SB72 EX LED control?

[SLOweather]

Is is possible to control the LEDs (power and EtherNet link) on an SB72 EX, either through programming or jumper?

I'm putting in a solar site with 5 of these, and every milliamp is precious.

Thanks!!

[lgitlitz]

The link lights on the SB72EX are directly connected to the Ethernet PHY. The PHY on this product is the Davicom DM9161E. Looking at the data sheet for this PHY it seems that there are no software configurations to completely disable the LEDs. If you manually lift resistors R41 and R43 then you will break the LED circuit.

If every milliamp is precious then you may want to consider the SB700EX. The MCF5270 processor consumes way less power then the MCF5272. Also the on-chip PLL peripheral on this processor allows you to decrease clock speed to further reduce power consumption: http://forum.embeddedethernet.com/viewt ... ?f=7&t=512

-Larry

[SLOweather]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I already have the 5 SB72EXes and programmed them with the firmware. I'll just add a few amp-hours to the solar array and battery bank design.

Got any ideas on a low-power router?

These are going to be used to send data from 5 weather stations on a remote ranch to our WeatherElement server for storage and display. I installed 4 stations last Friday and got the go-ahead for the solar system as well as the 5th station. They already have a Ranch WiFi connection to the Internet that they power by generator when working there.

[lgitlitz]

So if you do not need to be continuously connected to the network then you can use the following functions from Ethernet.h:
void DisablePHY( void );
void EnablePHY( void );
These functions will allow you to perform a software power down of the Ethernet PHY. When they PHY is disabled you should save over 300mW. Just make sure you call EnablePHY( void ) before you try to communicate any data to the main server. Google is likely more knowledgeable on low power routers then I am.

-Larry

[MarlonAdkins]

The link lights on the SB72EX are directly connected to the Ethernet PHY. The PHY on this product is the Davicom DM9161E. Looking at the data sheet for this PHY it seems that there are no software configurations to completely disable the LEDs. If you manually lift resistors R41 and R43 then you will break the led light circuit.

If every milliamp is precious then you may want to consider the SB700EX. The MCF5270 processor consumes way less power then the MCF5272. Also the on-chip PLL peripheral on this processor allows you to decrease clock speed to further reduce power consumption: http://forum.embeddedethernet.com/viewt ... ?f=7&t=512

-Larry

Vital information indeed.. I know thread is bit old but I am working on similar circuit..