The RCM5700 comes without a RJ45 jack mounted on the board. Does Rabbit plan on making a RCM5700 available with the RJ45 jack ?
And if not, what’s involved in placing one on the module.
I’ve looked at this and determined
that you would need to add many
additional parts after you added
the RJ45 jack…
These are 603 and 402 size parts…
not for the novice…
best to interface your RCM5700 to
your board design. I did this and bought
the 10-Base-T from the rabbit store
PN 530-0023, had NO luck instead I used
a FIL-MAG PN 23Z467SM part, Mouser Electronics
has these and it worked great…
Keep in mind that if you lay out your
PCB to make sure you have NO Ground or Power Plane
under the Transformer and it’s associated parts…
Look at the Rabbit RCM5700 schematic and try to use
the same interface parts to the Transformer
as they did on the schem.
I have been informed by Rabbit that they will have a version of this with the RJ45 and suported parts soon.
For what it’s worth, I can’t wait to get
the RCM5700 with on-board RJ45.
I have a project that calls just for
this so, let’s hope that the RJ45
flavor sees the light of day soon.
I’m ordering the additional components
soon and will retrofit my unit with the jack
from the development board.
Yeah, I know - 0402 packages and
warranty void (but hey, I also have
pillows with no “DO-NOT-REMOVE” labels!)
B.Robert
lets just hope they dont jack the cost way up to add a few popcorn components and the jack.
Are there some news about the module RCM5700 with the RJ45 connector on?
I developed a board for the module but I am not able to communicate with the module. In particular it seems that the module receive (if I ping the module I saw the ACT LED blinking) but it is not able to transmit.
Some advise?
Nicola…
you didn’t mention how your design was implemented…
I assume you have a ethernet Txfrm as part of your
interface…
can you give some details on the board design…
Chuck
That’s right. I’m sorry for the cross-post. Here: http://www.rabbit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1358 you can find part of my electrical scheme. I use a RJ45 connector with the transformer in.
The connector is for 10/100Mbit Tbase interface.
Thank you for the support.
Nicola…
Could not tell too much form your schem…
BUT…be sure that the RJ45 connector is not placed on
the PCB with GOUND or POWER Planes below it…
this should be just bare PCB to avoid any coupling of noise/signals
and suppression of the signals…
One thing you can try…is to remove the RJ45 connector and place
it on 1/2 inch of wire to stand OFF the PCB .
It will look like a spider sitting tall…but this will remove any coupling
to the pcb and then try your software pinging again…
I have done this with success…on prototypes…
chuck
Chuck,
thank you very much for your advise. On my pcb I have ground plane under the RJ45 connector!! Tomorrow I will try to wire my connector and then I will tell you the result.
Thank you again.
Nicola
I tested my board with the connector placed about 1 cm above the pcb but nothing has chnaged.
The first test consist in placing the RJ45 connector above the pcb (using wrap wire) and without the filter on board. The result is: I saw LINK LED green and ACT LED blinking (the frequency of the blink change if I change the ping frequency).
I placed the filter (i.e. the L, the C and the 2R for TX and for RX) and in this case the ACT and LINK LEDs are off.
Not sure that 1cm will be enought 2cm is better…
I believe the RJ45 jack you are using has the filters
built in…(not sure) you may want to take the wires
direct from the processor to the RJ45 jack and try that…
also…I believe there is a PING sample program, use this
to test with to eliminate any possiblity of software issues…
Let us know…
chuck
ps…you are using a HUB between the two computers
or an ethernet xover cable from computer to rabbit…
There is something strange…
I place my ethernet connector with magnetic on the RCM5700 module; after that I close the R (0 ohm) on the module. I did not place the filter (C, L and 2R) on the module!!
If I place the module on the development board and connect the Ethernet cable in the connector placed on the module all works.
If I place the module on my board and connect the ethernet cable the system does not work! I cut the ethernet net on my board ner the miniPCI connector: nothing!
INTERESTING !!!
I guess the only thing I can think of is, make sure
that your TX+ TX- RX+ RX- lines are correct…
I’ve attached a simple interface that I have used
and it works, make sure your lines are the same.
Chuck
Also…notice on the Rabbit test board that the edge of the 5700
module is directly on the edge of the test board…
On ‘your’ board, is the RCM5700 located in the center near anything ??
also…ck your power 3.3V.
What other items do you have on ‘your’ design board ??
The interface pins are connected in the right way.
I attached the TOP layer of my board, in red I highlight the TX+ TX- RX+ and RX- net.
What do you think about the layout?
The RCM5700 on my system manage an I2C bus and a serial port. All works well… except the ethernet.
The board looks fine…
The only thing I see that bothers me is the
traces under the RJ45 conn… (see my attached)
Did you try only connecting the TX/RX pins to the
RJ45 conn and nothing else ? (with the RJ45 ‘OFF’ the board )
so you only have the RCM5700 lines to the RJ45 conn
and forget the LED’s. Trying to eliminate possible problems.
also…try NOT connecting the RJ45 case to ground…
let it float.
Now I am concentrating on the on the module. I placed the RJ connector on the module and connect it to the Ethernet.
If the module is placed on the development board the communication work, if the module is on my system the communication does not work.
The module is powered in the correct way (I use a LDO with 3.3V and 1000mA in output). Nothing else should interest the ethernet communication, right?
You are correct…
You have cut the ethernet traces at the RCM5700 miniPCI on
your board…this should eliminate any noise or loading…
Power 3.3 LDO looks fine…
I guess I am out of suggestions…
I believe you have done everything right…
There must be some difference between your board and the
Rabbit test board…review both schematics and look for differences
and let me know if you find something…
look for any terminations on the test board / pull ups etc…
sorry I could not help more…good luck and please let me know
what you find…
chuck
Update: I try to power the RCM5700 module with the RJ on board directly (I place 2 wire on the power supply pins). The result is the same that I have using my board.
This would suggest that something is different when you plug it into the
test board…
Check the Schems of the test board and see if you can find any
differences…
Q: Did you isolate all four lines Tx+,Tx-,Rx+,Rx- on the RCM module
by cutting the traces on the edge connector ??
OR:
Do the signal go to both your RJ45 conn and the Test board RJ45 conn ??