Kyle has done an amazing job putting together a new IO board that is engineered specifically for the 5" screen. The files are up on Github now and we will be looking at providing these through the store as well. These boards provide a connection to aircraft power, CAN-BUS interface (for CAN-FiX), RS232 and extension of the Pi GPIO pins. The board has two x 9 pin connectors. The pinouts can be seen on the schematic in the Github repo.
The board wraps around the Pi and fits nicely behind the screen to provide a compact form factor. We will make sure that future MakerPlane screens have the connector on the back of the screen. For now you will need to solder on the connector to the screen.
If only there were a way to get rid of that nasty HDMI connector bump on the top, this could be a really nice system.
I'll watch for the board to come up on the store, and when I get it i'll modify my model for the case to accommodate it. I was hoping we'd still be able to accommodate a fan in that case, but that's pretty much a non-starter now... Even if I made the case deeper to make room for a fan, the airflow is almost completely blocked by the boards now... The Pi wouldn't get much cooling.
Single-board design with:
- Pi Compute Module (3, 4?)
- direct connection to screen HDMI
- display and backlight controller on-board
- robust power supply as on the huVVer units
- latching SD card port (so the card can't vibrate out... I've had this happen on my Stratux)
- right-angle USB/network ports (exiting straight out the back, as the DB9's do)
- DB-9's for connecting power/GPIO/CANBUS/etc.
- fan connector for cooling
This way the enclosure could be minimum sized, and the board could extend just far enough past the screen on the two long edges that the mounting screws could be "through-case," ie. they would both hold the case closed and clamp the board into position when installed. The case could also have snaps along the edge to keep it together during testing, shipping, installation, etc.
There is a possibility I guess to put a 20mm x 20mm fan on there with a cutout hole in the board. This would be a square hole where the red square is on the image below. Just need to shuffle a couple of traces and components but it should be doable. We haven't gone in to production. There is a fan power socket already designed on the board. You can see that in the pinout diagram top centre and on the board labelled "J3" just at the top of the red square I drew.
I like the ideas. The issue is going to be getting enough interest to cover the 200 units needed for initial manufacture. Perhaps if we got interest from a group that does automotive or marine applications we could get enough orders to cover the engineering costs. There is a board design that does bring in the HDMI port onto the board and shifts it down. Not sure if a compute module would handle the graphics requirements of moving maps, synthetic vision etc, but maybe future iterations could. Obviously depends on the use of the screen and instruments on it.
Maybe I am being too optimistic with trying to bring costs down. The other option is to design and manufacture the boards but the cost per unit will be $400 - $500, not $100 - $110. Right now I am losing money on the current 5" screens unless I sell another 100! I am also not too enthusiastic putting more money into a replacement design and then I have all of the inventory that is now gathering dust and pissing off my wife even more.....
Snowflake6 wrote: ↑17 Apr 2021, 11:59
Thinking out loud for a "next generation" design:
Single-board design with:
- Pi Compute Module (3, 4?)
- direct connection to screen HDMI
- display and backlight controller on-board
- robust power supply as on the huVVer units
- latching SD card port (so the card can't vibrate out... I've had this happen on my Stratux)
- right-angle USB/network ports (exiting straight out the back, as the DB9's do)
- DB-9's for connecting power/GPIO/CANBUS/etc.
- fan connector for cooling
This way the enclosure could be minimum sized, and the board could extend just far enough past the screen on the two long edges that the mounting screws could be "through-case," ie. they would both hold the case closed and clamp the board into position when installed. The case could also have snaps along the edge to keep it together during testing, shipping, installation, etc.
John Nicol wrote: ↑18 Apr 2021, 01:39Not sure if a compute module would handle the graphics requirements of moving maps, synthetic vision etc, but maybe future iterations could. Obviously depends on the use of the screen and instruments on it.
The benefit of the compute module is that it is a complete Raspberry Pi system... So if the regular Pi can handle the graphics requirements, the compute module can too.
I am also not too enthusiastic putting more money into a replacement design and then I have all of the inventory that is now gathering dust and pissing off my wife even more.....
Right! Hence this is only the "wishlist for the future," not drop-everything-and-change-direction.
John Nicol wrote: ↑17 Apr 2021, 16:04There is a possibility I guess to put a 20mm x 20mm fan on there with a cutout hole in the board. This would be a square hole where the red square is on the image below.
Hmm... 20x20 is pretty tiny, I built mine with a 30x30 just because it's what I had handy... the Pi still gets pretty warm. I was originally thinking 35x35 or 40x40 if it would fit. A larger problem with putting a hole there is that the board will take significant load as people plug and unplug the DB-9's. It might be enough to flex and crack the narrow portions of the board left on either side of the fan hole.
Just need to shuffle a couple of traces and components but it should be doable. We haven't gone in to production. There is a fan power socket already designed on the board. You can see that in the pinout diagram top centre and on the board labelled "J3" just at the top of the red square I drew.
I did see that. What is being done for power on this board? If it's not to production yet, is there a way we could get the *very* robust power circuitry from the huVVer units brought into this design?
