which iridium module is available in ALC?

Archive A la Carte(ALC) Custom PCB Design Services
1

I am a bit confused about which Iridium module is available in ALC. Is it the plain rock7 module, or the (much improved I understand after discussing with some other people: available as I2C so does not eat a serial, better way to charge the supercapacitors, etc) Sparkfun iridium module similar to:

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/16394

I would like to be able in ALC to use the “much improved” iridium module :slight_smile: . But it seems based on communication requirements (serial) that we only get the “plain rock7” at the moment.

2

The [RockBLOCK 9603 is what ALC uses, you could use the [Qwiic Iridium 9603N you only need to drop a Qwiic connector on your ALC board and connect the two boards with a Qwiic cable.](Qwiic Iridium 9603N - SPX-16394 - SparkFun Electronics)](RockBLOCK 9603N - Iridium SatComm Module - WRL-14498 - SparkFun Electronics)

3

Ok, that confirms the first message. The thing is if I need to build a “supporting” plate on which to fix components, and then to use a qwiick cable instead of having stuff soldered (having stuff soldered is better for my application), then there is less interest in ALC… Any reason why the qwiick module could not be available in ALC?

4

Maybe in the future, the Qwiic Iridium 9603N is still an experimental product and not yet ready for ALC.

5

Hi Chris,

Some of the confusion may due to the fact that the SparkFun Qwiic Iridium 9603N [product page states: "Need a custom board? This component can be found in SparkFun’s À La Carte board builder… ". Until the Qwiic Iridium is actually available in ALC, it may be a good idea to remove this.

Cheers,

Adam](Qwiic Iridium 9603N - SPX-16394 - SparkFun Electronics)

6

That’s a good point Adam.

While it’s technically it’s the same module, the way it interconnects is different.

We’re going to pull that from the description for now but add it to WRL-14498, that version is in ALC.