Seeking help to pick USB controller for 6 solenoids
Posted 03-04-2009 at 02:46 AM by kgw
I have done some research about using the RC servos for MomPC, they are very interesting gadgets. However their constant on characteristic makes them ill suited from MomPC where she may use her cell phone via MomPC a few times per week. These means a handful cell phone actuated key presses per week. So I began looking at small push type DC solenoids they seem perfect and are much cheaper a pathway after doing some hunting online.
What I would like to know/learn is what would be the best USB controller for PC to 6 to 8 solenoid programmatic control?
USB controller for 6 solenoids
To define best for MomPC criteria the following are considerations:
Thanks in advance.
Kevin Waite
What I would like to know/learn is what would be the best USB controller for PC to 6 to 8 solenoid programmatic control?
USB controller for 6 solenoids
To define best for MomPC criteria the following are considerations:
Powering the pulse actuation of 6 solenoidsAny suggestions in getting MomPC to programmatically control the push actuation of 6 solenoids would be fantastic.
12 VDC Coil resistance is 48 ohms and it requires about 250mA to operate
The actual powering of the solenoids via a single MOSFET and/or relay please offer input on best choices to power the solenoids as well.
Simplistic programming control interface open USB com port XX and send command strings to select which solenoid to actuate and its push duration/pulse.
A pre-assembled controller board would be nice I can build but to save time having it come built would be better.
Maybe allow up to 12 solenoids.
Maybe allow a second controller.
Thanks in advance.
Kevin Waite
Total Comments 1
Comments
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you might want to check the specs on the usb 60008 by NI it's a DAQ with analog outputs.
actually you might be better off with the PICdem by microchip, since it seems you really only need digital I/O. PICdem has a serial interface, and comes with code already written to allow for easy serial communication. If you have any questions about setting pins with microchip products just PM me. I used to work for them.
the mosfet is turned on/ off by the control board. It's just an eletrical gate controlled by the digital signal from the controller.
you could easily control 12 solenoids this way.
adruino would be a good choice too.
i'm not much for gui's but sounds like for ur application you would want a touch screen and then just have a gui with big buttons on it. When the button is pressed have the PC send a serial command to the controller, the controller would then recognize the command and then say okay this pin should be raised high to open the gate so that the mosfet fires the solenoid to press this button.
if you're looking for a screen / touch screen i know there is one on sparkfun that you can get together for about 80bucks. It's the PSP screen and the touchscreen for it.
if you really need USB interface then the PIC24 demo might do it on the microchip side.
I don't know what size your looking at, there are other devices i know of, but they start getting bigger and have a lot more processing power than may be needed.
if you need anymore help with this dont hesitate to PM. I've always been interested in biomedical devices. I used to do a lil work at the Mayo Clinic too, it was more on the research side, but biology will always have a fond place in my heart as a source for inspiration of machines.
depending on what u want to do to the cell phone you could pull the face off of it, cut the buttons out and solder to the pcb traces themselves. I've done stuff like that before. It would save you a lot of complexity because you would no longer need the solenoids you could just raise the pin high on the controller and that would simulate the button push.
also for the TV remote that your doing. You might want to look at kevin watson's code repository. there he has the waveforms for major remote controllers already done, he's only got it done for recognizing input from controllers, but you could just get an IR LED and instead of pressing buttons using solenoids, you could just send the IR waveforms directly from the momPC.
best of luckPosted 03-31-2009 at 10:27 PM by Ironman 
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