SapFlow Power Board: $21.00

This is a board (2 are shown) that I designed to be used to power miniature heaters that are used to measure the flow of sap movement in trees.  The board will power up to three heater probes and is stackable.  The terminal blocks are removable to make it easier to wire up.  There is also a test point to attach a volt meter to in order to set the probe(s) current (which is adjustable).

There are 2 versions of this board available.  One where the three heater probes are configured in series and one where the probes are configured in parallel.  The series version draws less current but if one probe fails, all three probes fail.  The parallel version draws more current (and requires a heat sink - provided) but the other probes will not fail if one fails.

Please specify which version you want when ordering.

DC Motor Control Board: $20.00

This board was designed to run a standard DC motor forward or in reverse by using 2 TTL signals - one for forward, one for reverse.  The board is powered by the incoming power for the motor.  There are 2 pushbutton switches on the board that you can use manually control the motor.  Can drive DC motors up to 30V 5A (with adequate heat sinking).

Shade Controller: $65.00

Here is a board that you can use to control your motorized window shades.  This board has two 10A relays – one for up and one for down.  There are 4 fused terminals for each direction meaning this board can simultaneously control 4 shades.  It is designed to work with motors that have a common and 2 “hots” – one for each direction, and will control both AC or DC motors (not mixed, though).  There is a remote 3-button switch attached to the main board via a 6-wire straight-through telephone wire.  The 3 buttons are for Up, Down & Stop.  When either the Up or Down button is pressed, the associated relay is activated providing power to the 4 Up or Down terminals for a user-determined amount of time.  This time is set using by inserting resistors into sockets on the board.  See Info Sheet for a table that shows time interval/resistor values.  When either the Up or Down relay is activated, the board will ignore the Up or Down buttons until the time interval has completed.  The Stop button will interrupt the time interval and stop the movement.  The board also has provisions to be controlled remotely.  There are 2 terminal blocks on the board – one for Up and one for Down.  A switch closure at either terminal acts the same as pressing either the Up or Down buttons.  This allows you to interface this to a computer via a relay board for automated control.

PIC16F876a Demo Board: $85.00

Are you just learning how to program PIC Microcontrollers with PICBasic Pro?  Here is a nice demonstration board that will show you how to use a PIC16F876A to control an LCD, servo motor, and a relay as well as how to perform and display 10-bit A/D conversions and use an EEPROM.  This is a board that I wish I had when I was first getting started.  Comes with example software in PICBasic Pro.  Requires 9-24VDC at 200mA (min).

The board comes with the microcontroller, a 256K EEPROM and a 2-line X 8-char. backlit LCD.  With this board, you can learn how to:

• Control the onboard 10A relay

• Read a pushbutton

• Control a servo motor (servo not included)

• Display information on the LCD

• Do A/D conversion (10-bit)

• Store and retrieve data on an EEPROM

• Store and retrieve data from PIC memory

Included with the board are example programs in PICBasic Pro that will show you how to do all of the above.  One program shows you how to read a voltage (0 – 5V supplied by on-board potentiometer) and display the decimal 10-bit result (0-1024) and convert it to mV (0-5000).  Another demonstrates how to control a servo in real time, log the motion to the on-board EEPROM and then replay the servo motion from memory.  You can modify these programs for many different purposes.