DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Other Projects => Topic started by: n1ist on February 18, 2009,
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I'm redoing the board to be (mainly) thru-hole. The only SMT parts will be the regulator, inductor, and diode if you want to build the switcher. I am also resizing it to fit into Mouser's 789-S1A-442710LCD enclosure. It's handheld and has a built-in 4-AA holder. I hope to get the board out for fab today or tomorrow so I can start coding.
/mike
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Things are proceeding nicely. I have the LCD working now, along with the negative bias voltage generator. It turns out that Mouser linked the wrong data sheet to the case I got, and I designed it against the data sheet, so it doesn't fit. There are other options that will work. The DC/DC converter works nicely, even down below 3V so running from 2 AA cells works fine (I'm using C cells now since I had the holder on hand).
Now to add the keypad or encoder and get some more code done. And take some better pictures :)
/mike
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Hi Mike
That looks really nice
Cheers
Rick R.
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Looks Cool
Bill
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Very nice Mike!
John
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Mike,
Looking good...
-Paul
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Mike:
Thanks for all your hard work.
Isn't this project far enough along that it deserves its own thread?
\dmc
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Over in this thread http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=954.0 (http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=954.0). we have been tossing around ideas for a handheld DMX tester. In order to keep (or is it lose?) my sanity, I have started to build such a beast. It has progressed to the point where I am moving it into its own thread.
The more I think about it, the better I'm liking the use of the rotary encoder over the keyboard. It's a reasonable way to select items from a menu, and only needs one hole in the case :-) I may want another button (other than the select action of the encoder) to get back to the main menu. I'll see what works when I get the menu routines coded.
Since last time, I have gotten the rotary encoder wired up and coded. I'ts just moving a hat back and forth across the LCD right now, but that's just a test.
/mike
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Cool!
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Cool
Bill
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Sounds great Mike... keep at it!
John
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This will be a great device to have next season. Thanks so much for taking the time, Mike.
\dmc
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OK, we have blinky flashy - it is now speaking DMX. So far, with static values, but it does control the one JEC pixel I have hooked up right now.
Next step is to fill out the menu items and start coding the routines behind the scenes.
/mike
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After much fiddling, I think I have most of the menu routines coded; I just need to hilight which digit in a multi-digit number you are changing. I have switched over to a 4-button design (left/right moves you through the menu, up/down changes an option). So far, it is supporting "all on/off" and "set channel to value". Next will be the sweep tests, and then I will work on the special modes to initialize the starting channel on the various boards.
I will be respinning the board in KiCAD so I will be able to generate Gerbers and make affordable boards. I will also likely change the processor to an Atmega168 as it is cheaper and smaller.
/mike
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Mike,
This is looking great! I think such a device would make troubleshooting and "field testing" so much easier! I am very interested in your project. Keep up the good work!
-Brandon
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Great! Can't wait to see it up and running!
RJ
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Nice work! Great to see other members of DLA making great stuff.
Branden
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I've been a bit busy lately. I just sent out for boards for rev 2; this one should hopefully be the final one, except that I just noticed I forgot the RJ45. Argh. I guess it will have to be fly-wired. It's thru-hole except for the dc-dc converter; since the IC was SMT, I did it all SMT. It's not too hard.
This was the first board I did using KiCAD; it's not a bad package. There are some quirks, but it's easier to use than Allegro and is free, so I can't complain...
/mike
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Keep us posted, I would love to see how this works out.
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Here's the latest bunch of pictures. Coming up with a general-purpose menu routine has been more work than it should have been... The arrows on the top right of the display indicate which buttons are active for this particular menu. So far, it supports the following:
All channels 255 or 0
Single channel (or start byte) to any value
Scan a 255 from channel 'n' to channel 'm'
Sweep a single channel from 0 to 255
Any good things to add?
/mike
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all channels@ ###(not just on or off)
channels x-y @###
channels x-y@ sweep
test data - broken wire/ polarity swap
record a look / playback a look
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Very Nice!
RJ
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Excelent! :)
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OK, I have added:
all channels@ ###(not just on or off)
channels x-y @###
channels x-y@ sweep
The processor doesn't have enough memory for record/playback by itself. I'd have to add an off-board memory chip to do this.
I'm not sure the best way to do the broken wire/polarity swap test.
/mike
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What about being able to programm the start address for the MR16 for example, where channel 1 and 2 need to be independantly set to the appropriate values with the remaining channels set to zero.
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Right now, you could select "all off", then "set channel -> 1" and "set channel ->2"
but each change would take effect right away. I'm not sure that would confuse the MR16 (since I can't find mine - it's in a box in the basement somewhere...). You are also able to set channel 0, which is the start byte, for those devices that use a non-0 start byte to enable programming.
The good thing is that the hardware is working; added features are *just* software :-)
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So this will actually program the channel to be a certain number, or will it just read it?
Adam
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Right now, it is transmit only. The hardware is there to do receive (one GPIO bit controlling the direction of the RS485 transceiver) but I haven't done anything with it yet.
I have also ordered one of those eBay special rs232-rs485 dongles and will add a bootloader to the code so future firmware updates will be possible thru the DMX port instead of having to take the whole thing apart...
/mike
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Very nice!
I'm working on something similar that interfaces with an IR remote control so my dad can use DMX to control the lights in & around his model railroad layout.
You've inspired me to go beyond the usual wirewrap and start researching PCB layout programs. It's been over 20 years since I've made a custom PCB.
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The three ones that I use are ExpressPCB, Kicad, and Cadence/Allegro. Of all, ExpressPCB was the easiest to learn, but is limited to making boards thru them (yes, you can buy Gerbers after you made a board for another $65). I have just stated using Kicad, and it looks like a very nice package, and well worth the cost (free!). Cadence is extremely powerful, has a long learning curve, and costs thousands to license so I only use it at work :-)
Another one that's very popular is Eagle; I haven't used it myself.
Since starting to make my own PCBs years ago, I will never go back to wire wrap...
/mike
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DipTrace is also worth looking into. I use it and really like it.
RJ
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Thank you both for the recommendations... Time to do some reading!
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Just kinda curious - what happened to this project... was looking quite nice... was there a beta? did folks use it this season? Directing me to the continued topic is appreciated...
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I didn't get a chance to fully finish it, but I will get back to it shortly.
/mike