How to Start

From the box to 32 live channels on your laptop, in seven steps.

Gather the parts

You need the IronBCI-32, a 5 V USB battery, two Micro USB cables (one a full data cable), a laptop running on battery, 32 electrodes with two ear clips, and a cap. See What's in the Box.

Unplug the laptop

Disconnect the laptop from its wall charger and run it on battery for the whole session. Close other programs that may use serial ports.

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The data cable connects the laptop to the board and the electrodes. If the laptop is plugged into the wall, the person is connected to the mains. Laptop on battery only.

Connect the electrodes

Fit the cap and plug the electrodes into the four headers. The reference and bias ear clips go on the channel 1–8 connector.

IronBCI-32 electrode wiring: four connectors, reference and bias on the channel 1–8 connector

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Each header has two rows. Electrodes go on the bottom row (closest to the board). The top row is the reference row: an electrode there is shorted to REF and shows a flat, dead channel. Full pinout: Electrodes & Pinout.

Connect the power cable

Plug the first Micro USB cable from the 5 V USB battery into the port marked Power. The board starts and begins streaming straight away. There is no on/off command.

Power and data ports on IronBCI-32

Connect the data cable

Plug the second Micro USB cable from the port marked Data Stream into a USB port on the laptop. The laptop sees IronBCI-32 as a serial port:

System	How to find the port	Looks like
Windows	Device Manager → Ports (COM & LPT)	`COM3`, `COM6`…
Linux	`ls /dev/ttyACM*`	`/dev/ttyACM0`
macOS	`ls /dev/tty.usbmodem*`	`/dev/tty.usbmodem…`

Note the port name. You need it in the next step.

Start streaming

pip install "pieeg-server[ironbci32]"
pieeg-server --device ironbci32 --serial-port COM3            # Windows
pieeg-server --device ironbci32 --serial-port /dev/ttyACM0    # Linux / macOS

Then open http://localhost:1617 (opens in a new tab). You should see 32 channels.

32 channels streaming in BrainFlow

Check the signal

Sit still, relax the face and run these quick tests. If they behave as described, you are recording real biosignals.

Test	What you should see
Sit still for 30 seconds	All channels settle. Flat lines mean an electrode on the wrong row or not touching the skin.
Close your eyes for 10 seconds	Alpha (8–13 Hz) rises on the back-of-head channels (O1, Oz, O2, P3, Pz, P4), then drops when the eyes open
Blink a few times	Large slow spikes on the front channels (Fp1, Fpz, Fp2)
Clench the jaw	Bursts of high-frequency noise, strongest on the side channels (T7, T8). That is muscle (EMG), not brain activity.

Next steps

Record: pieeg-server record session.csv --device ironbci32 --serial-port COM3, or the BrainFlow save scripts. See Software.
Noisy signal? Work through Troubleshooting and Noise elimination.

What's in the Box Electrodes & Pinout