Footprint as a solder-in option would be perfect.
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I would have a preference for KiCAD but that’s based on my limited experience with both. EasyEDA is great but has some notable frustrations around how it treats planes, how it handles gerbers/importing things etc.
That should also make it marginally easier to get away from JLC/LCSC if you wanted to. Have you had a chance to look at construction costs vs the ones quoted by my CM?
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Not yet, I am still working on packing Saturday’s orders. It will be a few days to make the edits and resubmit.
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I am not seeing room for both but maybe if I shuffle the module around a bit.
The small rj45 is 14mm high, the gap under a module is 11mm, bot including through hole pins. It would literally end up being header or rj45, definitely not both.
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doesn’t the pendant use an RJ11/12? Not sure if the size is any different or not.
yup my bad, RJ11
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What happens to the connection when you get a call? During the medicare enrollment harassment season i get dozens of calls a day.
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Personally like the idea of RJ something, but Maslow 4.1 moved away from RJ45 used in 4.0 because of concerns about dust/vibrations causing power/stability issues with the connected custom encoder breakout PCBs.
So, I don’t know 
, maybe folks here have context/experience on good option(s) ?
Prusa seem to like Molex microfit and click mate lately. Microfit on my MP3DP v4’s EBB 42 still needed decent strain relief to avoid CAN bus transmission issues.
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My pendant has been connected with RJ11 since I built the LR4 with zero connection issues.
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It may well depend on the quality of the socket and the nature of the environment. Modular telecomms sockets are relatively robust for what they are, but they’re still a remarkably basic connector. No wiping, simple contact shape, simple spring construction, very little in the way of ingress protection. I guess the main thing is that they’re relatively seldom mated/unmated, which always helps.
You’d never see them used in automotive, though, for instance.
Microfit and minifit are good connectors but I don’t particularly like them as external connectors due to there being no enclosure over the back of the connector and no strain relief etc. That’s something that could probably be solved with some 3D printed collars, though.
It’s not something there’s an obvious solution to, unfortunately. I end up using DB9s in a remarkably large number of situations just due to cost and ubiquity. There are some overkill options like the Chinese versions of the Amphenol C16 or Deutsch automotive stuff, although even with the latter it gets weird with strain relief…
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Yeah, I use a lot of D-sub connectors in my world, except those are of the space variety where every single contact costs more than a whole jackpot board. I use dozens of the big ones (D-104 and D-78) on ridiculously dense IO on a box. The D-subs are rugged- even the cheap ones.
This is partly about ecosystem. The FluidDial pendant designs all use RJ12s. Bart’s pre-made modules for the FluidNC boards all use them. The Airedale expansion boards use them.
They’re very much not my preferred connector. I think they’re not a great choice. I do understand why Bart and Mitch used the RJ12.
I’ll take another look at what options there are.
Frankly this is partly on whether Ryan wants the Jackpot a tightly integrated part of the FluidNC ecosystem and whether he sees any value in making a different interface standard for serial UART pendants on Jackpot.
I see real benefits for using an Airedale to expand either flavor of Jackpot, so it’s a worthwhile discussion.
I wonder if it was just the coiled phone cord. Kinda the old school standard pendant wire standard.
I would prefer to use something else as well.
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I think this is exactly why.
Maybe turn the question around a bit.
Take another look at the Airedale:
Features
- (8) Inputs
- (8) 5V outputs (digital or PWM)
- (2) MOSFETs (digital or PWM)
- LED indicators on all inputs and outputs.
- (1) UART Pass through
- RGB LED status indicator. This is used to show the status of the firmware during booting and can then be used as indicator by the user as output pins 18,19 and 20.
Is that compelling as an expansion option ?
Think about all the options. Want 8 macro buttons? Or a suite of enclosure switches?
Want two more MOSFET outputs?
We could already get this on jackpot v1 or V2 with an expansion board. Maybe that’s good enough.
If we do want it, then what connector is available and affordable enough to go on or at least have footprint on Jackpot V2?
Maybe something that lets us run a serial cable over to Airedale where a cheap jackpot-to-Airedale cable is the only thing Ryan needs in the shop (if we pick a connector for Jackpot V2.)
Edit: one other side benefit. If you use a pendant and you insist on wiring it yourself without ESD protection and you blow something up, it’s easy to replace Airedale and not the jackpot.
You can also mount this outside the beam (or inside the beam) if you want to futz around with what electronics belong where on the machine.
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The 5 pin header seems like a nearly free option for us, Airedale STM32 I/O Expander | Wiki.js no changes needed. See any reason to rj12 between the two boards instead of the headers to header direct?
I have been shuffling things around for hours and I am not seeing much room to add the rj12, I am pretty sure if the jackpot get the holes for it, you will have to make a semi-permanent choice not to use the module header if a rj12 is soldered on.
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I do not have any experience in designing a pcb, but would it be an option to put stuff on the back side of the board to get some room? I was thinking about the sd card slot. If that is on the back side you could mouse the esp and maybe get some space for the rj socket.
But again, I don’t know if it’s necessary or useful, just the first thought that came to my mind.
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You can but this option is expensive. Getting everything on one side saves enough to try hard not to do it.
But I guess you are right, I could leave the option to hand solder the rj12 on the bottom, no extra expense there. Just think a 5 pin dupont cable is the better option for a bunch of reasons over telephone cable.
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I don’t see any issue with that as long as functionally its the same. Which I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be.
Make the Jackpot have the female header (it will have live VMOT and 5V- don’t want exposed pins), and then your interconnect cable is a male connector to a female connector, and you now have a nearly free (to the jackpot design) way to expand the Jackpot V2 with an Airedale.
Important edit: have to figure out some way to try and keep from flipping that connector 180 degrees at install. Flipping the connector on each end of the cable is unfortunately BAD.
That’s a limitation on the airedale side by not having a key or similar.
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It already has it, that is the module header.
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The current stepper extension wires we carry are male to female, so nothing extra needed, except those are super long. I can easily get some short ones though if something does not already exist.
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