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Control and Monitor the Real World from a PC! PC Analog/Digital is now easy and affordable. If you've wanted to control and monitor the real world using PC software, this is the kit you've been looking for! The board connects using a standard RS-232 port and communicates at a speedy 57600 baud. The board provides all of the following: * 8 digital input/output pins (with extended functions) * 1 onboard LED for status displays (does not consume a digital output) * Onboard 5V regulator (7805) * True RS-232 with hardware handshaking We provide example software for interfacing with: * Any language that can use ActiveX (e.g, ASP or WSH) * Any language that can use a regular DLL * A Windows program that charts analog data and exports it to comma-delimited files (see GP3DAQ) How easy is it to control and monitor the world from your PC? Easy! Here's a simple Visual Basic event handler that reads an analog input: If you want to convert the raw counts to a voltage and format the data, that's easy to do in Basic: Volt0.Caption = Format(GP3IO1.a2d(0) / 1023 * 5#, "0.##") Want to turn on an LED from an ASP Web page? That's easy too: set io = Server.CreateObject("AWCGP3DLL.GP3DLL") io.led=Request("LED") ' set LED based on user request You can do the same thing with Excel, for instance here is a spreadsheet taking a temperature reading with an LM34: Here are just a few ideas for projects built around this board: * Monitor temperatures or voltages * Control a motor or fan using PWM * Control solid state relays or other devices The libraries provide many powerful commands: high/low - Set output pin high/low tris - Set direction of I/O pins portopen - Connect or disconnect count - Count pulses on input pin led - Set state of indicator LED pulseout - Output a single pulse rctime - Measure an RC discharge time setcounter - Configure timer/counter counter - Read hardware timer/counter You can read the manual for more details or read this article about a few of the GP3 projects. The article includes several projects in different languages including this VB fan controller: Note: This is a kit which allows you to easily customize the device for your needs. However, you do need basic soldering skills and a few tools. All components are through hole and the PC board is solder masked, so the kit is very easy to assemble. The picture shows the board with some user-supplied components and a solderless breadboard which are not included. The picture above shows an assembled kit with some user-prodvided customizations and a solderless breadboard. The kit includes a high-quality PC board, and all the components required to build a working board including a 9V battery connector and a reset connector. A pin header on the edge of the board makes it easy to plug the board into a solderless breadboard or you can omit the header and use the holes to make your own permanent connections. |