Diy Consult Interface Kit

[Bov]

For those who do have probs just check your soldering job. The tracks are very close in spots and thats necessary to keep the size of the unit down. Its very easy to short out a component if you are not careful. Use a magnifying glass to check the circuit board after its been built and clean the board after you have soldered the components with a small plastic brush to remove any metalic contaminants.

Hope thats of some help

Regards

Bov

[rmahnovetsky]

kit arrived on monday. At a first glance it looks great, a closer look it even looks better!.. Nice PCB too. thanks

[NewKleer]

just 1 remaining!

[AWDMAT]

any of these still available?

if so put me down for one

when and where do i sign?

[NewKleer]

last one's yours! pm sent

Edited December 20, 2005 by NewKleer

[Phil]

Any plans to offer more kits or premade ones?

[NewKleer]

may do another batch later on, but realistically that wouldnt be before feb (the boards themselves may take up to a month to get done)

would also want a bit more feedback on what would be good to improve if i was to. currently i have:

1. fix yellow led

2. make those 2 tight spaced components more room

3. more room so crystal can lay flat (look into low profile crystal)

4. look into 4024 14 pin counter (replace 4060 16 pin)

5. IC sockets rather than soldering into pcb (given pcb sits lower than i originally designed means theyll fit)

6. change pcb a bit where leds go to make it square (originally that cutout bit wasnt supposed to be cutout by pcb manufacturers)

7. dont use that stupid packaging tape as it leaves the boxes sticky!

8. finally, see how difficult it would be to put USB on same board

Edited January 3, 2006 by NewKleer

[dbloemhard]

I kind of like how the LEDs poke through the screw holes for the Serial ports, but i also think its important to be able to lock the serial cables onto the unit. Since many of these will be mounted permanently there is a chance that they could vibrate loose without the DB9 connector screws...

[NewKleer]

its pretty difficult to put the nuts onto the connectors (ive not idea how ud do it without glueing them on, unless u just somehow use the existing holes where leds go thru as the nut). its pretty dam tight fit for the connectors to go together, so i dont think they fall off easily?

and the idea is that u disconnect the consult cable from the box when not using it (to cut power etc)

[R32GTR]

Chalk another one up for working first go.

Finally got a few hours free today to solder it up and test it out. Worked fine with all the software mentioned in the thread. FYI I didn't solder any of the pins in the consult connector. I just crimped them as they were designed to do. I actually found this to be the easiest part of the job.

Thanks for the kit NewKleer.

[NewKleer]

what did u use to crimp them? i dont have any crimping tools on hand (and i doubt most people would) but might be useful to get one if theres a cheap one that can do it

[NewKleer]

ive found 2 more kits all ready to go that i didnt think i had (might have 1 or 2 more after this also, but need to check parts).

Edited January 3, 2006 by NewKleer

[NewKleer]

ive gone ahead and designed a combined usb/serial version that potentially can be used as either serial, usb, or both (with jumpers changing whether its serial or usb), which improves on all the points i listed above (except not worrying about point 4).

only thing is if u want to have both usb and serial, to switch between them ud have to open the box (unless u drill a hole and maybe get those easy to change jumpers that have the extra plastic on it to make it longer so its easy to grab to remove, if anyone knows what i mean)

the usb chip is a smd one (surface mount) so i might have to solder it to the board for usb versions as i cant imagine it being too easy for most people to do with normal soldering iron.

Edited January 3, 2006 by NewKleer

[konect]

So does this mean that the kits will be available again soon ?

[NewKleer]

will need to test circuit (mainly usb side) before boards are manufactured, and then do the construction guide etc, so realistically not till feb some time (and of course assuming theres nothing major goes wrong with any of it)

[CoZZm0]

Notch up another happy customer here. Thanks mate. Construction guide was excellent (bar a few fuzzy pics, but was easy enough to figure out what was being said). Worked first go, excellent work.

[NewKleer]

good to hear.

heres a few pics on the layout of the pcb for the usb/serial one. the 4 blocks in the middle (and one down bottom left) are the jumpers to switch between usb/serial. top right chip is usb which ill hopefully be able to solder to pcb. waiting on parts (1-2 weeks) before i can test circuit, then go ahead with board manufacture if all is good.

Edited January 11, 2006 by NewKleer

[Mr Italy!]

Hey Newkleer!

Hows progress? I'm very keen to see how the USB connection is coming along!

Justin

[NewKleer]

still waiting on some parts to do some testing before i get boards done. however i might put this on hold while im working on the consult display which could, if i go overboard, include a usb/serial consult interface as part of it (if it does i might cancel this one). not sure that ill have the funds up front to do both at same time, so will have to see.

its definitely the priority over this given being something thats useful everyday (whereas the majority of people wont have a laptop permanently in the car)

Edited February 2, 2006 by NewKleer

[NewKleer]

ive decided at this stage to put any further consult interface kits on hold indefinitely as i wont have time whilst working on the consult lcd display:

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/in...howtopic=102414

im planning to have it come with integrated serial and usb consult interfaces