Tag Archives: isolator

Universal Signal Isolator Shield: Rev. 1.2

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Since there has been a lot of interest in my Isolator shield these past few months, I have been optimizing its design.

The result of this optimization is this PCB:
Rev.-1.2-pic
It’s called “the Rev. 1.2”.

Nothing major has changed. The pinouts are still the same, the major components are the same, the functionality is essentially the same.

The changes are as follows:

  • New SPI header. It just passes through the SPI signals, nothing more. It does not connect to anything on the board.
  • New SPI_CS header. Useful only if / when connecting SPI peripherals.
  • Reset button. Because you never know..
  • New circuitry for the POWER_RELAY header. It now uses a MOSFET and it includes a diode for the reverse current coming back from the relay’s coil.
  • Decoupling cap for the IR receiver. Not absolutely necessary, but good to have.
  • More decoupling for the DC_UNR input.
  • Ground planes. Lower Arduino noise, at least in theory.

Here is the updated parts placement:
USI-parts-placement-rev1.2

And this is the updated BoM:

[table “” not found /]

Soon I will update the shield’s page with the new info.

Universal Signal Isolator shield for Arduino DUE & MEGA

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A few years back I designed a little Arduino shield who’s main function was to provide electrical isolation between an Arduino and a DAC (specifically a TPA Buffalo III).

The years have passed and my needs have changed with the introduction of the dam1021 DAC and its serial interface. My first though was to design a new shield specific to the dam but then I said “why not design a universal isolator shield?”. It would provide electrical isolation for both I2C as well as serial signalling.

Thus was born the Universal Signal Isolator shield for Arduino DUE & MEGA:

v0.97_crop

OK, it does look a lot more complicated than my first shield but remember, you only need to solder in the parts that your DAC actually needs.

So, what does this thing do?

1) Electrical isolation of I2C signals, complete with support of 8 isolated inputs or outputs (via an MCP23008 IC). Three of the MCP’s pins are high current outputs (up to 100mA).

2) Electrical isolation of up to 2 serial ports (implemented with an Si8642).

3) Electrical isolation of the second I2C interface of the DUE (implemented with an ADUM1250).

4) Powered either by 5VDC, 8-15VDC (non-regulated) or 7-12VAC (includes support for on-board rectification and filtering).

5) Support of a 5VDC power relay (up to 100mA).

6) Header for connecting a Nextion display.

7) On-board EEPROM memory (24LC256).

8) And of course full compatibility with the previous shield (same pinouts for the encoders, IR, TFT, etc.).

I will release the Eagle files once I have confirmed that the shield works as expected (I’m waiting for the first (and hopefully last) batch of PCBs).