Trinamic Discussion Groups

[maf783]

Does Trinamic have any separate IO controllers?
We are in need of a IO controller with at least 48 inputs and 48 outputs.
Do you have any plans of launching such a product?

[Andrew]

The closest to that I remember to be TMC423 - the encoder interface controller chip.
It additionally has several wires to control a matrix of LED.

Strangely, a TMC323, which is based on the same chip, does not provide those LED wires...

However, neither the chip, nor the module are truly the data acquisition hardware, which you require.

For 48 I/O I would suggest you use TMCM610, or TMCM301/2/3 in sufficient quantities.
But TMCM modules are quite slow, especially if a TMCL standalone progam is running simultaneously.
They allow an update rate of only 1.7ms. (This is just a rough estimate.)

But in general your request seem a bit redundant. A market is full of data acquisition cards.

You are not the first one who expects Trinamic boards to do just about anything.
Here a user expected to use a TMC428 with third party drivers:
http://www.trinamic.com/ttdg/viewtopic.php?t=730
He did not realize, that he would still need his microprocessor do the bulk of the job. A TMC428 would simply serve as a pass-through - redundant.

However it of course would be nice to have all from single hands.
For example I would like TMCM to have more I/O on board. Especially of higher analogous resolution.

But here is another problem:
Each job mut be done by a professional.
Are Trinamic a profesional in data acquisition?
I guess there greater professionals than Trinamic exist.
Trinamic specialized in motion control.
Someone else specializes in signal processing.
You don't want this to become a supermarket, where you buy socks and food in one place - all of the same mediocre quality.
Do I have to elaborate?

It is still possible to get all things from single hands. A Trinamic partner can help to collect several objects, and combine them into a working system.
This job is called "system integration". I am one of its professionals. You may ask me privately.
Or find someone else...
Or be a system integrator yourself...

By the way, one of mycustomers has designed a controller based on Trinamic chips. It has many I/O wires. I don't remember how many. If you are interested, I may ask him, if he could sell you his model.
_________________
Distributor of Trinamic
Our TMCM-DLL is here (not free): http://www.trinamic.com/ttdg/viewtopic.php?t=30 | Power supplies: http://www.trinamic.com/ttdg/viewtopic.php?t=394
On request: System integration services, custom programming, mechanics,etc

[Olav Kahlbaum (TRINAMIC)]

We do not offer I/O controllers, and as far as I know we do not plan to do that. Most of our motion control modules have some additional inputs and outputs (e.g. the TMCM-303 module has eight addtional inputs and eight additional outputs).
As Andrew mentioned, there are many I/O controllers from other manufacturers in the market.
A possible way of extending the I/O capabilities of many (but not all) modules would be through their external SPI interfaces: You can add a number of shift registers to the SPI interface like 74HC595, e.g. on a base board, to get "unlimited" I/O.