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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Hamfield Maximite Expander Board

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johnbig

Newbie

Joined: 23/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 21
Posted: 04:55am 29 Jun 2011
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I received a Maximite Expander board V2 Kit from Hamfield last friday. The quality of the double sided board and silk screening is magnificent. I purchased the full kit with all the components and documentation. When building the board on the weekend I had a few questions which I emailed off to Rohan at Hamfield and received answers on saturday and sunday. (They must be work dilligently there). It's a pleasure to work with this board as every component number is marked on the board as per the circuit.
It's going ot spoil my retirement as I have been playing ever since it has arrived.
 
sparkey

Senior Member

Joined: 15/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 819
Posted: 05:28am 29 Jun 2011
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hi there you do realize that it only does the first ten pins thats analog only and i would not build all the channels as you may want to do things your way..i have the v2 expander my self i got the "bundle" kit ....it does have the two headder sockes but if you want to you could splice the connecting cable to opper ate some of the digital cables also you might just have to run a jump wire off the bottom of the connector to an approite slot on the board but dont for get that one of the anolouge pins is ran to every block on the board ..you might have to just splice out the connector wire for that anolouge pin if you follw me and what i am saying then shure go ahead but dont fit out every block till you know what you want to do with it....regards ....
technicians do it with least resistance
 
rhamer
Senior Member

Joined: 06/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 174
Posted: 07:17am 29 Jun 2011
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Thanks for the vote John, I appreciate the feedback. It's taken and taking an imense amount of work to develop the various boards, and it's good to know people are happy with them.

Sparkey, the expander does not limit the functionality of the Maximite in any way, in fact it enhances it by allowing open collector on pins that the maximite does not have as open collector, as well as allowing the interfacing of digital circuits well above 3.3v.

The boards are 10 channels (pins) each and if you want all 20 channels then you cascade 2 of them.

The only functionality not available on the first 10 channels via the expander is Frequency,period and counting which the Maximite limits to pins 11-14. You can still get to these pins via the cascade connector on the expander, giving you exactly the same interface as is presented on the back of the Maximite for those channels.

Regards

Rohan
Rohan Hamer
HAMFIELD Software & Hardware Solutions

Makers of the Maximite Expander.

http://www.hamfield.com.au
 
sparkey

Senior Member

Joined: 15/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 819
Posted: 07:48am 29 Jun 2011
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i thought that may have been an option...i would have liked a larger schem..but i can blow it up on the local p/copyer and also thank u for sending me the jumper selection page it helps ...i have managed to get a screen with the battery voltage refreshing to 500 count its in text but that is fine

18.345647

battery voltage

time
on the top left hand corner of my 18 inch lcd ... now i have to compile three programes into one the voltage and the signal generator and the freqency read out ..its gunna be fun getting all this happening the flip flop will be sending to my inverter ..the frequency will also be displayed in text and the time running will show the clock once connected into the system will prolly be the controller of in comming current from the panels and wind gener ator ...yes its gunna be an on going project .. i will buy another maxi for fun but the maxi connected to my inverter system will be perminant and will run a 15 inch lcd....regards....
technicians do it with least resistance
 
rhamer
Senior Member

Joined: 06/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 174
Posted: 08:10am 29 Jun 2011
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Sparkey, the schematic in PDF form is included on the CD that came with the kit.

You can print that out as big as you like.

Regards

Rohan
Rohan Hamer
HAMFIELD Software & Hardware Solutions

Makers of the Maximite Expander.

http://www.hamfield.com.au
 
johnbig

Newbie

Joined: 23/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 21
Posted: 01:57am 30 Jun 2011
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Hi Sparkey,
I blew the circuit up and printed it to two sheets of A4. That way I dont have to go out in the sun to read it.

John Leate
 
VK6MRG

Guru

Joined: 08/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 347
Posted: 03:11am 30 Jun 2011
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Rohan,
WOW, and thank you for kit! This is how all kits should be!
I can't wait for the Modular series of kits to be ready, as i defenatly want to get some of these!!
Its easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission!

............VK6MRG.............VK3MGR............
 
rhamer
Senior Member

Joined: 06/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 174
Posted: 06:28am 30 Jun 2011
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  VK6MRG said   Rohan,
WOW, and thank you for kit! This is how all kits should be!
I can't wait for the Modular series of kits to be ready, as i defenatly want to get some of these!!


Well you won't have to wait long, the hub, 4 channel input and 4 channel output boards are in stock and will be available next week.

Keep an eye on my web site.

And thank you very much for your kind words.

Regards

Rohan
Rohan Hamer
HAMFIELD Software & Hardware Solutions

Makers of the Maximite Expander.

http://www.hamfield.com.au
 
James_From_Canb

Senior Member

Joined: 19/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 265
Posted: 12:34pm 14 Jul 2011
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Add me to the list of happy customers. I received my two expander boards this afternoon. It's going to be an interesting weekend.

They were well packed too, which is a nice change compared to the stuff I've bought from China recently.

Many thanks for including the LCD 40 character screen Rohan. I'll see if I can make some generic code to run the whole collection.

James
My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention.

Hedley Lamarr, Blazing Saddles (1974)
 
rhamer
Senior Member

Joined: 06/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 174
Posted: 06:57am 15 Jul 2011
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  James_From_Canb said   Add me to the list of happy customers. I received my two expander boards this afternoon. It's going to be an interesting weekend.

They were well packed too, which is a nice change compared to the stuff I've bought from China recently.

Many thanks for including the LCD 40 character screen Rohan. I'll see if I can make some generic code to run the whole collection.

James


Always happy to hear about a satisfied customer, thanks James.

BTW did it take long to build?

That 4x40 display should be fun. if memory serves the 2 seperate controllers are interleaved, so controller1 is lines 1&3 and controller 2 is lines 2&4. You'll have to write a function to handle the fancy footwork to keep all that looking correct.

Cheers

Rohan
Rohan Hamer
HAMFIELD Software & Hardware Solutions

Makers of the Maximite Expander.

http://www.hamfield.com.au
 
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