor Cape

Drive DC motors with PWM steering and control using the BeagleBone Motor Cape.

DC motors are ideal for use in applications where speed control is required, such as in small toys, scale models, robots or home automation.

 

The BeagleBone Motor Cape can control up to 4 motors with a maximum of 3A and 46V. The board can be addressed via I2C.

BeagleBone Comms Cape

 

For industrial communication applications, the BeagleBone Comms Cape provides two communication protocols: RS485 and CAN.

The CAN bus is designed to enable devices to communicate directly with each other. CAN devices can be connected together as a network, with each device communicating with other devices in the node.

 

RS485 is a communication protocol for applications such as industrial and home automation, industrial control and safety electronics.

The cape also includes two 4-20 mA analog current loops and two 3A 50V interfaces for controlling high-current loads. The BeagleBone Comms Cape also features 2 x 3A 50V inputs for controlling high-current or high-voltage loads.