Pico DIN-Rail enclosure & breakout

Author	Message
Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: Netherlands Posts: 5021	Posted: 09:09am 20 Oct 2021         Mixtel90 said   TBH I'm rather saddened by the first one. With a bit more thought and a second pcb they  could have mounted the Pico above the bottom board, allowing a full set of terminals top and bottom together with some opto-isolators and SSRs. Those cases are often kitted out like that. The Pico could have run across the case, allowing access to the USB from one side. Sorry, I think this was a lost opportunity. The second one is nice, but once again you *need* level shifting (preferably opto-isolation) and 24vDC I/O on any industrial stuff. You just don't run industrial control wiring (which is what DIN rail stuff is all about) at 3.3v. The contacts on relays, switches etc. very often won't reliably make that sort of voltage unless you buy the expensive gold plated option. +1 Option 1 has not enough terminals to put the pi to its potential. For a pic12f508 it is nice. Option 2 is dangerous. The pi with its not very robust io pins at 3.3v mounted on a din rail, next to power electroncs, openly, is asking for trouble. Whatever happens unexpectedly, the pi dies. P.s. Gold plated relais are only marginally more expensive, and I use them a lot. They have a gold flash over robust contacts. This will make them usable in low current applications. But when a high current is applied, the gold vapourizes, and remins is a robust power contact. You only cant go back....;) P.p.s look at Controlino, these guys make a nice control platform for industrial applications, around a simple arduino core. Lots of io. Only the mini, shares pwm and relay outputs, that is not very clever. But the others are very nice. Edited 2021-10-20 19:17 by Volhout