12 Channel SSR in Dev Forum

[RavingLunatic]

http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2460



I am designing a 12 channel ssr board. What do you think would be a better data input, multiple rj45s or a single multi pin header with a connector that uses some crimp terminals?


Since I can't post over in the development forum, I'll post here and hopefully Macrosill will still consider these inputs.


Type of connection depends alot on how you plan/envision it being used.

- If it is going to be used with Renard64/Grinch/Olsen and deployed out in the display then it would only make sense to have multiple RJ45's. Yes, it would mean 3 CAT5 cables grouped together (unless of course you are planning on getting different/larger multi-conductor cables). Of course you could cut down to 2 CAT5 cables but that would mean getting creative with how you connect your ends at the controller.

- If you are planning on having the controller in an enclosure next to the 12 channel SSR then you can use any other type of connection that fits on the board or even hardwire it.

or Are you developing another controller board to go with this? ;)



A better picture of how you plan to use it and what will be driving it would help in providing better inputs.


2¢

[ppohlman]

RavingLunatic- I was about to do this same thing, but you beat me to it.

If this 12 channel SSR is to be used with any controller that uses RJ45's as outputs, then the inputs to the SSR should be the same. I think this would reduce confusion during setup.

Looking at the price and availablility of wire, most people probably have spare Cat5 cable laying around and it would be cheaper than buying new multi-wire cable.

Whatever the decision is, building an adapter to meet your own individual needs is always a solution that isn't too difficult.

[Jeff Millard]

I was a member of the Dev forum on the old site... but not here... hmmm... maybe I've worn out my welcome:rolleyes:

Brian, I seem to recall that you had bought a bunch of SimpleIO 12channel bare boards. I used the headers for those with crimp connectors and they worked out great. They're not quite as easy to manipulate as RJ45s, but using stranded Cat5 they were fine.

Jeff

[ppohlman]

After reading through the discussion in the DEV thread, I really like the idea of leaving the options open to the person actually building it. Keep the traces available for the RJ45's but also include a pinout for those that want to have their own adapter.

Excellent idea!! Have both options.

[Jeff Millard]

Yep, that's a good thing. Like the way Frank made his Ren24 so it could use SMD optos or through hole, and spades or screw terms. Very good ideas all around. (I wish SimpleIO would have had this forsight when they made the SSRs in my last post. It would have been nice to pick and choose...
J

[Macrosill]

Sorry guys, maybe I posted the OP in the wrong forum. It was a question for everyone and I put it in a place that you can all not post in. This brings out the point of the developers forum even though I made the mistake. You can still have input into the project and ask questions about it. The thread in that forum will stay more on the technical topic.

Jeff, I guess I overlooked you on the list. I will take care of it asap. Sry.

RL, the point of this new ssr pcb is just to place a single board in a location that would normally have taken 2 or 3 of the standard ssr boards. No controller to go with it, it will interface with the existing controllers.

Jeff, I did buy some from SimpleIO and am buying the last 100 of them Bob has left. I am posting this question and possibly developing a new board to see if the current pin header design is not going to work out best for our needs. To see if you guys would prefer RJ45s or both. If the current design does not need to be changed then I would just get more of the current design. If we need the addition of the RJ45s and/or the elimination of the header then I would design a new one.

I used 5 of the exact boards last year and they worked great. They do require a few different parts than the current standard so I guess that makes most of the previous paragraph irrelevant.

I used the 14 pin header and fed it with 2 cat5 cables. On the controller end I split the 2 cat5 cables into 3 rj45s. I will provide exact instructions and color codings for the cable terminations to go along with the board.

[aussiephil]

Macrosill

I'm also in favour of higher channel count SSR's and have both an 8 and 16 channel board layouts complete.
the bit that i'm worried about is the current requirements on the power input cable if you happen to connect a full load to each channel.
12 channels @ 1A for triac is 12 amps regardless of voltage, if we stretch that to 1.5A per Triac we have 18A load, wire thickness goes up quickly.
the disribution tracks on the PCB need to be scaled to handle the Max load in my opinion as well.

For the 16 channel board I have laid out i have split the power input into 2 just to ensure i don't overload the input cabling by accident.

I hadn't thought of adding pin headers but will look at that tonight.
I have also decided to fuse all the Triac outputs with onboard M205 fuses as i have had scary experiences with burning thin cables like on minilights used in australia before.

Cheers
Phil

[Jeff Millard]

Macrosill

12 channels @ 1A for triac is 12 amps regardless of voltage, if we stretch that to 1.5A per Triac we have 18A load, wire thickness goes up quickly.
the disribution tracks on the PCB need to be scaled to handle the Max load in my opinion as well.


Cheers
Phil

Good point Phil. For my own use, I am interested in a similar situation to what Brian used his 12 channel boards for... Leaping Arches. A fully lit arch with 12 channels and 100 minis per is a little less than 4 amps. But I can see where careful planning could quickly overload the design.

Would it be too complicated to incorporate two or three separate power circuits? Maybe design in a shunt or jumper that could be placed or removed to separate 4 or 6 channel sections of the board? Then it would be adjustable to fit it's use.

Jeff

[Macrosill]

Jeff,

We can look into multiple fuses or circuits on the ssr board.

Obviously this will be a coop'ed board too. Just wanted to put that out there.

[aussiephil]

Good point Phil. For my own use, I am interested in a similar situation to what Brian used his 12 channel boards for... Leaping Arches. A fully lit arch with 12 channels and 100 minis per is a little less than 4 amps. But I can see where careful planning could quickly overload the design.

Would it be too complicated to incorporate two or three separate power circuits? Maybe design in a shunt or jumper that could be placed or removed to separate 4 or 6 channel sections of the board? Then it would be adjustable to fit it's use.

Jeff


Jeff
My 16ch design is broken into 2x8ch with a link point to join for low current use - i'm going 16 ch due to the high channels/lights ratio that i'm planning.
I will be happy to share this once i have tested the PCB design.

Macro
i'd vote for two circuits on 12 channels.

Cheers

[klanger]

Will the boards have AC outputs with hot and neutral pins for each channel. As per the Simple IO boards?

[Macrosill]

Will the boards have AC outputs with hot and neutral pins for each channel. As per the Simple IO boards?


Yes they will.

[Jeff Millard]

Can we choose from screw terminals or spades? ROTFLMAO
Are you sorry I jumped in on this yet?
Jeff

[klanger]

Yes they will.


Nice, now what colour can we have them in.lol

[Creg]

Not sure if this has been covered yet, but when I was building my controllers for the mega tree (2 x 16 channels) I would have loved to have had a way to daisy chain hot and neutral from one board to the other. It would have drastically cut down on my wiring needs. For that matter, having a neutral for each channel on the board would have also been very handy (think that was covered above already).

That way we can easily scale up our large controllers in groups of 4 channels to whatever we need.

IMHO