Velleman K8000 - PC interface board

Saturday, 23 May 2009 21:39

This interface board itself has 16 galvanically isolated digital connections, which can be freely chosen as either inputs or outputs (e.g. 6 inputs and 10 outputs) according to how they are set up by the user. Furthermore, the card has 9 analogue outputs, of which one is high precision, and 4 analogue inputs. Info sheets (pdf format) for connection diagram of the interface board with the computer. Here is some features;

Galvanically isolated from computer;
16 galvanically isolated digital connections;
Simple connection with printer port (for USB interface see K8055 and K8061).

...and some specifications;

Digital outputs (optocoupler, open collector output: 50mA - max. 30VDC);
Digital inputs (optocoupler input: 5V/5mA, max. 20V/40mA);
Analogue outputs (8 outputs DAC1 to DAC8, resolution: 64 steps);
Analogue inputs (4 analogue inputs AD1 to AD4, resolution: 256 steps);
Communication protocol: I²Cbus;

Now it's possible to have Velleman K8000 interface board on GNU/Linux thanks to the following projects open source;

libk8000: a Velleman K8000 C/C++ interface library for user-space programs. Troubleshooting: If the compile fails with libk8000: "k8000.c:514: error: 'I2C_SLAVE' undeclared (first use in this function)" you have the wrong/missing header file i2c-dev.h or you have to add it on k8000.c source file;
k8ktest: a small diagnostic program to test your card. It has the same GUI as the Vellemanprovided windows test program (tst8000w.exe). Also you can send or receive I²C data to or from any device connected to the k8000 I²C wires;
xPLk8000; a xPL (abbreviation for "eXtremely simPle protocoL") interface to the Velleman K8000 IO Board. It allows you to set digital outputs according to xPL messages received and it sends xPL messages to any digital input changes; xPL is an open protocol intended to permit the control and monitoring of home automation devices. The primary design goal of xPL is to provide a rich set of features and functionality, whilst maintaining an elegant, uncomplicated message structure. The protocol includes complete discovery and auto-configuration capabilities which support a fully "plug-n-play" architecture - essential to ensure a good end-user experience. xPL benefits from a strongly-specified message structure, required to ensure that xPL-enabled devices from different vendors are able to communicate without the risk of incompatibilities. Great for using your k8000 for home automation (you need of xPLLib).

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