Turning a 5034NL switch into an OUTPUT UNIT!!

Hi All,


I've recently attached my blue and white striped butcher's apron and turned a 4-gang switch into an Output Unit!

I wanted some logic-level outputs (to switch Luxeon LEDs), so desoldered the switch LEDs from the PCB, replaced them with bog-standard 4N25 opto-isolators and - voila! - instant bus-powered, isolated 4-channel output unit.

Can anyone suggest if CIS is likely to productise an offering in a similar vein? I'd be much happier buying an official product to do this jobby rather than my own modifications.

I'm sure there are plenty of applications people can think of. An output unit that doesn't have 240V going into it would surely be a top seller!




Greig.

 

Very clever Greig, just hope you don't ever need to use your now voided warranty

But seriously, nice work, very creative

 

Thanks for the compliment Darpa.

The unit I killed was an old first-gen 5034 sourced from the collection of retired bits here, so its warranty died many years ago..

This was an initiative for my home installation, so it's not like I'm butchering these on a commercial basis and selling them to customers...

I ack that someone will suggest my whole installation is now un-supported, but you get that - but it's the people who are pushing the boundaries & doing creative things that help the system grow and evolve. Like I said in the initial posting, I'd like to see a legit equivalent.



G.

 

On yer!

You could do the same with a real output unit, of course. Any of the older style or the DIN relays drives each output separately with a simple on / off control. The older ones even have opto isolators sitting there all ready to play with.

Of course I can't recommend this procedure, but I can say that if you start with an output unit, you win the advantage of the C-Bus error correction mechanism operating a intended, and you can use the threshold and logic bits in the core to advantage; input unit options are kind of limited

As for dimmed output channels, that gets a bit trickier, because except for the analogue output unit, and some really, really old units, the levels for each channel are sent serially with channel identifier and checksum from the C-Bus micro to the dimming micro, and that won't drive your LEDs very nicely.

 

Don, I thought the only true way to dim LEDs was via PWM (Pulse Width Modulation)?

 

Totally agree with you there Greig, I definately wasn't critisizing you

 

Thanks Darpa, no offence taken.

For this application the 5034 makes a great output unit. I can use the PACA to deliver output logic using some more dummy groups (if I decide I need it).

This particular unit will be suspended on about 4m of chain from a very high ceiling in an old glass light fitting, fed with 12V DC, and controlling some Luxeons - largely as a nightlight.

The interface needed to be small, and I didn't want 240V going into the fitting (several reasons why embedding a $400 relay unit into a lamp wasn't going to be an option).


Ashleigh, many thanks for the reminder re electrical isolation. I'll up-rate my optos before it gets commissioned and pay particular care to their physical separation and cable layout during the assembly.



Greig.

 

Darpa - just to clarify - The analogue output and some (rare) older dimmers do use PWM to drive 2 LEDs, and also drive a third LED to achieve multiplexing so that a total of 4 LEDs can be effectively driven with a form of PWM at approximately 1kHz rate.

 

Ah,
Thanks for clearing that up for me Don, I learn lots of new things every day

Cheers