G9X v4.2 fully-assembled boards now shipping -- finally

[Bryan]

Quick update to anyone waiting on their back-ordered G9X boards.

The last parts for kits finally arrived here this morning.

I'll be shipping all current back-orders on Monday 20th and there are another 40 or so v4.2 boards left in stock after that. Yay \o/

--
Bryan.

[Richard Cooper]

 Where can i find a schematic showing how to connect the buzzer ,backlight ,hepetic motor ,etc. I have scoured all the sites and there is a lot of info on the

stock boards but nothing on the 9x board. Specifically I was wondering if the hapetic buzzer needs and external cap like the stock boards or

if it is on the 9x board already . Same way with the buzzer. I wired up the  backlight to the red and black  wires from the 3 pin connector and it does not

work. I don't know if it is the hobby king backlight  or if it needs to be wired to the yellow and black wire. I was sure I saw a schematic on this somewhere but I am

unable to locate it after much seaching so it would be appreciated if you could point me in the right direction.

[Richard Cooper]

[Bryan]

Hello Richard.

Best place to start is the G9X v4.x Board FAQ.

The full schematic is available at the gruvin9x project site. But you need to install and use KiCAD to view it -- and I suspect that's not the type of schematic you are actually wanting, anyway.

With regard to the LED back-light -- firstly -- please IGNORE the colour of the wires. They are supplied randomly colour coded and I do not make any adjustments. I never even though of that as an issue. My bad! I best try to come up with something effective to further warn folks not to just guess which wires go where, because ...

WARNING: Connecting the LED back-light to the wrong pins will turn it into a one-shot flash light. Please read the FAQ.

Assuming you didn't see a bright flash of light and then nothing, you almost certainly haven't harmed your back-light, because the LED back-light does not turn on at all with the default settings. Look for setting about half way down the list in the main SETUP menu, accessed using [LEFT long].

The important thing is the pin numbers to connect to. (You can swap the wire colours around by removing and reinserting them in the plug's housing.) Details of exactly how to connect the back-light are given in the G9X FAQ, as linked from the gruvin 9x shop product page, marked in bold on the project wiki and otherwise found here. (I meant no offence by that. Nothing is easy to find until you actually find it ... and there is a LOT to wade through, acknowledged!)

That FAQ covers a several other things you'll no doubt find useful. But not anything about a capacitor for a haptic motor. In general, it is a good idea to install a 0.01uF cap across any motor connected to an electronic circuit, just to limit the severity of back-EMF spikes. The cap. should be right at the motor's terminals though, not back at the PCB end of the connecting wires.  That said, I am not aware of anyone else having used such a capacitor with this board or otherwise even mentioning it. (I do not personally use a vibrating motor, though I've always intended doing so, eventually.)

There is an image at the online store, on the G9X v4.2 product page, showing what connector does what on a v4.0 board (but no further detail) which is about identical to the v4.2, in all ways that count, in this context. I have attached a copy. (Sorry, it has evidently been automagically down-converted in size, compared to the original. But it's still readable.)

By all means, get back to me personally if there's anything else I can help with -- and/or try 9xforums.com.

Bryan.

[coop]

 Thank you for your fast reponse that is exactly the information I was looking for.  Due to the fact that I am hard of hearing it
was the feedback from the vibrating motor that  inititially got me interested in this transmitter. The vibration is just the ticket to
let me know when I have issues.
  I spent quite a bit of time with the software while I was waiting for the board so I am familiar with the software
setup for the backlight and buzzers etc. I also modded a stock board to allow for programming and backlight but when
I got to some of the other things such as the hepetic motor I figured it would be easier to buy your board.
I have a background in industrial robotics but I don't pretend to be a design engineer at the board level , though I do
have a pretty good basic understanding of how individual components work.  This is my first attempt at being an electronic
hobbyist and I am enjoying it quite a bit but I beg you to have patience with my questions that might seem quite foolish to
you.
 Again thanks for your quick response.
Coop

[Bryan]

On 20 September 2012 00:46, coop <rodes...@gmail.com> wrote:

 Thank you for your fast reponse that is exactly the information I was looking for.  Due to the fact that I am hard of hearing it

was the feedback from the vibrating motor that  initially got me interested in this transmitter. The vibration is just the ticket to

let me know when I have issues.
  I spent quite a bit of time with the software while I was waiting for the board so I am familiar with the software
setup for the backlight and buzzers etc. I also modded a stock board to allow for programming and backlight but when
I got to some of the other things such as the hepetic motor I figured it would be easier to buy your board.

Indeed. That's exactly how the project got started, along with the day I discovered KiCAD and set about learning to use to. The telemetry and other '9X things just happened to be on my mind at the time.
 

I have a background in industrial robotics but I don't pretend to be a design engineer at the board level , though I do
have a pretty good basic understanding of how individual components work.  This is my first attempt at being an electronic
hobbyist and I am enjoying it quite a bit but I beg you to have patience with my questions that might seem quite foolish to
you.

No well intended question is foolish in my opinion. Remaining quiet for fear of embarrassment and having thing blow up probably is, though. :-D I know what I know and am happy to share any of it. But I'm by no means a professional or expert, really.
 

 Again thanks for your quick response.

You caught me on a sleepless evening. Just good luck, really. But you're welcome, none the less.

I'm just a hobbyist, too -- and programming. All self-taught, since I was about 8 years old (electronics) and 15ish (computers etc). I remember countless bike rides to the town library and pouring over big fat books that made little sense to me. By the time I was of age for university, all the courses were still aeons behind the rapidly new and emerging computer tech world (1988ish). So I never really got much of a foundational, formal training. Wouldn't be a hobby if I had though, I guess. :P

Bertrand and Romolo in France and Italy respectively are both professional programmers. Bertrand in particular is amazing at the low level C-language code in his (our) open9x firmware. I can hold my ground OK. But he just blows me away in terms of speedily written and efficiently clever coding. I am learning lots from him, when I'm able to keep up. Luckily, he's also a really nice guy -- something not often found with 'super geniuses' :-P


Bryan.

[coop]

On 9/19/2012 8:22 AM, Bryan wrote:

 One further thought.
 I think it would be helpfull if you made the electrical schemetic available to people in pdf format so that you didin't have to
have special sofware to view it.  Even a newbie like me could have then figured out which pins to use for the led backlight.
Thanx.

[Bryan]

On 20 September 2012 00:51, coop <rodes...@gmail.com> wrote:

 One further thought.
 I think it would be helpfull if you made the electrical schemetic available to people in pdf format so that you didin't have to
have special sofware to view it.  Even a newbie like me could have then figured out which pins to use for the led backlight.
Thanx.

That did used to be there, somewhere. Let's see ... nope. Not now. OK, now it is. Please see http://code.google.com/p/gruvin9x/source/browse/#svn%2Farchive%2Fpcb-v4.2-frozen%2Fassembly.

Downloading individual files from this interface is done using the "View raw file" link in the lower/right of the page, after clicking the  file. (Google could probably do better with the wording there.)

I have also attached the schematic PDF to this message, for convenience.

--
Bryan.

[coop]

Awesome thanx.