And really liked the design. You can expand it upto 99 seperate boards of:
4 digital outputs
3 digital inputs
4 analog inputs.
This seems like an incredible option for our car needs. So, I tried to bump out a PCB design to see if I could make one myself. My goal was to have at least 8 relays on a card, so I need 2 seperate modules (16c711). I combined it onto 1 card, with a single darlington array (ULN2803A).
Now, this is not my first PCB design, but I could use some suggestions on improving it. I made it in ExpressPCB (it's free)
All said and done, it's gonna cost me about $20, if I can make the PCBs myself.
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2000 Subaru OBS
Dell P3 @ 900 Mhz
7" Lilliput TS w/DigitalWW in-dash mount
80GB External HD
3 PICs to achieve just that? I think Ill give that a pass
The idea of being able to connect boards together is good but how much do you really need? Bear in mind you do need to add some protection on the inputs side.
Well, the way I look at it it's only 1 PIC to go from USB to the other modules, then 1 PIC per module. The card is 3 pics total, but the expandable part really has me.
What type of protection, like capactiors or something else?
__________________
2000 Subaru OBS
Dell P3 @ 900 Mhz
7" Lilliput TS w/DigitalWW in-dash mount
80GB External HD
You will need to bring down the 12V car battery to TTL level so you dont blow up the PIC, its input can only take upto 5V. The same for the analog measurement you need to scale the 12V down to 5V. This is done by using a voltage divider, add a 5.1V zener diode so no matter what the PIC will not see more than 5.1V. You can also add a capacitor on each inputs just to clean up some dirt.
Chris31 - He's powering the unit from the USB port so its already at 5volts. But you're right about the analog inputs - he definitely needs a voltage divider for each of those inputs.
Kiltjim - Why not move the project up to a PIC18F4455 or PIC18F4550? You could reduce the chip count from three to one as it has enough analog/digital inputs and digital outputs. And you'll be able to support USB 2.0, nanoWatt low power and act as a serial port-based device without the need for an ActiveX control (Microchip AppNote 00956B).
No I didnt meant the 12V supply going down to 5V supply for the PIC.
Sensing an ON/OFF state of a car electric usually means 12V/0V. What I meant was bringing this 12V down to 5V level. Im assuming hes detecting maybe a reverse light? hand brake on?
There might be a time where a permanent supply to the relay card would be a good idea.
As for the news USB PIC, yes everybody is jumping into that one but unfortunately theres hardly much about it at this time.
Nothing wrong with the old USB PIC, just damn difficult to develop something for it, its OTP
I didn't develop this board. I only tried to make a PCB design for it, so that I could build one. I just used the design off of the picnet site that I listed above. I would love to convert it down to 1 PIC that is USB 2.0 compatible. But I don't know assembly language.
As for the filtering, Chris31 is right. On the analog inputs, I had already known that I would need a voltage divider, but hadn't thought about the zener. As for the digital inputs I knew I would need to bring the voltage levels down, but hadn't really thought about it much, since I don't really need them at this point.
0l33l, to control the thing, check out the picnet site, they list the commands that work with their programming. You would basically send out a command to turn on or off a pin at an address. You could even do it over hyperterminal, but where's the fun in that?
Does anybody know if you could convert the older chip over to a newer one, and not have to change the asm file? And if you need to change it, would someone like to show me how?
__________________
2000 Subaru OBS
Dell P3 @ 900 Mhz
7" Lilliput TS w/DigitalWW in-dash mount
80GB External HD
0l33l, to control the thing, check out the picnet site, they list the commands that work with their programming. You would basically send out a command to turn on or off a pin at an address. You could even do it over hyperterminal, but where's the fun in that?
Weird. So, how would you get the state of the analog inputs?
Nothing wrong with the old USB PIC, just damn difficult to develop something for it, its OTP
True. The new ones with flash memory are much easier - and cheaper - for experimenting. I've got a couple of samples on the way to me so I can start working with them. I love the idea that they can attach as serial ports without any drivers for the OS. I'll post up progress after they've arrived.
Quote: Originally Posted by kiltjim
Does anybody know if you could convert the older chip over to a newer one, and not have to change the asm file? And if you need to change it, would someone like to show me how?
Sorry I can't help you, I work in PicBasicPro and not assembly.
@ KILT, converting the 16F code into 18F code need alot of reprogramming. They have a different structure. The 18F chip can be programmed in C if you like. But converting the 3 PIC code to fit in a 18F chip? That is as good as making a new code for it.
True. The new ones with flash memory are much easier - and cheaper - for experimenting. I've got a couple of samples on the way to me so I can start working with them. I love the idea that they can attach as serial ports without any drivers for the OS. I'll post up progress after they've arrived.
I got my 2550 sample but still waiting for the rest. Its been 3 weeks now I think.
Ill try to start on mine soon. Got to make a test board for it first.
1) Ill make that board single sided if I were you.
2) Place a decoupling capacitor on each PIC as close as possible to its supply pins, normally a 0.1uF will do.
3) You need 2 capacitors for the crystal on each legs then connected to the ground.
4) Make all the supply lines much thicker, specially the grounds.
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