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Monthly
Discussion
This Month's
Focus Company
Technical
Software
Trends
Wireless
Microprocessors
Comms
AC~DC Power
Best Sale Item
Integration
Projects
NZ
company Available for Design Work
LabVIEW course
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link.
Monthly Discussion
OEM Growth in
NZ
The statistics are starting to
flow from the government and lobbyists again after the elections,
posturing.
Don't believe everything you
hear in the media about manufacturing being on the decline in
NZ.
Our experience, is that NZ is
dropping low margin manufacturing that can be done by less skilled
worked forces in other places and moving to higher value exports.
This is true in the Electronics
market especially. MasTec has been seeing large increases in
supply of OEM based products for all those clever developers
that have over the late 90s and for 5 years of this decade, sharpened
their skills to compete in the bigger world.
In the late 90's we saw an increase
in R&D efforts by many 1 and 2 person companies, that had
ideas, usually melding several technologies together, to build
new types of devices.
The trend naturally seems to
always have a micro or something programmable at the heart, then
a lot of DAQ, comms, LCD displays, small printers, power control,
wireless devices, ethernet connectivity, with links to Web, Email,
FTP, SMS etc.
This has paid off for these designers
and their late nights and the low wages over many years is now
turning around.
There is much more to come, as
we continue to sell many technology development systems to new
startups.
If you have an idea, talk to
our engineers, they all have degreees in Engineering and we have
many years of helping
If you want us
to contact you about these points click this link
Company... This
Month's Focus Company
ICS
Electronics based in
Pleasanton, CA USA
MasTec been selling products from ICS since 1997.
We have sold several dozen of
their USB GPIB boxes to research, develop and test labs in NZ
and Australia.
It is good product, reliable
( no failures yet). We recommend them highly over other companies
GPIB solutions and they are lower cost also than other solutions,
so a good solution.
They have just released there
GPIB Anywhere
driver sets, have a read on that.
Also their GPIB drivers now support Mathworks
Instrument Control ToolBox
Their GPIB drivers are universal
and work with almost all software packages, including LabVIEW,
Software and DasyLab.
Please look at ICs's other product
lines. They have a large range of GPIB, Serial and Modbus based
OEM products for embedding in OEM Products and Test Systems.
If you want us
to contact you about these products click this link
Technical...Tip of the Month
Power Supplies
for Micro based systems
Use a Good
One
That is the idea in a nut shell.
Micros, especially high clocking rate, modern CPUs require clean,
steady DC power.
In the last 14 years of selling
micros, almost the only times our models do not work out of the
box, is when a noisy, usually low cost power supply is connected.
Reliability
and Stability
So if this is true, and you actually
get them to work on the bench with a low cost supply, please
do characterisation on the complete system including the power
supply you will ship with the device before marketing and selling.
When someone in Australia plugs
in your device and it is 35-40 degrees, you may get the phone
call.
The most common cause of problems
is low cost switched mode supplies, linears hardly ever cause
problems for small loads.
Also never skimp on bypass or
filter caps, a few cents scattered around correctly, solves many
of these issues.
We can supply good power supplies
for you designs, we have a large range of units from PowerTech,
Innovative Energies, Artesyn, Mean Well and other reputable and
long standing manufacturers.
If you want us
to contact you about these points click this link
Software Trends...Best of the Month
Softwire Version
6
Graphical programming
for DAQ leveraging the power of Visual Studio .NET
Download your evaluation version of SoftWIRE 6.0 TODAY!
FAQ
Visit the SoftWIRE User
Forum for great tips, sample applications, and more!
Graphical programming system for Windows Visual Studio .NET allows
you to create DAQ applications in minutes without having to learn
a programming language. 100% Microsoft .NET compliant, projects
can be graphical only, graphical plus code, and graphical plus
code plus any other Visual Studio library, DLL, or .NET component
or control.
