Handheld DMX tester

[RJ]

Great!  Can't wait to see it up and running!

RJ

[ElectricCraft1]

Nice work!  Great to see other members of DLA making great stuff.

Branden

[n1ist]

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

[abell]

Keep us posted, I would love to see how this works out.

[n1ist]

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

[dr. jones]

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

[RJ]

Very Nice!

RJ

[MrChristmas2000]

Excelent! 

[n1ist]

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

[prof]

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.

[n1ist]

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 :-)

[abell]

So this will actually program the channel to be a certain number, or will it just read it?

Adam

[n1ist]

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

[Murl]

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.

[n1ist]

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