Announcing.. The Renard 'SS' 8, 16, 24 channel controllers.

**Wayne J** · 02-27-2009, 01:29 PM

Introducing a new line of Renard based controllers.

Why another Renard design?

The Renard concept is now approximately three years old with boards being available to the DIYC community for about two years. The three current Renard board designs were each created by different individuals with different design goals in mind. There is nothing wrong with any of the existing designs, each board performs well. But providing support for them in the DIYC community is made more difficult by each board having different levels of documentation available, each board has its own unique power & hook-up requirements and each board has its own unique BOM. To make it easier for new members and also easier on those who provide support to the DIYC community, a common Renard design is needed.

The Renard Standardized Series (SS) controllers are part of a design effort to standardize the board layouts for Renard based systems and to establish a standardized list of components to use in Renard designs. Some of the goals of the Renard SS design effort were:

Completely self-contained controller board. All that is needed to start using the board is a data input and an AC power source. No external DC voltage supply or externally generated ZC is needed and there is no need for an off-board neutral bar.

Common part list used for all boards. There are no special parts for any individual board, all the boards use the same components. The only thing different is the quantity used on each board.

Common component layout on the board. With only a few exceptions, all the boards are laid out in the same fashion. The layout utilized in the Renard SS designs was chosen to provide the best possible isolation between the AC circuitry and the DC circuitry.

On-board LEDs for full support of Renard diagnostics firmware.

Easier for a new member to build. By removing extra options from the board, now a member can just order the parts from the BOM and will be able to build the board without having to figure out which options/parts apply to them.

Easier to support. By having all the boards using the same parts and having the same component layout, it will be easier to provide support to DIYC members when they have problems or ask questions.

Complete documentation. In the past, boards were created, designed, produced and distributed without much documentation to support them. Documentation was an afterthought and was slow to catch up, some never did or is hard to understand for new members. In the Renard SS design effort, the documentation was created at the same time as the boards so that when the boards were ready for release, the documentation was also ready.

The result of the Renard SS design effort is three new Renard based boards with on-board SSRs consisting of 8, 16 and 24 channels.

These boards are 'in stock' and available from Wayne J

I keep all three boards on hand. Click the links below for pricing....

SS 8

SS 16

SS 24

Kits available also.....
SS Kits

The complete wiki documentation for each board.....

Renard SS 8

Renard SS 16

Renard SS 24

Renard SS8

Size = 3.4” x 6”

Renard SS16

Size = 4.1” x 8”

Renard SS24

Size = 4” x 11”

Renard SS24 with heat sink installed

Renard SS8 mounted in a CG-1000 (yourbroadbandstore.com) enclosure

Renard SS16 mounted in a CG-1000 (yourbroadbandstore.com) enclosure

Renard SS24 mounted in a CG-2000 (yourbroadbandstore.com) enclosure

**kychristmas** · 02-27-2009, 03:16 PM

Absolutely awesome Wayne. Being in this community with you guys is like having high-end engineers on staff. I can't believe the diligence and quality you guys provide. I love the outline of the SS principals.

**rstehle** · 02-27-2009, 03:25 PM

Simply Outstanding!!!!! I bet the mounting holes even line up with the enclosure.......!!!!!

**Wayne J** · 02-27-2009, 03:43 PM

Thanks guys. I just added the wiki links to that post also. ;)

**g2ktcf** · 02-27-2009, 04:11 PM

Very nicely done Wayne! I think this will be a big help for all the newbies.

Chris

**ukewarrior** · 02-27-2009, 04:14 PM

This is very impressive.

Are you also sharing the gerber files?

Are they any plans for a SS64 design?

I too love the real DIY work that goes on here.

**Wayne J** · 02-27-2009, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by ukewarrior

This is very impressive.

Are you also sharing the gerber files?

Are they any plans for a SS64 design?

I too love the real DIY work that goes on here.

Thanks!

Two other people are in possesion of the design and gerber files. I did this to ensure that the boards will always be available to the community. As for releasing them for download, no, I will not be doing that.

A 64 channel is not likely, the current XC is a great board. ;)

**Mudsculpter** · 02-27-2009, 06:09 PM

Nice board,.... but since there was a ren24 already in production, I would have liked to have seen a Renard SS32 to reflect the doubling theme 8 > 16 > 32.

**RavingLunatic** · 02-27-2009, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by rstehle

Simply Outstanding!!!!! I bet the mounting holes even line up with the enclosure.......!!!!!

Unfortunately, not completely. You do have 2 holes on each board that will line up but the other holes will need some sort of modification/adaptation. To get the boards to line up perfectly, the board size would have to increase significantly.

**tlorek** · 02-27-2009, 06:51 PM

<<<WIPING DROOL>>>

WOW! Absolutely fantastic!! My plan calls for 11 Ren-16s and 1 Ren-64 (on top of the Ren-24s I've already purchased). I may change the Ren-64 in my plan to Ren-8s. Will have to check later tonight.

Also, are you planning on posting the BOM for the units?

Thanks so much for your hard work!!!!!!