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Unread 27-01-2005, 00:09
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Re: 2 Questions about OI

Quote:
Originally Posted by theCowboyKnight
1 - We are trying to use the LED output bits provided by the control ports - that is fine and dandy. The one thing that we can seem to find out is the power outputs from the ports (specifically the LED pins on ports 1 & 3). Does anyone have any info about the supplied voltage?
On the page of the OI manual that talks about those pins, it says that they provide 5V, and they are limited to 10mA.
Quote:
Originally Posted by theCowboyKnight
also 2- We are looking to use a set of matrixorbital 4x20 VFD displays to relay information back to our pilots (basically a custom version of the dashboard). One option is to program something like a Basic stamp to take output bits from the LEDs and convert them into pre-programed statements to appear on the VFDs. The other is to use the Mini controller to directly output realtime data to the displays by porting it to the OI (Im still not sure how it works, but my programming team seems to like the idea). So basically my question is 1. can we even use this concept (refering to rules and such)
<R66> discusses connecting devices to the Dashboard port. You can legally connect anything you want, but it has to be battery-powered, because AC power won't be available other than to power the OI.
Quote:
Originally Posted by theCowboyKnight
and 2. Which system would work better.
I think a BASIC Stamp would be the better of the two options you've offered, but have you read the Dashboard packet specifications? It's a lot of data to process on something like a BASIC Stamp, and it seems like a lot of extra work for minimal gain. I would suggest using a laptop instead, if you have one available. This is explicitly allowed in <R66>, assuming once again that it is running on battery, and you'll have a much easier time processing the data.
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