IronBCI‑32
Thirty-two channels over USB. The whole scalp, research-grade, straight into BrainFlow.
Four AD7771 converters, one for each bank of eight electrodes, and an STM32H7 stream 500 samples per second to your laptop. It works with BrainFlow out of the box, and with PiEEG Server or a browser tab.
- Channels
- 32, plus REF and BIAS
- Signals
- EEG, EMG, ECG, EOG
- Converters
- 4 × AD7771, 24-bit
- Sample rate
- 500 SPS
- Link
- USB serial, 921,600 baud
- Power
- 5 V USB battery only
Where to use it
Thirty-two channels are where EEG turns into real research: dense maps, event-related potentials, artifact removal that actually works, and several body signals at once. Pick a use case and try the live demo.
Simulated signal to show the effect. Real recordings are noisier.
How to set it up
Two cables, one battery, a laptop off the mains, and 32 gelled electrodes. Eight steps, with the two checks that matter most built in.
-
1
Gather the kit
IronBCI-32 connects to a laptop, so there’s no Raspberry Pi. It does need two separate USB cables and a battery of its own.
-
2
Check your data cable
The data cable must be a full data cable. A charge-only cable has just two wires and can’t carry data, so the laptop will never see the board. A data cable has four.
Not sure? Check the packaging, or test the cable with another device first. Pick a cable on the right.
-
3
Power from the battery, laptop off the mains
Plug cable 1 from the 5 V battery into the board’s Power port. The board starts streaming as soon as it has power. There’s no start command.
Before you connect the data cable, unplug the laptop’s charger. The laptop is wired to the board, so if it’s on mains, the person wearing the cap is connected to the grid too. It also floods every channel with 50 or 60 Hz hum.
-
4
Connect the data cable and find the port
Plug cable 2 from the board’s Data port into the laptop. It shows up as a serial port. Note its name: every tool asks for it.
-
5
Connect 32 electrodes in four banks
The board has four headers of eight pins, one per converter. REF and BIAS sit on the first bank. Clip the reference to one earlobe and the bias to the other. Hover a bank to see which part of the head it covers.
This is a common 32-channel layout on the 10-20 system. Follow the pin numbers on the board and the connection schematic in the docs.
-
6
Gel every electrode
IronBCI-32 is built for wet Ag/AgCl electrodes. Work gel through the hair under each one until it touches the scalp. Click electrodes on the map, or gel a whole bank at once.
Thirty-two electrodes take a while. Keep the gel off the space between electrodes: a bridge of gel shorts two channels together.
-
7
Stream it
Three ways in. PiEEG Server needs no BrainFlow and adds the dashboard, LSL, OSC and recording. BrainFlow gives you its full API in Python, C++, Java, C# and more. The browser needs nothing at all.
Only one program can hold the serial port at a time. Close the others first.
-
8
Check all 32 traces
With the cap on and the person still, every channel should be a gentle line that wanders by a few microvolts. Look at each one before you record.
Flat line No skin contact. Add gel, reseat the electrode Pinned to the edge Usually a bad reference. Check the REF clip Thick fuzzy band Mains hum. Is the laptop charger still in? All channels identical Reference or bias problem Two channels identical Gel bridge between neighbours
Before you put it on anyone
- IronBCI-32 is not a medical device and isn’t certified by any regulator. It’s for education, research and engineering, never for diagnosis or treatment.
- Power the board from a 5 V USB battery only, never from mains through USB or any other way.
- The laptop receiving the data must run on its battery, physically unplugged from the mains, for the whole session.
- Rinse the gel out of the hair and off the skin afterwards. Stop if the skin becomes irritated.
- Don’t use it with a pacemaker or other implanted device without asking a physician. Read the Liabilities page before use.