10
« on: November 04, 2009, 09:42:51 am »
There are some modifications I would like to do with your splitter design, but I don't have the electronics experience to know how or what to do. I have started my circuit board design, but here are the modifications I would like to make:
(1) Increase the amount of outputs. It could be 8 or 16 - I guess it depends on the ramifications of what circuit modifications that would have to be made. For example, is the transformer powerful enough...?
(2) Add an indicator LED on the input and output channels.
(3) On version 2 of your splitters, you added diodes by the RS485 chips. I don't understand what they are for, and whether each RS485 chip should have one...? Sorry for my ignorance.
(4) Did you tie pins 2 (RE) and 3 (DE) together with pin 8 (Vcc) on all RS485 chips? It looks like it to me, but I want to make sure.
I have laid out the circuit board linearly, so that most of the traces are straight-shots (especially for tying all of the RJ45 jacks together) - but I don't want to just add more RS485 chips willy-nilly without knowing what the ramifications are.
Thanks for everything.
Kirk