Objlab
← Back to products

Objlab Edge Node

See pricing →

A Raspberry Pi in an electrical panel is a prototype: nobody puts it in a five-year maintenance contract. This node is the same idea made industrial — DIN rail mount, 24 V power supply, from -25 to +55 °C, compliant with EN 61131-2 PLC standard, with model availability guaranteed by the manufacturer until 2036. It's the difference between 'works on the bench' and 'we install it for a customer and take responsibility for what it does for the next ten years'.

What it solves

  • Counters and installations speaking Modbus that are going nowhere
  • An industrial PC costs as much as three months of monitoring, and needs to be managed
  • The electrical panel is not an office: temperature, vibrations, power supply
  • L'hardware di consumo esce di produzione e la scheda montata non si ricompra
  • The node is behind the customer's firewall, and nobody wants to open a port

What is it

An industrial controller on DIN rail, prepared by us with the PlantPulse image already inside. It mounts in the panel, connects to the counters and starts sending data: there is no operating system to install or configuration to invent on site.

Why not a Raspberry Pi

The real question is not whether it works, but who answers three years from now. The module we use is built for the electrical panel and declares this with numbers: average time between failures of 30.7 years at 25 °C, EN 61131-2 compliance, UL certification, temperature range from -25 to +55 °C, and — what matters most in a multi-year contract — guaranteed model availability until 2036.

A hobbyist Pi goes out of production, changes revision, and the card you installed for a customer is no longer available as an identical replacement. Out of ten installations it becomes a maintenance problem; out of one hundred it becomes the main issue.
Processor ARM Cortex-A76 quad core 2.4 GHz
Memory 4 or 8 GB LPDDR4X
Storage 32 GB eMMC
Network 2 × Gigabit Ethernet
Field RS485 (Modbus RTU), optional CAN FD
Security TPM 2.0, verified boot
Environment -25 / +55 °C, DIN rail mount
Standards EN 61131-2, UL, CE/UKCA
System Debian with real-time kernel, containers
Remote Access ObjZNet, zero trust network on OpenZiti

How do we get there without the customer opening anything

A node in an electrical panel is behind the customer's firewall, and the request to open an incoming port is where many projects stall — rightly so, because an open door to a plant is a risk that the IT manager takes on for life.

The node mounts ObjZNet, our zero-trust network: it is the node to open the connection to the outside, and from that channel we pass through. The client exposes nothing, has no ports listening, does not touch its own network rules. Traffic is end-to-end encrypted — even our transit routers forward data they cannot read — and the agent is a single static binary, with no runtime or libraries to install on the device.

This is what makes the two promises below a reality: without a way to reach the node, "remote deployment" and "update channel" would be just words.

The base node reads Modbus RTU and TCP, which covers most counters. When the plant has signals that Modbus does not carry — a clean contact, a 4-20 mA sensor, a PROFINET bus — an additional module is added to the rail, without changing the node.

Inputs and outputs

Module What it does Price
DI 16 digital inputs 181 €
DO 16 digital outputs 196 €
RO 10 relay outputs, to control 176 €
DIO 14 digital inputs and 14 digital outputs 225 €
MIO mixed analog and digital inputs and outputs 235 €
AIO 4 analog inputs, 2 outputs, 4 RTD probes 365 €
Module What it does Price
M-Bus 868 MHz heat and water meters via radio 136 €
CAN Multi-Master existing CAN network in installation 144 €
M-Bus VHP 169 MHz long-range radio counters 161 €
EtherCAT access to an EtherCAT network 210 €
PROFIBUS older installations, still very common 223 €
EtherNet/IP Rockwell / Allen-Bradley world 223 €
PROFINET IRT access to a PROFINET network 235 €

L-M-Bus deserves its own line: it is the standard for heat and water meters, and in most buildings it is already installed. Often nothing needs to be touched — just read it.

The modules are mounted alongside the node and are powered from the same connector: they are recognized at startup, there is no configuration to redo.

The pre-configured image, remote deployment, and update channel: the same version arrives on all installed nodes without having to manually configure each one.

Compliance & regulations

Frequently asked questions

Perché non un Raspberry Pi normale, che costa molto meno?

The real question is not whether it works, but who responds in three years. The Objlab Edge Node module declares a mean time between failures of 30.7 years at 25 C, compliance with EN 61131-2 (the PLC standard), UL certification, and operation from -25 to +55 C. Most importantly, the manufacturer guarantees availability of the model until 2036: a hobbyist board changes revisions and cannot be repurchased as an identical one, and out of ten installed systems it becomes a maintenance problem.

Do you need to open a port on our firewall?

No, and we will not ask you to do so. The Objlab Edge Node runs ObjZNet, our zero-trust network: it is the node that opens the connection to the outside, and from that channel we pass through. You expose nothing, have no ports listening, and do not touch your network rules. Traffic is end-to-end encrypted, even to our transit routers.

Legge i contatori che abbiamo già installati?

The base node reads Modbus RTU and Modbus TCP, which cover most industrial counters. For heat and water meters, the M-Bus module (136 EUR) is added: it is the standard in that sector and is already installed in most buildings, so there is often nothing to install. There are also modules for PROFIBUS, PROFINET, EtherCAT, and EtherNet/IP.

Quanto costa aggiungere ingressi e uscite?

The modules connect to the DIN rail node and range from 176 EUR (10 relay outputs) to 365 EUR (4 analog inputs, 2 outputs, and 4 RTD probes). They are selected individually: there is no package that forces you to pay for inputs that the system does not have. The complete price list is in the product sheet.

Chi lo installa e quanto tempo richiede?

The node arrives with the PlantPulse image already inside: it mounts into the frame, connects to the counters, and turns on. There is no operating system to install or configuration to invent on site. We commission it remotely through the same ObjZNet channel, and this is included in the price.

Come arrivano gli aggiornamenti sui nodi già installati?

From the update channel that the node opens towards us: the same version arrives on all installed nodes without us having to touch each one individually. This is why remote access is not an accessory but part of the product: without it, every update would be a field trip.

Parla con un esperto