Wiznet makers

📌 A W5500 Module That Carries Its Own Maker Mark

Nex-G Automation LLP is an electronics design and hardware firm of up to ten people in Hubballi, Karnataka, GST registered in 2019 under the legal status Partnership, that supplies industrial automation and worker safety hardware such as network hooters, relay boards and water treatment data loggers. Nex-G Automation also sells one board-level part, the NXG-W5500-MOD, a W5500 Ethernet plug-in module with the RJ45 jack already fitted.

The vendor names the chip in its own technical document and repeats the same sentence in the product listing: "It features the WIZnet W5500 hardwired TCP/IP chip with integrated RJ45 port, SPI interface, and ultra-low-power design."

The photographed unit as the seller shows it. Photo: Nex-G Automation LLP listing on indiamart.com, rotated and captioned for this article.

Vendor, Availability, and Price

Nex-G Automation LLP sells the NXG-W5500-MOD through one channel only, the IndiaMART listing with display ID 2856812923962, filed under Router, Cables & Networking Devices, then Ethernet Device, then Ethernet Module. Read on 27 August 2026, that page showed 850 rupees per piece marked "Excluding all taxes", availability "In Stock" and "Ships from Hubballi", behind a Get Latest Price button rather than a cart.

The seller panel identifies a GST verified partnership with up to 10 people, a GST turnover band of 40 lakh to 1.5 crore rupees, and an IndiaMART membership dating to August 2015. The technical document adds GSTIN 29AAQFN4034P1ZI, whose 29 prefix is the Karnataka state code, the address at Unkal Cross on the Hubli-Dharwad main road, sales@nexgautomation.com and +91 8904595334.

Buyer feedback exists but does not touch this product. The storefront showed a 5.0 rating from exactly two votes on 27 August 2026, both filed against "Embedded Design Services", from Murali in Bengaluru on 22 April 2025 and Subham in Karnal, Haryana on 29 July 2023, neither carrying written text. The module has no rating, no review, and no published minimum order quantity, lead time, warranty or return window.

The listing as it rendered on 27 August 2026, with the chip sentence under the specification table. Screenshot: indiamart.com.

What the Technical Document Specifies

The file linked from the listing as Product Brochure is a three page PDF titled "W5500 Ethernet Plugin Module, RJ45 Ethernet Interface for Embedded Systems, Technical Document v1.0", carrying the line "Model Series: NXG-W5500-MOD" and a footer reading "Copyright © 2025 NEX-G Automation LLP". Its internal creation timestamp reads 28 June 2025, matching the June 2025 upload path on IndiaMART.

The feature list claims a "Hardware TCP/IP stack (8 independent sockets)", an "SPI interface for host microcontroller (up to 80 MHz)", support for "TCP, UDP, ICMP, IPv4, ARP, IGMP, PPPoE", and compatibility with "STM32, Arduino, ESP32, Raspberry Pi, NXP, TI MCUs".

The pin list runs to twelve positions in two rows of six: GND, GND, MOSI, SCLK, nSS and nINT on the left, then GND, VIN 3.3V, VIN 3.3V, N.C., nRESET and MISO on the right. That order matches the pin-out drawing the seller also posts in the gallery, which is the arrangement used by the widely copied W5500 module footprint, so the part drops into an existing socket rather than asking for a new one.

Generated technical diagram. Every label is copied from the Nex-G Automation brochure, pages 1 and 2.

⚙️ Role of the W5500 on This Board

The W5500 is what makes the module a plug-in rather than a wiring adapter. The chip holds the TCP/IP state machine, the MAC and the PHY in one package, so the host microcontroller runs no software stack: it writes a destination address and payload into one of eight hardware sockets over SPI and reads received bytes back the same way. WIZnet documents that register layout and socket model at docs.wiznet.io.

The hardware stack is why the brochure can list STM32, Arduino, ESP32, Raspberry Pi, NXP and TI parts side by side. Any of those hosts needs only an SPI port, a chip select, a reset line and an optional interrupt, which is exactly the twelve pin footprint Nex-G Automation publishes. A microcontroller with no Ethernet MAC gains a wired port, and one that has a MAC can skip the external PHY, the magnetics and the impedance controlled traces.

What the module leaves out matters as much. There is no Power over Ethernet path and no second interface, and the three page document mentions no Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LoRa or Zigbee, so the NXG-W5500-MOD is a wired-only building block.

What the Seller Photographs Show, and What They Do Not

The listing gallery holds six images and only two are photographs of this board, both 1514 x 2000 pixels. Enlarging the first shows the white silkscreen along the lower edge: a NEX-G AUTOMATION wordmark, a Make in India lion emblem, and the address www.nexgautomation.com printed onto the green solder mask, evidence that the board is built to the company's own artwork rather than resold in someone else's livery.

The same photograph resolves the connector: the metal shield of the jack is stamped HanRun HR961160C with date code 2415, the fifteenth week of 2024, about a year before the brochure was written.

Crops enlarged and rotated from the seller photograph, with no text added to the board. Source: indiamart.com.

