The Kluster is our state-of-the-art development and testing system where we design, prototype, and validate all Baldrick products before they reach our customers. But it didn't start that way — it began with a customer's problem and some old plywood.
Origin storyHow The Kluster came about
The story begins with one of our customers who was having issues with 15 Baldrick8 boards on a large mega tree. When Dom heard about the problem, he knew he needed a way to replicate and test the setup to understand what was going wrong.
So Dom took some old plywood he had received, cut up a load of positive and negative cables, found 24 Baldrick boards and added a pixel to each. This simple setup became the foundation of what we now call The Kluster.
EvolutionFrom simple testing to smart monitoring
After fixing some pixel issues, we expanded The Kluster to have a monitoring system called Edmund which monitors all development data from the boards and allows us to test new features for issues.
Being a remote team, we wanted the ability to press buttons and turn off boards without someone physically present, so The Kluster and Edmund were expanded to manage relays and have an API for end-to-end testing.
Today, Edmund and The Kluster do pixel colour monitoring, allowing us to track and analyse the performance of individual pixels across all our test boards in real time.
TodayThe Kluster now
The Kluster now has instances of every board and revision in the Baldrick family (and a few not yet released) and is still under continuous development. We've recently upgraded Dom's old plywood for some good-looking laser cut mounts and we've got some custom PCBs on the way to help us monitor a bit more.
The Kluster is constantly evolving, from simple plywood mounts to sophisticated monitoring systems.
EdmundOur smart monitoring system
Edmund is the brain behind The Kluster — our custom monitoring system that tracks everything from power consumption to pixel performance. It allows our remote team to:
Remote control
Power boards on/off remotely, monitor real-time performance and test new firmware features from anywhere.
Data collection
Track power consumption, monitor temperature, log error conditions and generate test reports.
ValidationWhat we test
The Kluster houses every Baldrick board variant, allowing us to test new features across our entire product line before release. This ensures that when you buy a Baldrick product, it's been thoroughly tested in real-world conditions.
- Hardware testing — every board revision is tested for power efficiency, thermal performance and reliability under various load conditions.
- Firmware validation — new firmware features are tested across all board variants to ensure compatibility and performance.
- Real-world simulation — we simulate actual customer setups to catch issues before they reach our customers.
- Long-term reliability — boards run continuously to ensure they can handle the demands of seasonal lighting displays.
From plywood to laser-cut mounts, The Kluster continues to grow and improve with every iteration.
The Kluster legacy
What started as a simple solution to a customer's problem has grown into our most valuable development tool. The Kluster represents our commitment to quality and our willingness to solve problems with whatever materials we have at hand.
Every Baldrick product you use has been tested in The Kluster, ensuring it meets our high standards for reliability and performance.