Octagon Systems 5610 User manual

5610 User’s Manual
Doc. #02797 Rev 0291
OCTAGON SYSTEMS CORPORATION®
6510 W. 91st Ave. Westminster, CO 80030
Tech. Support: 303–426–4521

COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1990–94—Octagon Systems Corporation. All rights
reserved. However, any part of this document may be reproduced,
provided that Octagon Systems Corporation is cited as the source.
The contents of this manual and the specifications herein may
change without notice.
TRADEMARKS
Micro PC, PC SmartLink, Octagon Systems Corporation®, the
Octagon logo and the Micro PC logo are trademarks of Octagon
Systems Corporation. QuickBASIC® is a registered trademark of
Microsoft Corporation.
NOTICE TO USER
The information contained in this manual is believed to be correct.
However, Octagon assumes no responsibility for any of the circuits
described herein, conveys no license under any patent or other
right, and makes no representations that the circuits are free from
patent infringement. Octagon makes no representation or war-
ranty that such applications will be suitable for the use specified
without further testing or modification.
Octagon Systems Corporation general policy does not recommend
the use of its products in life support applications where the
failure or malfunction of a component may directly threaten life or
injury. It is a Condition of Sale that the user of Octagon products
in life support applications assumes all the risk of such use and
indemnifies Octagon against all damage.

Using CMOS Circuitry – 1
IMPORTANT!
Please read before installing your product.
Octagon's products are designed to be high in performance while
consuming very little power. In order to maintain this advantage,
CMOS circuitry is used.
CMOS chips have specific needs and some special requirements
that the user must be aware of. Read the following to help avoid
damage to your card from the use of CMOS chips.

Using CMOS Circuitry – 2
Using CMOS Circuitry in Industrial Control
Industrial computers originally used LSTTL circuits. Because
many PC components are used in laptop computers, IC manufac-
turers are exclusively using CMOS technology. Both TTL and
CMOS have failure mechanisms, but they are different. This
section describes some of the common failures which are common
to all manufacturers of CMOS equipment. However, much of the
information has been put in the context of the Micro PC.
Octagon has developed a reliable database of customer-induced,
field failures. The average MTBF of Micro PC cards exceeds
11 years, yet there are failures. Most failures have been identified
as customer-induced, but there is a small percentage that cannot
be identified. As expected, virtually all the failures occur when
bringing up the first system. On subsequent systems, the failure
rate drops dramatically.
■Approximately 20% of the returned cards are problem-free.
These cards, typically, have the wrong jumper settings or the
customer has problems with the software. This causes
frustration for the customer and incurs a testing charge from
Octagon.
■Of the remaining 80% of the cards, 90% of these cards fail due
to customer misuse and accident. Customers often cannot
pinpoint the cause of the misuse.
■Therefore, 72% of the returned cards are damaged through
some type of misuse. Of the remaining 8%, Octagon is unable
to determine the cause of the failure and repairs these cards at
no charge if they are under warranty.
The most common failures on CPU cards are over voltage of the
power supply, static discharge, and damage to the serial and
parallel ports. On expansion cards, the most common failures are
static discharge, over voltage of inputs, over current of outputs,
and misuse of the CMOS circuitry with regards to power supply
sequencing. In the case of the video cards, the most common
failure is to miswire the card to the flat panel display. Miswiring
can damage both the card and an expensive display.
■Multiple component failures - The chance of a random
component failure is very rare since the average MTBF of an
Octagon card is greater than 11 years. In a 7 year study,

Using CMOS Circuitry – 3
Octagon has never found a single case where multiple IC
failures were not caused by misuse or accident. It is very
probable that multiple component failures indicate that they
were user-induced.
■Testing “dead” cards - For a card that is “completely
nonfunctional”, there is a simple test to determine accidental
over voltage, reverse voltage or other “forced” current
situations. Unplug the card from the bus and remove all
cables. Using an ordinary digital ohmmeter on the 2,000 ohm
scale, measure the resistance between power and ground.
Record this number. Reverse the ohmmeter leads and
measure the resistance again. If the ratio of the resistances is
2:1 or greater, fault conditions most likely have occurred. A
common cause is miswiring the power supply.
■Improper power causes catastrophic failure - If a card
has had reverse polarity or high voltage applied, replacing a
failed component is not an adequate fix. Other components
probably have been partially damaged or a failure mechanism
has been induced. Therefore, a failure will probably occur in
the future. For such cards, Octagon highly recommends that
these cards be replaced.
■Other over-voltage symptoms - In over-voltage situations,
the programmable logic devices, EPROMs and CPU chips,
usually fail in this order. The failed device may be hot to the
touch. It is usually the case that only one IC will be
overheated at a time.
■Power sequencing - The major failure of I/O chips is caused
by the external application of input voltage while the Micro PC
power is off. If you apply 5V to the input of a TTL chip with
the power off, nothing will happen. Applying a 5V input to a
CMOS card will cause the current to flow through the input
and out the 5V power pin. This current attempts to power up
the card. Most inputs are rated at 25 mA maximum. When
this is exceeded, the chip may be damaged.
■Failure on power-up - Even when there is not enough
current to destroy an input described above, the chip may be
destroyed when the power to the card is applied. This is due
to the fact that the input current biases the IC so that it acts
as a forward biased diode on power-up. This type of failure is
typical on serial interface chips.