Three details deserve caution. The pad rows are plated through holes filled with solder and no header is fitted in either shot, while the listing's Mounting Type field says "Male burg pins" and the brochure says "castellated pins". Neither photograph shows the face that carries the controller, so no chip marking is legible anywhere in the gallery and the W5500 identification rests on the vendor text. The other four gallery images are not photographs of this unit: two are the generic pin-out and dimension drawings that circulate with commodity W5500 modules, one shows a board whose silkscreen does not form readable text, and one is a render of the brochure's first page.

The connector face, with the two integrated link LEDs and visible flux residue around the edge joints. Photo: Nex-G Automation LLP listing on indiamart.com.

Where the Module Sits in the Nex-G Automation Catalogue

Two catalogues describe this company and they do not carry the same contents. The IndiaMART storefront at indiamart.com/nexg-automation listed 11 categories holding 13 items on 27 August 2026, and the Ethernet Module category holds exactly one entry, this module. It is the only board-level part in a list otherwise made of complete field devices, such as the Ethernet IP Hooter and Warning Lamp and the Ip Relay Board, and of engineering services such as PCB CAD design.

The company website nexgautomation.com presents a different set: nine products under its own model codes, from the NXG-7700 Ethernet IP Hooter to the NXG-RLY-16 16-Relay Unit and the NXG-LOG-RO water data logger. That site has no page for the module, and searching its home page, its catalogue page and its product pages on 27 August 2026 returns no occurrence of W5500 or WIZnet.

Generated technical diagram, built from both catalogues as read on 27 August 2026.

The neighbouring products explain why a firm this size keeps such a module on the shelf. The Ethernet IP Hooter page specifies a "10/100 Mbps RJ45" interface with "HTTP, TCP/IP, Modbus TCP", a browser control page and a RESTful API, in an IP65 enclosure rated 110 dB at one metre. Wired alarm panels and relay boards are close to the remote monitoring units and smart gateways the module brochure names as applications, though no published Nex-G document states that any finished product contains a W5500.

Value and Open Questions

For an Indian OEM or design house the appeal is procurement rather than novelty. A W5500 module at 850 rupees from a GST registered seller in Karnataka arrives with a domestic tax invoice and a domestic courier, and the vendor offers tray or bulk packing for production quantities.

Several things a buyer would want are unpublished. Nex-G Automation releases no schematic, no bill of materials and no driver or example firmware; the ISO 9001:2015 mark appears only as a footer line on the brochure with no certificate located; and "Designed & manufactured in India under Make in India" is the vendor's own wording rather than an audited statement. The product also depends on a single listing, with no other page for it anywhere.

Related WIZnet Maker Projects

Techavo Systems Ethernet IO Modules is the closest Indian counterpart already on this site, a W5500 based TSETH1201 with 8 analog inputs, 4 digital inputs, 8 digital outputs and dual Modbus on a DIN rail. Techavo sells the finished remote terminal unit an integrator installs, Nex-G Automation the network block that goes inside it.

How Does Greenox DeltaVision Use W5500 Ethernet for AI Vision Delta Robots? is the same country and the same sales channel at the opposite end of the price range, a 750,000 rupee pick and place cell whose motion controller carries a W5500. The pair spans an Indian catalogue from a single component to a complete production machine.

HW-243 W5500 Ethernet Network Module Hardware TCP/IP 51/STM32 Microcontroller Program covers the commodity version of the same footprint, sold in India under a generic HW-243 part number rather than a manufacturer's own model code. The difference is identity, since the NXG-W5500-MOD carries a named manufacturer on its silkscreen, a GST number and a document with an ordering code.

Why Does the Horter I2ARL Need a Separate W5500 Module for Modbus TCP? shows the same idea sold in Germany, where a 24.90 euro I2C master kit leaves its LAN slot empty and an 11.90 euro W5500 module fills it. Horter aims its module at one named host board, whereas Nex-G Automation sells to any 3.3V host.

❓ FAQ

Q. Which WIZnet chip is in the NXG-W5500-MOD and where is that stated? The W5500, named in the same sentence in two places, the three page technical document and the IndiaMART listing text: "It features the WIZnet W5500 hardwired TCP/IP chip with integrated RJ45 port, SPI interface, and ultra-low-power design."

Q. How much does the module cost and can it be bought today? The IndiaMART listing showed 850 rupees per piece excluding all taxes on 27 August 2026, marked In Stock and shipping from Hubballi. Ordering runs through the IndiaMART enquiry flow or by mail to sales@nexgautomation.com.

Q. How does a microcontroller connect to it? Over SPI, using the twelve pins the brochure publishes: MOSI, MISO, SCLK, nSS, nRESET and nINT for signals, two 3.3V VIN pins and three grounds, with one pin left unconnected. The brochure gives the SPI interface as usable up to 80 MHz on a 3.3V supply.

Q. Is this an in-house Nex-G design or a rebranded commodity module? The photographed board carries the NEX-G AUTOMATION wordmark, a Make in India lion and the company URL in its own silkscreen, and it follows the standard twelve pin W5500 module footprint. No schematic is published, so the printing and the footprint are what can be confirmed.

Q. Does the module support Power over Ethernet or any wireless link? No. The brochure and the listing describe a 3.3V, SPI, 10/100 Mbps wired interface only, and the three page document mentions no PoE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LoRa or Zigbee.