Over 250 DAQ
controls
SoftWIRE 6.0 offers over 250 controls, including over 100 new
analysis controls, but still features the same simple, intuitive
“flowchart” application designer.
Controls for acquiring and analyzing data are available in the
following categories:
Analog I/O Controls
Digital I/O Controls
GUI Controls
Counter/Timer Controls
Database Controls
System Controls
Network Controls
Programming Controls
Math Controls
Excel Controls
Array Controls
Logic Controls
Serial I/O Controls
Windowing Controls
Signal Processing Controls
Statistics Controls
Transform Function Controls
IIR Filter Controls
FIR Filter Controls
Spectral Measurement Controls
Curve Fitting Controls
Signal Generation Controls
We have a PID Routine also.
If you want us
to contact you about these products click this link
Wireless... Product of the Month
Color Touchscreen
Application Kit
The Reach
Technology Color Touchscreen with a RabbitCore creates an application
kit that provides embedded process systems integrators, the ability
to add advanced interface functionality to embedded systems.
Color touchscreens provide real-time feedback, allowing for better
control in industrial-automation applications.
The Color Touchscreen
Application Kit provides all the necessary tools to incorporate
a color touchscreen into a Rabbit-based embedded system.
RCM3720 RabbitCore
The Rabbit
3000 microprocessor-based RCM3720 core module is designed for
Ethernet/Internet applications, and features 512K Flash / 256K
SRAM, 4 serial ports, and an extremely small footprint (2.95"
× 1.20" / 75 × 30 mm).
Controller and
TFT Color Touch Screen
The Reach
Technology SLCD controller allows an LCD graphic display to be
accessed as an intelligent serial device. Text can be written
to the display and graphic images shown by using high-level commands.
The touchscreen interface enables buttons to be defined on-screen,
and return a serial string when touched. User-defined bitmaps
provide a modern-looking interface, and include tabbed document
interface pages and many different types of controls, such as
radio buttons and check boxes.
Industrial Enclosure
This steel
enclosure holds the SLCD board, industrial 12-24 V DC power supply,
and the Hitachi 5.7" panel. The unit supports either RS-232
or RS-485 communications. The enclosure is easily mounted and
waterproof.
Design Advantages
Ideal for
network-enabling security and access systems, remote automation,
data logging, and industrial controls when coupled with RabbitWeb,
FAT File System and SSL software modules
Color touchscreen adds a modern look to an embedded system
Complete microprocessor, on-board memory, royalty-free TCP/IP
stack, and hundreds of sample programs reduce time-to-market
by months
If you want us
to contact you about these products click this link
Comms... Product of the Month
Quatech -- Sealevel
-- B&B
The Comms
Market continues to expand
rapidly and in many diverse directions.
This month we will look at some
comms products you may not know about but are becoming important
in industry.
1/ Industrial
POTs Modems- Yes, they are still being used extensively,
these modems are protected, large temperature range, can run
on noisey lines and can be RS-232, 422, 485, leased line etc.
Our models are from B&B-- either AC or DC Powered yes
DC Powered -- 24 VDC.... more
2/ Laptop
Serial ports:- Well the new laptops just don't have RS-232
ports and you engineer types need them. Hence each week we sell
several Quatech PCMCIA card systems to give Laptops serial ports.
This is the most popular way, PCMCIA cards, as they integral
to the laptop, but we also have USB converter boxes that actually
do work.
Also many other ways ...more
3/ Laptop
Printer ports:- Another comms problem. There are many
devices in industry that use the printer port, if you need another
one then we have it also...more
4/ Serial
Servers ;- This is a very nice way to have extra serial
ports and they are on an IP system which is always nice, as the
IT helpers can help you set them up if needed. These Serial Servers
can be wired or wireless which makes them versatile and easy
install...more
5/ USB
Serial Converters ;- This is a device that almost everyone
has had problems with. Many USB to Serial converter device do
not work.
