NORVI EC-M12-BC-C6-C-A (or EC-M12 for shorts) is a battery-powered cellular IoT industrial data logger offering NB-IoT and LTE-M connectivity, 2G fallback, two 4-20mA sensor inputs, an RS485 interface, and two 3.6V/19,000mAh non-rechargeable Lithium batteries for up to 5-7 years of operation.
The IP67-rated data logger is built around a low-power STM32L072 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller, and features a SIM7070 cellular IoT modem, a microSD card slot for data storage, and a single 8-pin M8 connector carrying analog input and RS485 signals.
NORVI EC-M12-BC-C6-C-A specifications:
- Microcontroller – STMicro STM32L072 Arm Cortex-M0+ MCU clocked at up to 32 MHz with 20 KB of RAM, 192 KB flash with ECC, and 6 KB of data EEPROM with ECC
- Storage – MicroSD card slot up to 128GB
- Wireless Connectivity
- Multi-band 2G, Cat-M1, Cat-NB1 (NB-IoT) via SIMCom SIM7070 module
- Optional LoRaWAN support
- RP-SMA male antenna connector
- Sensor interface via 8-pin M8 female connector
- 2x analog Inputs (4-20 mA)
- 12V output to power sensors
- RS485 interface via SN65HVD72 transceiver (optional?)
- Debugging and programming – Mini USB port for debugging, programmer port
- Misc
- DS3231 real-time clock with CR2032 backup battery
- Reset button
- Network LED
- Wall and pole mounting options
- Power Supply
- 5V via USB debug port
- 2x 3.6V, 19,000 mAh ER34615H non-rechargeable Lithium Thionyl Chloride batteries
- Battery isolation jumper
- Dimensions – 146 x 89.99 x 50 mm
- Temperature Range – -40°C to +85°C
- IP Rating – IP67
- Certifications
- EN 61131-2:2007
- EN 61010-1:2010+A1:2019
- EN IEC 61010-2-201:2018
- 2014/30/EU- Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Annex III, Part B, Module C
The user guide explains how to program the device with the Arduino IDE and points to a few code samples on GitHub, including a “test” sketch that tests most features (but not cellular connectivity) and another one that reads data from an analog sensor and sends it to Datacake over a cellular connection. The NORVI EC-M12 targets remote monitoring applications such as water level data logging, pressure sensor recording, flow meter data collection, and industrial SCADA systems.
We’ve already covered a few cellular data loggers, but the closest competitor I can find is the IP68-rated Inventia MT-718 PS with a SIMcom A7672E or SIM7070G modem, 8GB/16GB flash for data storage, RS485, a wider range of inputs and outputs, and support for 3-8V DC input or battery power. The Inventia model is more advanced, but the NORVI device is more compact and should be more cost-effective.
More specifically, the EC-M12-BC-C6-C-A NB-IoT/LTE-M industrial data logger sells for $94 on the NORVI shop. Additional information may also be found on the product page.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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In the first paragraph, 1,900mAh -> 19,000 mAh. Those are quite massive.
Its actually two 19,000 batteries, making a total of 38,000 mAh.
Those batteries are pretty toxic hazmat. They have about 2x the capacity of rechargables the same size, maybe less these days due to recent advances. I understand there is a niche for them but I think the default batteries for this thing should have been regular li ion rechargeable.
Regular rechargables self-discharge at a significant rate, the only way to guarantee operation at a multi-year timescale is wtth non-rechargable lithium cells.
I miss the very small TI Sensortag format and wonder why nobody makes anything like that any more. Some old models are still around but very limited compared to what a more modern version would be. They ran for quite a long time on coin cells or AA’s. They didn’t have cellular though.