Recommended Microcontrollers for Long-Term IoT Projects in Australia?

[Jacob6785295644]

Hi everyone,

I’m currently in the early planning stages of a long-term IoT-based monitoring project and would appreciate some advice from the community here. The project will involve remote data logging and wireless communication, ideally using LoRa or Wi-Fi, and I’m looking for a reliable, energy-efficient microcontroller platform that’s well-supported in Australia.

A few questions I’d love input on:

• What microcontroller boards (e.g. ESP32, Raspberry Pi Pico W, Arduino MKR) have you found most reliable in the field?
• Are there any locally available components or modules you’d recommend for reducing lead time?
• Have you had experience with battery management or solar integration for off-grid electronics in the Australian climate?

Looking forward to learning from the experiences of others who’ve worked on similar applications here in Australia.

Thanks in advance!

[Dan]

Hi @Jacob6785295644

Welcome to the forum!

In terms of warranty returns we don’t really see one microcontroller being returned more than another, we will usually go for a Pi Pico for our projects at Core due to their availability to us (currently we have warehoused several thousand across the Pico and Pico2 range and their wireless counterparts). My personal preference is either the ESP32-C3 or ESP32-S3 solely based on having a fair few ready to go at home.

In terms of battery/solar management you have a couple of notable options,

• FireBeetle 2 ESP32 C6 IoT Development Board (Supports Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, Solar-Powered) | Buy in Australia | DFR1075 | Core Electronics, it can handle up to 6V directly from a solar panel, and has provisions on the board for a 2 pin lipo battery.
• Adafruit BQ25185 USB / DC / Solar Charger with 5V Boost Board | Buy in Australia | ADA6106 | Core Electronics very similar to the above mentioned firebeetle’s circuitry but is separate from the microcontroller.
• Solar Power Manager For 12V Lead-Acid Battery | Buy in Australia | DFR0580 | DFRobot | Core Electronics and Sunflower: Solar Power Manager 9V/12V/18V | Buy in Australia | DFR0535 | DFRobot | Core Electronics both these are heavy hitters for projects that would need more juice.

Another notable mention would be Arduino MKR NB 1500 | Buy in Australia | ABX00019 | Core Electronics its got provisions on the board for a sim card so its great for IoT stuff where you’re out of WiFi range and don’t want to set up the infrastructure for LoRa.