Been thinking about ways to use the two RJ-45 jacks with 4 P2 pins on each...
VGA is possible, but have to give up one color...
Was just thinking about grayscale HDMI. If one connects the RGB lines together, should work?
Impedance might be an issue though... Might need a buffer...
Populated bottom board for the tiny 4771 board.
Identifies with Prop tool, powered by USB-C connection, so that's good.
Didn't really have space for pinned version of FT231X, so it needs Prop Plug for programming.
But, there is an 8-pin port that connects to middle PCB.
A future version of middle board could have an FT231X. Flip-flopping on this design decision though...
This 4771 sized board basically has no space for I/O terminals, besides the USB-A and twin RJ-45 jacks.
Guess the network jack could also be used one day when there's a daughter board to drive it.
But, idea here is that if you need I/O could put this in the 4773 case and have 18 I/O terminals or the 4774 and have 36 I/O or the 4778 and have 56.
You'd probably need I2C expanders for that though.
Still, there are two Eval style ports on one side that could directly connect 16 P2 I/O pins to another board, sideways.
And, the other side has a bank of 8 I/O pins in a single row.
So, maybe this board is more flexible, but not as straightforward as the 4775 based board with built in I/O terminals...
One mistake is that the boards are a hair too long. They just fit, but with zero margin, so can't remove them without damaging the plastic tabs that hold it in place. Next revision will be 0.5mm shorter...
Working on an I2C I/O expander pcb that can connect to one of the RJ45 jacks for signals.
This should be enough for my application, but making it so they can be daisy chained if need more...
@Rayman said:
Gotta love it when a plan comes together!
Think it's done...
wow! you took that idea and ran with it. nice touch on the display
I'm only here now. using a serial rx/tx Nextion display usurping the two LED pins and wiring up the propplug rx/tx/reset on one of the ports and potentially SDcard on one, leaving the rest basically open.
@refaQtor That little RJ45 breakout is nice. Have to get that. Think I see a Ti symbol on it?
Been thinking about doing like @Mickster and programming the thing in BASIC (from Flexprop) so that other could more easily understand it.
That machine code stuff our Siemens thing is programmed in is a nightmare...
Still, thinking C might be the way to go as it is extremely well documented...
@Rayman said:
@refaQtor That little RJ45 breakout is nice. Have to get that. Think I see a Ti symbol on it?
that's Sparkfun red. but easy to find on amazon, along with cheap bunches of ethernet patch cables of various lengths. right now, just straight connections to TTL pins and lengths suitable for benchtop experiments
Liked the idea of two switches with leds and another led on the top board, just like for the DMB-4775.
But, this one is smaller, so switched to this tiny OLED.
Using the Edge/Eval style header allows for convenient testing outside the box...
I also find the idea of a P2 based PLC quite interesting and I already had some possible applications for it (see crane balancer, reflow oven controller, PCB tester...). But I fear making a flexible, modular and universal solution that really fits all possible cases like...
water tight case vs. DIN-rail cabinet
high speed IO vs. protected 24V signals
with/without display
extension connectors / accessory boards?
... is quite difficult. There's always at least one requirement that doesn't fit already existing boards. Only the classic P2Eval with accessory boards fits everything but that's not an option in a harsh environment with shock & vibration.
So at the moment I keep making custom PCBs for each different application.
Well, that's one nice thing about the DBM-4775... Comes in 3 boards. If you want, could just use my center board and use your own bottom for whatever I/O you need to do on the terminals.
And, can design your own top board or just not use one.
Planning on posting the Eagle files, so people can do whatever they want...
So at the moment I keep making custom PCBs for each different application.
There is no better way than this to address a specific need.
As much as I'd like to have an universal controller that fits all possible needs I may have, the reality proved that's not going to happen at an acceptable cost.
And it seems to me, that there is no better solution than this one in other trades as well.
My recent visit to a hardware store proved this point with as simple tool as a hammer. There were at least seven types (not sizes) of hammers for different purposes and it was quite easy to see why they differ in shapes, weights and materials used.
@ManAtWork said:
... is quite difficult. There's always at least one requirement that doesn't fit already existing boards. Only the classic P2Eval with accessory boards fits everything but that's not an option in a harsh environment with shock & vibration.
So at the moment I keep making custom PCBs for each different application.
well, yup...that's the conundrum. the complexity of making things simple... or, vice-versa.
just let's keep having fun along the way. P2 !
@Mickster said:
We want flexibility and we want finished products that don't scream "built by some dude in his shed".
A P2 hosted motherboard for the Tibbit Blocks would be nice. I don't like their own MCU offering.
interesting... my recent noodlings have been along these lines of modular I/O,, and the prices on their I/O seem reasonable. I had a different form-factor, but different processor on a compatible mainboard might have legs. haven''t looked into the claims/license they try to protect on the physical interface, or is it all open.
Comments
Been thinking about ways to use the two RJ-45 jacks with 4 P2 pins on each...
