Beginner Examples Wiring

[dzinek]

is there any site where i can find the simply Examples for wiring  prop sx for servo and led ?
and im intresting Vixen i want connect prop sx and i want do christmas lights and use all 16 outputs
what program i shoud use to interpret the data sent by Vixen

[JonnyMac]

To be candid, the Prop-SX is not for the casual user.  That said, the connections are pretty straightforward.  Anything running from the 12-volt supply will connect between V+ (common) and the associated OUTx terminal.  Sometimes you have to do a bit of engineer (using Ohm's law, that is).  If you want to run a single LED at about 20 mA you could use this circuit:



The value is selected to be closest to the calculated value.  Points of consideration: the ULN drops about 0.7 volts, so 12 - 0.7 is 11.3; 11.3 - 1.5 (for the LED) is 9.8; 9.8v/0.02A = 490 (again, 470 is close and will be fine).

You can, so long as you don't try to run to many, connect directly to the TTL output headers like this:



Points of consideration: the P0.W output is 5v and there is a 100-ohm resistor on the Prop-SX (it provides a bit of protection).  Plugging this and the 100-ohm external resistor into Ohm's Law we get (5.0 - 1.5)/(100 + 100) = 17.5 mA

Servos plug directly into the TTL output headers.  You must be careful, though, as using too many servos under heavy load can drag down the Prop-SX power supply and cause the Prop-SX to reset.

[JonnyMac]

For Christmas lights I wouldn't suggest using the Prop-SX -- you would have to build circuitry to switch the lights and that can be tricky.  You can use our RC-4 (switching) and FC-4 (fading) boards with Vixen; if you use four of each of the boards this would let you control 32 channels of lighting (16 switched, 16 with full fade capability). 

You can find the driver for the RC-4 and FC-4 in the Library section.
-- http://www.efx-tek.com/php/smf/index.php?topic=440.0

To connect your PC directly to the RC-4/FC-4 chain you'll need our Serial Inverter (we designed it for this):
-- http://www.efx-tek.com/topics/serial_inverter.html