Input Requested

[JonnyMac]

It's been a while since we've made updates to the AP-16+ firmware -- I'd like to think that's because we have a lot of really clever customers that gave us great input during the design phase.

I took a tech support call yesterday that was interesting, and has me looking for feedback on how we handle the relay in the next version of the software. At the moment the relay can be disabled by adding a file called NORELAY.TXT to the SD card. This prevents automatic activation of the relay, but does still allow external control via the serial connection. There's even a beta version here in the forums that allows relay control (yes or no) by known files (SFX or AUX).

Yesterday the customer asked if he could control the relay for brief period at the beginning of the audio. Presently, the asnwer is "No," but this got me thinking.

What I'm proposing is that when the AP-16+ boots up it will first look for NORELAY.TXT; if this file exists, there will be no automatic activation of the relay. If that file is not found then it will look for RELAYCFG.TXT which will allow the use to easily configure the relay for the known files. Any file not specified in the configuration would operate in automatic mode. The contents of the file might look something like this:

SFX00 0
SFX01 100
SFX02 A
SFX03 A+50

The first line instucts the AP-16+ not to run the relay for SFX00.

The second line instructs the AP-16+ to run the relay for 10 seconds -- the timing is specified in 0.1s units. If SFX01 is 20s long, the relay will go off half way through.

The third line tells the AP-16+ to run the relay in automatic mode, that is, match the length of SFX02.

The fourth line tells the AP-16+ to activate the relay for the length of SFX03, then add five seconds.


Mind you, these are very preliminary ideas. I am revamping the architecture of the AP-16+ code to allow for other updates, so this won't appear any time soon. Still, I'd like your feedback as it helps in my planning. Thanks.

[bsnut]

That's a totally cool idea and I like it.

[JackMan]

Yep, I'll second that, sounds like a winner. Among other uses, this would allow an easy way to get rid of the "pop" when a file ends. Create your file with 1 or 2 seconds of silence at the end and route one of the speaker wires through the relay. Have it de-energize just before the file ends.

[gadget-evilusions]

I think the relay timing configuration file, as you posted Jon, sounds good.