Boards with different baud rates

[yellowdog87]

I’m curious to what happens when different boards have different baud rates. I’m using ss24 right now but am looking at buying a 24hc over in the buy sale section. My only question is the board I’m looking at is a different baud rate than the ones I have and didn’t know if they would work with each other or not?


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[TazChaLet]

I’m curious to what happens when different boards have different baud rates. I’m using ss24 right now but am looking at buying a 24hc over in the buy sale section. My only question is the board I’m looking at is a different baud rate than the ones I have and didn’t know if they would work with each other or not?


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you can ask that person if they can re-flash the chips to the baud rate you have on your ss24 or you would have to run each board off its own port set at that baud rate for the boards

[yellowdog87]

Ok thanks. one more question, what’s the difference in baud rates? Is one better than the other?


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[MartinMueller2003]

Faster = more channels at a higher refresh rate and shorter distance before the signal degrades. Shorter is a relative term. If you are using RS485 at 234Kbs you may only get a few hundred feet between the data source and destination vs over 1000' at 56Kbs (using a good quality usb dongle). For most people 100' is more than they will ever need so the distance point is often moot.

Too fast and some of the controllers can't keep up. Too fast is implementation dependent. Good code runs faster than not so good code. Better hardware runs faster than not so good hardware.

[rstehle]

To keep it simple, the Baud rate could be thought of as a frequency. The controllers need to be programmed at the same frequency to talk to each other. The frequency (baud rate) is hard coded (flashed) on to the microchips on the controller. The faster the baud rate, the more channels you can run off of one Com Port (or dongle). The Renard data stream is called RS485, and is very robust, and can travel hundreds of feet before it starts to degrade. The chips are flashed with a Pic Programmer. If you don't have one, maybe try to find someone local to you that can help out. If you are going to continue to run Renards, I strongly suggest you purchase a PIC Programmer as the chips some times need to be reflashed from year to year.

[yellowdog87]

I may get a PIC programmer because the last boards I bought had to be flashed and thankfully Wayne J was kind enough to flag them for me I just had to pay shipping to him. Another question(sorry to wear u guys out) but should I think of running some boards off a different comm port. Right now I’m running 3 ss24 off of one port and they are all daisey chained together with no problems. I’m looking at adding 2 and maybe 3 more 24 channel renards either the ss series or the HC series.


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[TazChaLet]

at 57600 baud and 50ms timing you can run up to 286 ch off 1 comm port where I live now my px1 and renards are daisy chained since they are kinda in same location but my first yr my window where the cords came outside was in between where some of my renards were so I ran 2 comm ports 1 to the renards on left of house and 1 to the renards on right of house so think about how your stuff is setup and is daisy chaining all is the way to go or using more than 1 comm port

[dirknerkle]

rstehle strongly suggested that you buy a programmer. I couldn't agree more. It is an absolutely essential piece of equipment you need if you're going to follow this hobby and every bit as important as a screwdriver, pliers, or duct tape.

[yellowdog87]

Is the PICkit 2 or 3 still the best way to go on a programmer, all the searching I’ve done suggests the PICkit


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[rstehle]

Is the PICkit 2 or 3 still the best way to go on a programmer, all the searching I’ve done suggests the PICkit


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Either one will do the trick. I've been using a PICkit 2 for 9 years and it still works great.

As an aside, I have always flashed my PIC's at 115,200 baud and everything worked as smooth as silk. I used to run over 1000 channels of AC control, so I used multiple Com Ports on my PC.