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Hi, Are there any cheap PCI>fibreoptic cards already out? If not how can i make one myself? Infact, how can i make one anyway? (I might have other uses for PCI)
By the looks of things the fibre optic bit is straight forward and should be just like using an optoisolator. Ive had a look on google and aparently any kind of PCI device is simple so does anyone know where to start?
What would this card do ? I assume by looking at your website you want to trigger lighting using the PCI card in a PC, and have the unit have opto isolated outputs ?
It might be better to find a generic PC multioutput PCI card like the one shown here : http://www.web-tronics.com/64isdigoutca.html - 64 channel
http://www.web-tronics.com/32isdigoutca.html - 32 channel
Or do you mean a serial output card with a fibre optic output port?
With more information you might get some more help.
Bill.
For now it is just to control lighting. I want to try it on some other things in the future though. What i want is a PCI card for my PC that has a fibreoptic output. I want a fibre optic input on a box im making. That box will then have outputs for serial and other things.
This whole thing could be done easily with USB i think but i want to test out both fibre optics and custom PCI cards. For now i would be happy just converting serial/USB to fibre. From what i can tell it looks like fibre optic works the same as an opto isolator. Ive seen serial devices protected with an optoisolator before so i assume its as simple as putting the fibre transmitter/receiver in its place.
I also want to experiment by using my own protocols to see how fast i can get the data through the fibre.
I am sure that you may find some relative cheap electronics to make the interface. But I'd like to know how and at what cost you will implenet the fiber itself (cutting, aligning etc.) Once I looked and the equipment was very expensive. Since then I took the RS-485 or wireless route...
Ioannis
I seem to remember seeing fiber leads and the transmitters/receivers in rapid. The leads already have the ends on. I think the ones they do are just short 1 meter ones but that is all i will need for now. I think the main thing i will use for anything long distance is ethernet but for now im just testing out different things. Whatever i end up using i would like a PCI card of some sort
If you only need a short distance, try the TORX/TOTX something optocouplers from Toshiba (and others). I will find the exact part number. Then you can use the standard fiber optic cable used in Hi-Fi systems.
I remember once, Elektor had an opto-isolated tranceiver with such cables and RS-232 ports.
Ioannis
Well I found some more infos. The chips could be the TODX294, TODX296, TDX298, TORX176, TOX176, TOTX194
Also have a look at the pdf attached.
Ioannis
P.S. Sorry forum does not accept the 237Kb file! Look at Toshiba's site for more.