Newbie on SBL2e: how to power up card

[Marc]

Hello,
I’ve just received my first SBL2e-100IR board, and I’m excited about using it. Looking at the user's manual (SBL2e Dual Serial-to-Ethernet User Manual) it appears I power the board by applying 3.3V across pins 5 and 6 on JP1. Following the pin guide I found at http://www.netburner.com/downloads/sbl2 ... iption.pdf, I hooked pins 5 and 6 to 3.3 V and Gnd from a 500 mA power supply, but the power light does not come on.

I am assuming that Pin 1 is as marked on the board ("Northwest" corner, looking down on the board from above) and counted down five pins. I did some continuity testing, and I find the ground pin (pin 6) seems to be connected not to pin 11, but to pin 14 (assuming that pin 9 is the "southeast" corner).

Do I have my pins completely wrong? Or am I taking the wrong approach to powering the board. There is really nothing specific in the manual about powering the board.

Thanks for any help.

Marc

[rnixon]

I don't believe there is a power led on the board. What led are you referring to?
Pin 5 is Vcc and pin 6 is GND. The pins are in the standard dual header configuration, so odd pins are on one side and even on the other. So if pin 1 is upper left, pin 2 is upper right.

[Marc]

Dear rnixon,

Thanks very much for your quick reply, much appreciated!

OK, with your pin numbers, it all makes sense now (I guess I was defaulting to the pin numbering on ICs, which is counterclockwise from 1... d'oh!).

Regarding the LED: I was referring to what the manual (Pg 27) refers to as "the Power LED" which I assumed was LED 1, or the Speed indicator on the RJ-45 Jack. When I used a friend's bench top power supply, and put the 3.3 volts across pins 5 and 6 as you described, LED 1 lit up, indicating the unit had power, and the power supply indicated that the board was drawing 100 mA, which sounded right.

However, when I got home and tried to power it from a little printed circuit board regulator (a Sparkfun item) working off of a wall wart, the light did not come on. I finally just clamped 2 D batteries together to get 3 volts, put it across pins 5 and 6, and the light came on, and sure enough the board was then able to get on the network.

Now I just need to figure out why that little power unit won’t turn on the SL2e board. But now at least I can try to start programing this thing.

But thanks again for your help. What a nice forum!

Cheers,
Marc

[Ridgeglider]

It is unclear whether you are trying to power your SBL2e-100 directly by itself, or whether you have it plugged into an SBL2e carrier board. The only LEDs on the SBL2e-100 are on the ethernet jack, where there are two to indicate link speed (10Mb/100Mb), and link activity. Conversely, the carrier board (which includes 2 DB9 serial port connectors) has a power-on LED. The default for the carrier board is to get power from a USB connection. For that to work, JP2 pins 2-3 must be jumpered. You can also provide 5V-30V input power to the carrier board through a round barrel connector labeled J2. To use it, JP2 pins 1-2 must be jumpered. If you have not used the SBL2e, I STRONGLY advise using it in conjunction with a carrier board to get yourself oriented. Take a look at the Quick Start Guide: http://www.netburner.com/downloads/sbl2 ... kStart.pdf

[rnixon]

I looked at the manual, and I think its an error. It does say power led, but there really isn't one.

[Marc]

Thanks for your feedback.

In reply to Ridgeglider: I am not using the carrier board, just the SBL2e-100. You are correct, there is no specific power LED. As rnixon noted, the manual has a small error: there is no Power LED. My observation is that when I power up the unit, the LinkSpeed indicator (LED1) lights up for about 5-10 seconds, then flashes occasionally. But then when I attach it to a live Ethernet Jack, the Speed indicator goes dark (since I am on a 10 Mbit system), but LED2 lights up (no flashing, just steady).

I was able to connect to the board using my browser. I then hooked up pins 1 and 2 to TXD and RXD on my 3.3 V FTDI cable (and ground to ground). Then following the example in the manual (page 29) fired up MTTTY (nice program, by the way!) and telnet, and sure enough, whatever I typed into Telnet showed up on MTTTY and vice versa. Very satisfying.

So thanks to you folks for your help. I think I need to lose the Sparkfun power supply, get something better than my D batteries, and then work on controlling some relays via Ethernet. I’m sure I’ll be back with more newbie questions, but thanks for now… I’m on my way.

Marc