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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Dimitech Module Project by Bryan1
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Bryan1 Guru  Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
Hi Guy's, With Kon's great offer of free modules with the only condition of making anything with it public, I will honor the request and use this thread as a blog for my project with the module. I found some time this afternoon to go free up a USB, PS2 and VGA socket from some old boards in my shed with the help of a heatgun and trusty solder sucker. Now I'm going to make up a carrier board and solder the module in SMD style with the above sockets mounted on the board along with a 6 pin header for ICSP. Tomorrow I'll go buy a suitable plastic box so the pcb can be designed so the sockets can be set to the side of the box for easy connecting. The carrier board will have a 20 pin female header so expansion boards can sit ontop of the carrier board. I'm thinking of some AAA rechargable batteries that can go in the base of the box and the module can monitor the voltage etc so the unit can be portable. Say a 2.5mm power socket can go on the side of the box then I can use my smart sillychip charger I made years ago to recharge the unit when needed. It would be nice to have either a 20x4 LCD or GLCD sitting ontop of the box so data can be shown when the unit is mobile. Which brings the question have people got a GLCD working on the maximite as I haven't seen anything to say so?. In the offer thread I did say I wanted a play with RetroBSD but I'm going to stick with the maximite for this project and I'll get the cobwebs off my DM maxi and use that now I found a program that works to get the image file to load on a SDCard hopefully. Anyway got the clear to go on the kitchen tomorrow as yesterday when I sprayed the granite coat down with the fog and humidity close to 100% the coat was still wet this morning so I got most of the day off. As Mick who I know is in Melb said he got his yesterday I just had to have a reason to go to our local shop to see if mine had arrived and way to be hold it was there so this puppy is one happy camper. One idea I have is use this project along with an I-Button I have for temp and humidity and rather then program a mission just do forced reads then place the box at my work place, then I can know whether the temp and humidity is right for drying the products we use. Get the module to datalog the temp and humidity and not only have a display on hand but also a log for the end of the day. Enough for now and shopping day tomorrow for a suitable enclosure so this project can get underway. Regards Bryan |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
G'day Guy's, Well finally found some time to get to Aztronics to get some bits. Looking over the box's I settled on a Hammond 1455J1201 which is 4.72x3.08x1.07 ". The box is an ali one and I'll machine the endcaps in my bridgeport mill for the VGA,PS2 and USB sockets. Also got a panel mount 2.1mm socket and plug to suit for charging the 4 off AAA 850mA rechargeable batteries I got. Looks like there is enough room to fit one of my GLCD's and now I'm thinking maybe use a 16f886 as a GLCD backpack and controlled via I2C from the module. This will then not tie up most of the module outputs. So tonight and over the weekend I'll be on designing the pcb design and making it up. Regards Bryan |
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kiiid Guru Joined: 11/05/2013 Location: United KingdomPosts: 671 |
Bryan, if you want to use I2C to control the GCLD, why not one with direct I2C interface? Like here: http://www.buy-display.com http://rittle.org -------------- |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
Hi Kon, Last year when was right into programming as I was out of work I got my first GLCD working of that 16f886 chip on a breadboard and for years on and off I have used Oshonsoft basic for programming. When the maximite finally came out I decided to have a go at making my own but had too many problems getting the board seen in Mplab. I do think now it was that cap issue now thinking about it too. Now Don from Dontronics was great and sent me a SM1 then a DM mega and I wrote that online help file which took me close to a month but unfortunately it was never taken up by the maximite so it does seem all that work was in vain. As a GLCD does take quite a few pins using a 8 bit chip as a slave to me does seem a good idea and in Oshonsoft the "case" function can soon decode what needs doing. In my backup DVD's I do have a pcb already designed using a 16f886 smd and the board is designed to sit on the back of the GLCD. Now I did get get 2 68 pin plcc sockets today and tried to insert the module only to find it wasn't an easy task and in the end the PWRON leg on the module broke. Anyway as that pin is right next to the Vbat pin a simple jumper can fix that problem and now after that I will go for soldering the module on the board. I will post the image of my carrier board design and it will be there to prove if I have done any errors or can do it a better way. Regards Bryan |
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| kiiid Guru Joined: 11/05/2013 Location: United KingdomPosts: 671 |
Are you sure it is inserted the right way? The module should be fitting in very easily into the socket. One of the corners in those sockets is missing and that is the key for orientation. Or are you sure it is the power on pin? If so, it will be very unusual. I have identified a possible mechanical weak spot in the top left corner where one of the holes is very close to the pins. But those pins are NC and even if they break, there won't be a problem at all. The power on pin is not there. As to the help... where is it online? Maybe I could be useful after all... http://rittle.org -------------- |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
Hi Kon, Don has saved all of the help file versions here now as you will on the time stamp it was early last year when this was done. With all the new commands it would require a major update and personally I do think an online help system can only be a good thing. Regards Bryan |
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| kiiid Guru Joined: 11/05/2013 Location: United KingdomPosts: 671 |
Hi Bryan, I will have a look. I've been working on a GSM/GPRS module for the past month or so and (hopefully) soon will be a cellular comms component in the series, so an online help system will become possible. As much as I know the Olimex guys have implemented some help system in their revisions, I am planning to do the same in near future as well, but the time is a real issue here because this module is only a small part in the whole series I am working on, the others mostly have got nothing to do with the MM, but still need work done on them and that tears off the time I can spend on this one alone. Also, since this module is the first one in this format (PLCC), the PCBA factory which I work with, have not perfected the manufacturing technology for it yet, so little mechanical issues with it are still possible. But they are getting better, right now a new addition in the series (mSPI RAM) is just coming out and it will be a bit better, and so on... Kon http://rittle.org -------------- |
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