Hi, I’ve just purchased a FEZ Panda, still waiting for it to arrive. In the meantime I have been reading through the pinout and the manual in order to get a basic schematic drafted, so that I can jump straight onto it when I get it.
Firstly, Am I right to think that a 12V battery connected to the Vin pin will provide a regulated output on the 5V and the 3V3 (Vcc) pins with no extra work?
Secondly are the RxD and TxD pins (JP2 pin 11 & 12) serial communication pins?
Thanks
Xarren
Yes! but they are linear regulators with no heat sinks the maximum current on each is 800mA… the panda is on the 3.3v rail, so the 5v rail is basically free.
But without a heat sink I would only use up to 400mA ( Keep an eye on the temperature of the reg by occasionally touching it )
There are four com ports and two SPI ports and an I2C port
COM1 = JP1 pin 1 and pin 2
COM2 = UEXT pin 3 and pin 4
COM3 = JP2 pin 11 and pin 12
COM4 = JP6 pin 12 and pin 13
SPI1 = JP1 pin 11 and pin 12
SPI2 = UEXT pin 7 and pin 8
I2C = JP1 pin 2 and pin 3
There is another serial port on JP6 pin 14 and pin 15 but I don’t know what its for (I’ll have to check the data sheet )
How cool is that!!! connectivity gone through the roof…
Have a good time with this board I think its brilliant…
Cheers Ian
Ahh thanks :).
Sounds like I will be connecting my own 3v3 to the 3v3 rail, as I have a lot of sensors going onto this thing. I’m remaking a project which in the past used a lot of PICAXE chips to operate, and hopefully a single Panda will be able to handle it.
If you supply the new 3.3V reg via the 5V reg you should have a real decent supply as another 400mA on the new 3.3V rail will only pull about 300mA on the old 5V reg…
Should be enough!
My panda has two 10k joysticks, xbee (100mW) and large graphical display… runs sweet as a nut.
Cheers Ian
Large graphical display? How large is large in panda terms?
Not intending to use one for my current project, just wondering how large displays people have managed to hook up with panda. Also, are you using an external interface chip for that display, or connecting it directly?
By the way, this is the project this board is likely to end up on Hexoc.com is for sale | HugeDomains - I wonder if this is the highest altitude one of these has ever reached :P.
The display is the 3.6" graphical display for sale on this very site its an SPI device… works pretty good.
The reason GHI call it a Large display because there is also a smaller one.
Cheers Ian
Ahhh, for a second I was imagining the panda running a plasma TV 
Now that would indeed be sweet. I wonder if that could be done… Maybe one day when I have too much time on my hands, I could try doing that.
Quick question, the +5V rail says 5V in/out. If I have regulated 5v (I have it anyway as I’m running a PICAXE from it), can I connect it straight to that rail, or would I need to connect it through Vin?
Yes you need to connect the regulated 5V to 5Vout/in
Cool cheers