Guest guest Posted December 8, 2005 Share Posted December 8, 2005 OK, I've caught the bug (and gotten Mama's support).I'm Planning my display for next year. I've decided to go with the LOR software, & build my own network & triac boards.I'm trying to find a specific list of supported DIO cards. I'm looking for around 96 output lines.Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 8, 2005 Share Posted December 8, 2005 Hi,Go with Measurment Computing's boards (Also sold by Cyberresearch)... I would pick one that has 20ma output or higher that can directly drive the SSRs. Generally the DO (Digital Output only) cards are a little less expensive and have higher output current.Note currently only On/Off work with DIO cards. Special effects such as Twinkle and Shimmer are not supported and are converted to an ON when encountered. Of course there are only two intensities supported ( 100% and 0% )... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 8, 2005 Share Posted December 8, 2005 Has anyone been successful in getting hte National Instruments PCI cards working? You see them on Ebay all the time.I have been using the DIO for a long time and if I didnt have so much invested (144 circuits) I would dump them in favor of Dan's controllers. Not that there is anything wrong with DIO but the controllers that can dim and flicker can produce much cooler effects.Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 I've got to start slow. I'm on a budget.Plus, I've wanted to play with building a multi drop 485 network from scratch, using PICs, for a while.Gonna drive These. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 Fazgood, I have two National Instruments PC-DIO-96 cards. They work great with LOR.Supergumby, I runing 6 of those SimpleIO Triac boards that I built.But neither of them can hold a candle to LOR boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 I use 2 Measurement Computing boards with no problems, and have worked with a National pci-dio 96 on another system, the only thing with the national is we had to use their setup program to get the instacal to recognize it (whatever card you use must be recognized by instacal to function with LOR to my understanding:?) and there can be no irq assigned to the card.the irq really played havoc with usif you can get a measurement computing board it would be my first choice, good hunting on ebay.** As a side note I am also no longer pursuing expansion of my dio & ssr system, and moving/expanding my display over to LOR controllers. pound for pound & dollar for dollar I feel LOR is cost effective and much more advanced of a light control system for my time and effort.Have fun (that really is what it is all about!!)Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 Jim,Maybe you could write a short HOW-TO on the NI PC-DIO-96 boards for use with LOR. I know it would make you a hero in my book. The NI cards are easy to come by on Ebay and usually cheap enough and would be great for animation, and on/off control of static systems.-- Bob M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2005 Share Posted December 10, 2005 Hey Jim - Are your cards PCI or ISA?Dean454 - I am hoping to migrate to LOR modules after I get this thing 'established'. Can you run LOR and DIO cards at the same time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2005 Share Posted December 10, 2005 SG,I think you can run any/all of the supported cards/boards/I-O via LOR concurrently. (LOR, Dasher, X10, DIO, BSOFT)(emphasis on the "I Think" ...:laughing:)-- Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2005 Share Posted December 10, 2005 Bob_Moody wrote: I think you can run any/all of the supported cards/boards/I-O via LOR concurrently. (LOR, Dasher, X10, DIO, BSOFT)That is correct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2005 Share Posted December 10, 2005 supergumby wrote: Dean454 - I am hoping to migrate to LOR modules after I get this thing 'established'. Can you run LOR and DIO cards at the same time?You bet you can!! it all runs seamlessly and allows for complete expansion of both systems + others (x10) etc. and with LORII there are more modules becoming available to my understanding allowing for servo control and such.Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2005 Share Posted December 10, 2005 My card is a ISA card. I run it on a old 500 Mhz computer.I come off the card with a 100 pin cable to a breakout board. The board is mounted in a box next to the computer and a sub power box. I go from the breakout board to some solid state relays, and six 8 channel triac boards. The triac boards are located out in the yard. They are connected via six 10 conductor computer cables.Do a search on ebay in the Business and Industrial section for Digital IO boards, or DIO boards. I bought my last board, PC-DIO-96 for $10.00. But keep in mind that the cable and the breakout board costs more then the IO board. (But after the Carson video craze, The prices will probably sky rocket. LOL)The PC-DIO-96 are ISA, and the PCI-DIO-96 are PCI. The 100 pin cables found on ebay i think will fit both cards, but will only lock onto the PCI cards.If solderings not your bag, LOR sells 8 channel boards that can be used with DIO cards. But remember you lose dimming capabilities with DIO boards.Here's a couple of pictures of my setup. Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2005 Share Posted December 10, 2005 Here's another picture. Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2005 Share Posted December 10, 2005 Just to throw gas on the fire here is a pic of my old dio / ssr & light o rama system working in sync :cool:Dean Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2005 Share Posted December 10, 2005 Very impressive control panel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2005 Share Posted December 11, 2005 Jim & Dean - you both have impressive setups. You have obviously invested a lot of time into your systems.Jim, I really like the looks of those SimpleIO triac borads, very clean. I bought ten 8 channel and four 4 channel bare boards, they should be here any day.I just bought a PCI-DIO-96 off Ebay. Now I just need to finish the programs for my PICs, get my network running, and build the 100 pin interface boards for the front end.Thanks for the info.Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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