Sourcing and assembling my test rig

[sry_not4sale]

Hi all,

Just thought I would journal my adventures in assembling my FreeEMS-Vanilla test rig. I have the TechArts card, and a soldering iron - can people help me out with the other parts I need?

Thanks in advance,
Aaron

[jharvey]

Do you have a Jimstim?

I seem to recall way back when, Fred did a bunch of simulation with sound cards.

[mk e]

I guess I need to order and build one too, good timing on the thread.

[sry_not4sale]

Jimstim is on the shopping list, but I will probably put that off until I am ready to order a MS from the states at the same time.

Right now I just wanna get the power supply set up so I can start testing stuff like the comms code

Cheers,
Aaron

[jharvey]

You can likely tap that off the PC power supply. I have a PC where I cut of an old HDD power extension cable and ran it to a barrel connector on the PC. That works well for some simple 12V and 5V applications. Cost next to nothing. Because I simply grabbed it off an unused HDD line, it only has power when the PC is on, and I did not have to modify the power supply or anything like that. Just a little harness.

You can likely do some simulation with a USB sound card or two. These guys are a womping $7 each.

https://www.stu2.net/wiki/images/5/59/SoundFOB.jpg

I think I got my USB devices from thinkgeek, or something like that. They have a couple other IO available, so you can probably sim non analog stuff with those IO's.

[sry_not4sale]

Oh, awesome. PC power supply sounds like a perfect idea

Is it the right amps etc?

[jharvey]

Yeah, those have some beef behind them. I had it connected to a 50 watt ham radio. Drew something like 7 amps, with out a problem.

[Fred]

You are brave hooking a dodgy switchmode supply to the processor directly...

Using the 12v output to supply the TA card through a reg and caps is fine though. You need a better reg for the card, I posted which one I used somewhere, but several will do. It burns 300mA or so from memory when in the actual firmware so you WILL need a heatsink on the regulator. I took some pics of Abe's one last night while messing around with it. He has swapped the reg for a better one, but now there is a big sink hanging off of it to keep it cool. Up to you entirely though. His is now working and has firmware and some comms with your tuner, yay.

so

12v pc supply > caps + reg + caps > TA card

and you are golden.

Mark, you will need a jimstim or similar, but you won't need the TA card unless you intend to help with testing of vanilla.

Fred.

[mk e]

Mark, you will need a jimstim or similar, but you won't need the TA card unless you intend to help with testing of vanilla.

Fred.

I wasn’t really thinking about testing vanilla but I certainly can if it will help, just let me know.

[sry_not4sale]

Thanks Fred. I'll have a look at the board and for the parts I need.