Batboard

Eegads... I can't believe I never posted pics of one of the Sandy Ganz units I built.

With apologies for the multi-year delay (last time I mentioned it was Jan. of 2004 or so), here are some pics of my efforts.

(Shot 1) This is my 'black RIB' which I keep with one of my programming laptops. The other (my 'gray RIB') stays with my swap meet field programming set, out in the garage in a big blue ATA crate with the computer and other goodies.



(Shot 2) This is the front panel. The toggle switch on the left is power, the one on the right switches programming connectors between the front panel D-sub and the RJ45-type on the side. The power indicator is made by Dialight, and is a cartridge LED type. Note the mil-spec D-sub connector.



(Shot 3) This is the back panel, again with a mil-spec D-sub. The three-pin circular connector is for external power. I had a whole boxful of those little buggers, so I standardized on the connector type and wiring for both RIBs. Should one fail, the other can take its place in true 'plug-and-play' fashion.



(Shot 4) This is the RJ45-type connector, used for Maxtracs, Maratracs, GM300's, and anything else that uses a similar programming cable including the Pro series. A straight-through CAT-5 network patch cable works wonders.



(Shot 5) This is the RIB's interior. Both are built pretty much the same way. Note the Augat machine-pin sockets for the IC's, and the widespread use of 1% metal-film resistors. As far as mounting the board to the box, I took good advantage of what was supposed to be the pass-through holes for the stay-clips on PC-mount D-sub connectors.

As you can tell, the wiring for the D-subs, power, and switches is simply extended as needed to the front and back panels.



The wire itself is aircraft-grade Teflon-insulated, scavenged from a good-sized coil of the stuff that showed up in the scrap bin at the Boeing wire shop. It was one of many small scavenges I managed before I was laid off.

Description and part numbers for the specific housing I used can be found here.

http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.p ... highlight=

Keep the peace(es).

Nice RIB!

Mine's a very hamsexy looking one, in comparison, on a home etched board with oddball connectors I had lying around. Despite all that, it works very well.

At the moment, I'm making a half-baked effort to design an SMD version of the RLN4008C, so I can put it in a very small box inline with an XTS/Jedi programming cable. This particular RIB will also support sourcing power from the PS/2 or USB port of a PC (haven't decided which yet), so the whole setup can be powered directly by my laptop. I can get the boards for this RIB made in Malaysia for $1.50 or so each, and I already have SMD versions of most of the components on hand.

Nice job.

I've got an original /\/\ RIB in the famous black box.

Wasn't there someone around here who was working on a RIB that could be placed inside a laptop?

I have two:

One is an original and the other is so small it fits into a DB25 - DB9 adapter hood.

I seem to remember a mini-rib to use with the VCH. I don't remember the p/n though.

va3wxm wrote:Nice job.

I've got an original /\/\ RIB in the famous black box.

Wasn't there someone around here who was working on a RIB that could be placed inside a laptop?

The only ways I could imagine doing that would be on a PCMCIA or Mini-PCI card, and the latter assumes the laptop even has an available Mini-PCI slot (many don't).

Thanks, BTW. The only thing I wasn't pleased about was the fact that the RJ45 connector wouldn't fit within the cutout for it.

Keep the peace(es).

What you could have done for the RJ-45 is use a panel mount network jack in the back panel instead of cutting a hole in the side, that would have cleaned it up.

kc7gr wrote:

va3wxm wrote:Nice job.

I've got an original /\/\ RIB in the famous black box.

Wasn't there someone around here who was working on a RIB that could be placed inside a laptop?

The only ways I could imagine doing that would be on a PCMCIA or Mini-PCI card, and the latter assumes the laptop even has an available Mini-PCI slot (many don't).

Thanks, BTW. The only thing I wasn't pleased about was the fact that the RJ45 connector wouldn't fit within the cutout for it.

Keep the peace(es).

No need for PCMCIA / MiniPCI, just tap the serial lines for the IrDA port before the IR transceiver (to leave the standard serial port free), and grab power from the 5V rail on any board.

PCMCIA and MiniPCI's engineering requirements would make it too much trouble to be worth it.