VGA is possible, but have to give up one color...
Was just thinking about grayscale HDMI. If one connects the RGB lines together, should work?
Impedance might be an issue though... Might need a buffer...
Populated bottom board for the tiny 4771 board.
Identifies with Prop tool, powered by USB-C connection, so that's good.
Didn't really have space for pinned version of FT231X, so it needs Prop Plug for programming.
But, there is an 8-pin port that connects to middle PCB.
A future version of middle board could have an FT231X. Flip-flopping on this design decision though...
This 4771 sized board basically has no space for I/O terminals, besides the USB-A and twin RJ-45 jacks.
Guess the network jack could also be used one day when there's a daughter board to drive it.
But, idea here is that if you need I/O could put this in the 4773 case and have 18 I/O terminals or the 4774 and have 36 I/O or the 4778 and have 56.
You'd probably need I2C expanders for that though.
Still, there are two Eval style ports on one side that could directly connect 16 P2 I/O pins to another board, sideways.
And, the other side has a bank of 8 I/O pins in a single row.
So, maybe this board is more flexible, but not as straightforward as the 4775 based board with built in I/O terminals...
One mistake is that the boards are a hair too long. They just fit, but with zero margin, so can't remove them without damaging the plastic tabs that hold it in place. Next revision will be 0.5mm shorter...
Working on an I2C I/O expander pcb that can connect to one of the RJ45 jacks for signals.
This should be enough for my application, but making it so they can be daisy chained if need more...
Third time's a charm!
Finally got LCD for the top board of 4775 wired correctly...
Gotta love it when a plan comes together!
Think it's done...
wow! you took that idea and ran with it. nice touch on the display
I'm only here now. using a serial rx/tx Nextion display usurping the two LED pins and wiring up the propplug rx/tx/reset on one of the ports and potentially SDcard on one, leaving the rest basically open.
@refaQtor That little RJ45 breakout is nice. Have to get that. Think I see a Ti symbol on it?
Been thinking about doing like @Mickster and programming the thing in BASIC (from Flexprop) so that other could more easily understand it.
That machine code stuff our Siemens thing is programmed in is a nightmare...
Still, thinking C might be the way to go as it is extremely well documented...
@refaQtor Am appreciating more and more your idea of using RJ45 jacks to connect P2 pins to other things.
I looked in to vibration testing, a couple of years ago but the Neutrik PDF was too big to upload so;
Link to my DropBox
that's Sparkfun red. but easy to find on amazon, along with cheap bunches of ethernet patch cables of various lengths. right now, just straight connections to TTL pins and lengths suitable for benchtop experiments
Was just thinking that for RJ45 pinout might be better to pair p2 pin with either find or 5v to avoid crosstalk on long runs.
On the other hand, not really thinking about long runs at the moment…
Here's a revised top PCB for the DMB-4771 case.
Liked the idea of two switches with leds and another led on the top board, just like for the DMB-4775.
But, this one is smaller, so switched to this tiny OLED.
Using the Edge/Eval style header allows for convenient testing outside the box...
I also find the idea of a P2 based PLC quite interesting and I already had some possible applications for it (see crane balancer, reflow oven controller, PCB tester...). But I fear making a flexible, modular and universal solution that really fits all possible cases like...
... is quite difficult. There's always at least one requirement that doesn't fit already existing boards. Only the classic P2Eval with accessory boards fits everything but that's not an option in a harsh environment with shock & vibration.
So at the moment I keep making custom PCBs for each different application.
Well, that's one nice thing about the DBM-4775... Comes in 3 boards. If you want, could just use my center board and use your own bottom for whatever I/O you need to do on the terminals.
And, can design your own top board or just not use one.
Planning on posting the Eagle files, so people can do whatever they want...
There is no better way than this to address a specific need.
As much as I'd like to have an universal controller that fits all possible needs I may have, the reality proved that's not going to happen at an acceptable cost.
And it seems to me, that there is no better solution than this one in other trades as well.
My recent visit to a hardware store proved this point with as simple tool as a hammer. There were at least seven types (not sizes) of hammers for different purposes and it was quite easy to see why they differ in shapes, weights and materials used.
well, yup...that's the conundrum. the complexity of making things simple... or, vice-versa.
just let's keep having fun along the way. P2 !
I have brought this up in the past but "the crowd went mild"
We want flexibility and we want finished products that don't scream "built by some dude in his shed".
A P2 hosted motherboard for the Tibbit Blocks would be nice. I don't like their own MCU offering.
A main P2 board similar to this
Enclosures come with packaging
interesting... my recent noodlings have been along these lines of modular I/O,, and the prices on their I/O seem reasonable. I had a different form-factor, but different processor on a compatible mainboard might have legs. haven''t looked into the claims/license they try to protect on the physical interface, or is it all open.
will have to look more at those.
good find.
Finally got around to putting together this new PCB for DMB-4771.
Seems to be OK so far...