Using CMOS Circuitry – 4
■Serial and parallel - Customers sometimes connect the serial
and printer devices to the Micro PC while the power is off.
This can cause the failure mentioned in the above section,
Failure upon power-up. Even if they are connected with the
Micro PC on, there can be another failure mechanism. Some
serial and printer devices do not share the same power (AC)
grounding. The leakage can cause the serial or parallel signals
to be 20-40V above the Micro PC ground, thus, damaging the
ports as they are plugged in. This would not be a problem if
the ground pin is connected first, but there is no guarantee of
this. Damage to the printer port chip will cause the serial
ports to fail as they share the same chip.
■Hot insertion - Plugging cards into the card cage with the
power on will usually not cause a problem. (Octagon urges
that you do not do this!) However, the card may be dam-
aged if the right sequence of pins contacts as the card is
pushed into the socket. This usually damages bus driver chips
and they may become hot when the power is applied. This is
one of the most common failures of expansion cards.
■Using desktop PC power supplies - Occasionally, a cus-
tomer will use a regular desktop PC power supply when
bringing up a system. Most of these are rated at 5V at 20A or
more. Switching supplies usually require a 20% load to
operate properly. This means 4A or more. Since a typical
Micro PC system takes less than 2A, the supply does not
regulate properly. Customers have reported that the output
can drift up to 7V and/or with 7-8V voltage spikes. Unless a
scope is connected, you may not see these transients.
■Terminated backplanes - Some customers try to use Micro
PC cards in backplanes that have resistor/capacitor termina-
tion networks. CMOS cards cannot be used with termination
networks. Generally, the cards will function erratically or the
bus drivers may fail due to excessive output currents.
■Excessive signal lead lengths - Another source of failure
that was identified years ago at Octagon was excessive lead
lengths on digital inputs. Long leads act as an antenna to pick
up noise. They can also act as unterminated transmission
lines. When 5V is switch onto a line, it creates a transient
waveform. Octagon has seen submicrosecond pulses of 8V or
more. The solution is to place a capacitor, for example 0.1 µF,
across the switch contact. This will also eliminate radio
frequency and other high frequency pickup.

i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE........................................................................ 1
Conventions Used in This Manual ................................................... 1
Symbols and Terminology ................................................................. 2
Technical Support .............................................................................. 3
CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW .............................................. 5
Description ......................................................................................... 5
Major Features ................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER 2: INSTALLATION ....................................... 7
Equipment .......................................................................................... 7
Installing the 5610 Relay Card ......................................................... 7
Base Addresses ........................................................................... 8
Terminal Block Connections ........................................................... 11
Programming Example .................................................................... 12
Troubleshooting................................................................................ 12
Power Module............................................................................ 12
Jumper Options ........................................................................ 12
Technical Support ............................................................................ 12
CHAPTER 3: TECHNICAL DATA................................ 13
Specifications.................................................................................... 13
Mapping ............................................................................................ 13
Contact Rating.................................................................................. 13
Turn–on Time ................................................................................... 13
Turn–off Time................................................................................... 13
Output Channels.............................................................................. 13
Connectors ........................................................................................ 13
Software Support ............................................................................. 14
Bus Compatibility ............................................................................ 14
Power Requirements........................................................................ 14
Environmental.................................................................................. 14
Size .................................................................................................... 14
WARRANTY

ii

Preface – 1
PREFACE
This manual is a guide to the configuration and operation of your
5610 Relay Card. Installation instructions, card mapping informa-
tion, and jumpering options are described in the main body of the
manual; technical specifications are included in the appendices.
The 5610 Relay Card is an eight channel relay card designed to be
used with any of Octagon’s Micro PC Control Cards. This combina-
tion provides a modular system which is easy to set up, modify and
use. You can also use your 5610 in conjunction with other Micro
PC Expansion Cards, allowing you to tailor your system for a wide
variety of applications.
All Micro PC products are modular, so creating a system is as easy
as selecting and plugging in the products you need.
CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS MANUAL
1. Information which appears on your screen (output from your
system or commands or data that you key in) is shown in a
different type face (note: the line breaks may not match those
on your screen, but the message will be similar).
Example 1:
Octagon 5025 ROM BIOS Vers X.XX
Copyright (c) 1993, Octagon Systems, Corp.
All Rights Reserved
Example 2:
Press the <ESC> key.
2. Italicized refers to information that is specific to your particu-
lar system or program, for example,
Enter filename
means enter the name of your file. Names of other sections or
manuals are also italicized.

Preface – 2
3. Warnings always appear in this format:
The warning message appears here.
4. Paired angle brackets are used to indicate a specific key on
your keyboard, for example, <ESC> means the escape key;
<CTRL> means the control key; <F1> means the F1 function
key.
5. All addresses are given in hexadecimal.
SYMBOLS AND TERMINOLOGY
Throughout this manual, the following symbols and terminology
are used:
W[ – ] Denotes a jumper block and the pins to connect.
NOTE Information under this heading presents helpful
tips for using the 5610.
Information under this heading warns you of
situations which might cause catastrophic or
irreversible damage.
PC Any personal computer with terminal emula-
tion software, such as an IBM PC with PC
SmartLINK.
Reset Resetting the system hardware and software by
pushing the reset switch. Has the same results
as disconnecting power to the system, without
the potential side effects of a cold reset.
TTL Compatible 0–5V logic levels.
WARNING:
WARNING: