LE BOM for Wireless

[deplanche]

As I was finishing putting my LEs and wireless devices into their cases (they fit great by the way), something popped into my head, that I am curious about.

The LEs that I have are all version 3.0, where you have to remove the RS485 chip to make the wireless work.  Right now, I have 3 of those LEs, and 3 of the wirelesss express recievers (EX/RX) that go with them.  When I was building everything, I soldered up all of the connects between the LE and EX/RX, so I was ready to go for either wireless or wired operations.

Once I realized that wasn't going to be enough channels for my display, I joined the last LE coop of the year.  These will all be version 4.0 boards, where you no longer need to remove the RS485 chip to make it wireless, you just a jumper.  Excellent addition to the board.  And with this change, it makes more sense to me to have the wireless/wired option on these rather than the v3.0.  Problem is that I don't have any of the connectors left to attach to these boards becuase they are already connected to my other ones.  I will probably just end up ordering some more so that I can have these ready to go either way.

I am guessing that there are lots of people who will have more LEs (of any version) than EX/RXs and will end up being in the same situation I am.  Since the v4.0 board was revised to include a very easy way to switch back and forth between wired and wirelss, should the connectors for the EX/RX (only the part that gets soldered to the LE itself) be "standard" equipment in the BOM?  The manual could say leave it off it you aren't going to use wireless. 

I am really not sure which is a better way to go.  If you are going to dedicate the same number of LEs as you have EX/RXs to being wireless, than adding the part is just an extra cost that you don't need.  At the same time, if you want all of your boards to be able to be swapped between wired and wireless, getting the discounted price and no change in shipping from having it included in a Coop, would save you money.  I guess I just wanted to throw this out there for discussion.... so discuss.

[RJ]

The problem we saw with making the connectors part of the express instead of the receivers is that if people solder them on with out a receiver to use to line them up there is a very good chance if they build an EX/RX later it will not fit. That was the thinking for the connectors being part of the RX parts. Although it is no big deal the part number it is in the BOM of the EX/RX. Make sure you get the correct one and put it on the right direction or you get units that can't share.

RJ

[deplanche]

One of those chicken and egg senarios.  Let's mounted to the LE, but need the EX/RX to align it, but may need to align with more than 1 LE.  Can make you dizzy thinking about that one.

For a guy like me who isn't confident enough to be sure I am getting the correct thing, can you list the part number for the pieces I need here?  I just need the female portion that gets soldered to the LE, but will order the male/female pair if I need to.

Thanks.

[vairmoose]

The recommended shrouded connector to be attached to the Express Wireless module is the Mouser part number 538-70543-0003.   There are other shrouded headers that could be used, but we found this one to work well. 

The recommended 4 pin female pin to be soldered to the Lynx Express PCB is the 517-974-01-4-RK.   
You can also get the 36 position strip header, Mouser part number 517-929974-01-36-RK or the 517-974-01-36, and cut it into 4 postion stips (9 pieces).  The cost savings using the longer stip is significant but there is a possibility of miss-cutting the strip.   The difference between the "RK" and the non-RK versions is in the material of the body. The non-RK material is not as environmentally resistant as the RK version.   No other significant differences.   

Hope this helps.

Larry