Link 2. Relay state
This is a group of three pins. The jumpers are also inserted
horizontally, and there are two possible positions, labelled A and B.
Link 2A keeps the relay on when there is no alarm and off otherwise,
and link 2B does the opposite. This is so that the power-up state can
be chosen without running any software.
Connections
Connections to the board are made by a 50-way D type connector.
It is usual to use a ribbon-cable (insulation displacement or IDC)
connector to plug into this, so that all 50 wires are connected at
once. This point is mentioned because there is some confusion
about how 50-way D connector pins are numbered. Before IDC 50-
way D connectors became popular the conventional numbering was
to number the pins incrementing parallel to the long edge of the
connector. This number is often moulded into the plastic next to each
pin. Ribbon cables, however, are numbered sequentially from the
stripe at one edge. This is not compatible for mechanical reasons
with the original D numbering system.
Because most people will use ribbon cables with this board we have
given connection details in terms of the ribbon-cable pins that will be
connected when an IDC 50-way D connector is plugged in. They are
referred to as RCx where x is a number between 1 and 50. For ease
of reference the corresponding D connector pins are also shown on
the circuit diagram and in Appendix B.
Voltage monitoring
The three power-line voltages +5V, +12V and -12V are compared
with the voltages from three DACs. If the power-line voltages drop
below the DAC voltages bits are set in the STATUS register. The
PFAIL signal is then generated which is allowed to trigger alarm
signals depending on the mask bits in the MASK registers.
It is possible to set the DAC voltages very close to the actual
voltages. This is a bad idea for several reasons. Firstly, voltages in
a PC can fluctuate by tens or even hundreds of millivolts in normal
operation, for example if a drive starts up. Secondly, digital noise on
the supply lines and on the PCSYSCON board means that the
instantaneous voltages measured are not necessarily the average
voltages. Finally, most PCs will operate at voltages quite a lot lower
than normal, especially on the +12V and -12V lines. Suggested
values for setting the DAC voltages are 4.6V for DAC+5 and 11.4V
for DAC+12 and DAC-12. However, it is your responsibility to set
them to the values which will give most warning of power failure and
least false alarms.
The sub-section about the DAC registers has the conversion factors
between bytes sent to the DACs and DAC output voltages.
For example, to make the +5V monitor trigger at 4.6V, send 191
(decimal) or BE (hex) to pointer 0.
2192-09065-000-000
Section 3. Using the PCSYSCON
Page 18
J278 PCSYSCON