Our models are 99.5% workable and you can have multiple ports
on USB 2, very nice....more
6/ USB
Extenders ;- I had to extend my USB cable to reach a
combo printer/fax machine and I joined two USB cables and it
worked cross 3 meters, but try going 15 meters, no way....more
7/ SSI
to Paralle Converters ;- What you say, well, Synchronous
Serial Interface converter to parallel, for what you ask, well
how about Encoders with SSI that run an SSI cable say 100 meters
and then needs to feed a PLC with Digital only inputs, yes really.
So we have the encoders with the SSI ( these are highly progammable
and multiturn absolute encoders) see more in Gauging this month....more
8/ PCMICA
slot for a PCI computer;- Why would you want to do this,
well there is a host of PCMCIA cards that are not on PCI form
factor and are very useful, GSM, GPRS, CDMA, Network cards and
NOW the new G3 Wireless Modems....more
9/ PCMICA
slot from a USB Port;- Why would you want one these,
well if you have run out of PCMCIA slots you will find this useful,
or there are no PCI slots available, maybe you are using a PDA
etc then this is the way through that, and guess what, they run
with the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS data cards (Novatel
Wireless - Merlin U630 modems)....more
If you want us
to contact you about these points click this link
Power...
Product
of the Month
TrippLite... APS Inverter Chargers
Large
Inverters with even Larger Chargers
APS Models available: 750, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2400, 3600 watt
models running on 12, 24 and 36 VDC
MasTec stocks these units.
Typical Specs
-- This is the APS3636
36V DC to 230V AC / 50 Hz Quasi Sinewave power inverter; hardwire
input and output
3600 watts continuous output (7200 watts peak) -- All units have a 100%
overload!
3 stage, 30 amp selectable wet/dry cell battery charger -- that is a 1000 watt
charger!
Auto AC Power Line Transfer to Inverter Battery mode, enables
UPS protection during blackouts
Line interactive AC voltage regulation corrects brownouts and
overvoltages without using battery power
Compatible with marine, automotive, telecom, computer, emergency
and a variety of other applications
Use in emergency lights, automatic
doors, extractor fans, small elevators, power tools, even electric
chainsaws etc
If you want us
to contact you about these products click this link
Sale... Item of the Month
Soltec...400VA UPS $50 +GST
Soltec
Promate Line Interactive 400VA UPS
- This is
the new bench mark price $50 +GST for 400VA UPSs
- Dealers now
bundle with PC, Routers, Switches, PABX, etc sales!!
- End Users, why
be with out protection now.??
- This UPS will
suit one Celeron/Small P4 PC with an LCD monitor.
- This UPS
has inside it:- a Surge Protector, Line Filter, Line interactive
Transformer for Brown out Correction, UPS Inverter and Battery
Charger plus SLA Battery, with UPS Power Outlet and a Surge Protected
Outlet, also has a Serial port for Shutdown. Did I mention the
overload circuit breaker!!
- Ask about the
bundles on 400, 600 and 800VA Promates also.
If you want us
to contact you about these products click this link
Integration Project... Completed July
SWS...
Roof Testing
System
Smart Works Systems
has just completed the design and build of the first automated
Roof Testing System in Oceania.
This system has
the ability to measure deflection, load and pressure.
It is undergoing
extensive testing at present in various locations around NZ at
present.
Tests include
three point deflection, concentrated loading, static uplift,
cyclic uplift.
If you want us
to contact you about these products click this link
LabVIEW Course... Q4 2005
MasTec
has canceled the LabVIEW training course for Q4 2005... We are just too busy
Our Integration
load is so high, we can't afford the time off to do training.
We are looking
for a programmer at present who has LabVIEW, VC+, C# and VB experience.
Not all those
are essential but LabVIEW is absolutely and at a good level.
We will train
the right person --- email Hitul
Shah
We are sorry
about this, and all those interested and registered will be notified
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