Can anyone provide some assistance on how this logic relates to the ssc32 board? The assumption is that you connect the positive and negative common from the servo rails and the signal goes to the individual pins numbered 1 thru 16 to cycle the relay’s. The board also shows a 12 volt input to power the relays. But should we assume that board logic comes from that 12 volt input as well? I am guessing yes.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. One member has a haunt show that is quite involved and we need to get this board working. He has a Kit 74 board that works fine on an LPT connection via VSA, but he needs a lot more relays and with the USB converters we can use more SSC 32 boards now.
The specs say 15 to 20mA drive current for each channel. This is a lot as they are simply driving an opto-isolator, which is simply an LED. All you need to do is connect the servo channel on the SSC-32 to the relay board, and of course a ground between the two. There is no need to provide any power from the SSC-32 to this relay board. You want only two wires, a ground and a signal.
I do not know if the board sources it’s power from the relay power. But it sure stands to reason, as it has a single set of power terminals and a regulator on the board.
The command for the SSC-32 to send a high or a low is simply. #0 H, or #0 L. The SSC-32 has 220 ohm resistors in series with the outputs to protect against short circuits. This may limit the current the output can supply. Have you tried it yet, or just looking for advise before you power it up?
Thx so much for replying. The odd thing about this board is that it definitely has on the double row terminal block noted 5 volt input on two pins on on end and ground noted on two pins at the other end. The 16 control pins for the relays are the 16 pins in the middle. Another member has wired the unit to a dedicated SSC32 hooked to VSA with VSA programmed to treat the SSC32 as a relay driver. As you have stated other relay boards that work with the ssc32 board only require ground and signal. But that may be where the confusion lies. I too have the board but have not tried yet. I will do so and report back.
All is well here in Halloween land. Board works fine. Interesting note. The relay board offers 5 volts. So it can power the SSC32 by including the red wire in the servo connection. Of course VL1 = VS1 and VS2 = VS1 must be jumped. The other thing I found was that the relays appear to fire on logic 0. Or at least that is how it appears. Using VSA I set the default to 1 on the device # I was using and the relay I was controlling turned off. Then as events occurred the relay turned on and off. It was as though the relay board was offering a logic high on the signal circuit and to cancel it, the SSC32 had to do so as well. Does that make sense?
I wasn’t able to view the schematic, but many devices are active low. I also have not used VSA before so I’m no help there. Yes you can get away with powering the SSC-32 from a 5vdc source, but remember it’s going through a 5vdc regulator… If you notice anything unusual power the regulator with 6vdc to 9vdc to ensure you gewt a solid 5vdc out.
Thx for taking the time to help. As long as we can get the dang board to respond correctly to our VSA routines, who cares what logic it uses. LOL !!! You robotic folks are in a different league. I think you would appreciate my 3 axis design and even more so my 2 axis eye design. You can see the results on youtube. Just search for spinman1949. Later and thx for the prof help.
