Need advice on making and breaking circuits on command
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I need some controllers to make and break circuits on command from a computer.
The signals on the circuits are less than 12 volts, very little current, and low
frequency. I need controllers to handle 6 circuits, 48 circuits, and 90 circuits. What
should I get?
Here's the story. I'm a grad student doing a summer internship. I came up with an
idea for a series of little boxes to help these people do their jobs better, and I
specified what I wanted the boxes to do. So, my boss asked me to find out how to
make them. A friend of a friend pointed out the Parallax Basic Stamp modules, and I
looked on their web site. But, I do software, not hardware, and I don't really
understand everything I'm reading. I hope that some of you can look at what I want,
and tell me off the top of your head what I should get.
What we're doing involves connecting and disconnecting various pieces of equipment
while we're testing them. My job is to automate the tests. But, I don't know how to
automate someone pulling out a plug on command. So, I want a box to interrupt the
circuit. I immediately thought of relays, but it looks like relays are expensive, and
solid-state controllers are available. I don't know how to tell whether a solid-state
controller would work for this or not.
Anyway, what I want is a set of boxes. Each box would be controlled by another
computer. We could talk to the box over USB or serial. USB would probably be better,
but we could make serial work. Anyway, the computer would send a command to the
box and tell it to connect or disconnect certain circuits. I'd want it to work by doing
several circuits at the same time, and I select which ones with the command from the
computer.
I need several different-sized boxes, some for 6 circuits, some for 48 circuits, and
some for 90 circuits. Actually, the 6 circuits will be made and broken all at the same
time. The 48 circuits will be done in sets of 3, and the 90 in sets of two. If that
matters.
This is a bootleg project right now, so budget is definitely an issue. Making the boxes
simple and quick is also a really good thing. Once we make a couple and prove the
concept, we should be able to get some official funding for it. But, they still need to
be simple and easy to maintain and to program.
So, what should I get?
The signals on the circuits are less than 12 volts, very little current, and low
frequency. I need controllers to handle 6 circuits, 48 circuits, and 90 circuits. What
should I get?
Here's the story. I'm a grad student doing a summer internship. I came up with an
idea for a series of little boxes to help these people do their jobs better, and I
specified what I wanted the boxes to do. So, my boss asked me to find out how to
make them. A friend of a friend pointed out the Parallax Basic Stamp modules, and I
looked on their web site. But, I do software, not hardware, and I don't really
understand everything I'm reading. I hope that some of you can look at what I want,
and tell me off the top of your head what I should get.
What we're doing involves connecting and disconnecting various pieces of equipment
while we're testing them. My job is to automate the tests. But, I don't know how to
automate someone pulling out a plug on command. So, I want a box to interrupt the
circuit. I immediately thought of relays, but it looks like relays are expensive, and
solid-state controllers are available. I don't know how to tell whether a solid-state
controller would work for this or not.
Anyway, what I want is a set of boxes. Each box would be controlled by another
computer. We could talk to the box over USB or serial. USB would probably be better,
but we could make serial work. Anyway, the computer would send a command to the
box and tell it to connect or disconnect certain circuits. I'd want it to work by doing
several circuits at the same time, and I select which ones with the command from the
computer.
I need several different-sized boxes, some for 6 circuits, some for 48 circuits, and
some for 90 circuits. Actually, the 6 circuits will be made and broken all at the same
time. The 48 circuits will be done in sets of 3, and the 90 in sets of two. If that
matters.
This is a bootleg project right now, so budget is definitely an issue. Making the boxes
simple and quick is also a really good thing. Once we make a couple and prove the
concept, we should be able to get some official funding for it. But, they still need to
be simple and easy to maintain and to program.
So, what should I get?