Measuring 7.5 by 5.0 by 0.8 inches, the P300 is designed for applications that requires massive number of I/O lines. The P300 can provide up to 300 I/O lines and can be used in a large control system to drive lights or solenoids and to monitor switches. Eleven PPI chips (82C55) provide a total of 264 I/O lines. Of these, 240 lines are buffered by solenoid drivers. The high-voltage I/O lines are hardware configurable as inputs or outputs. The inputs can take up to 35V DC. The outputs are capable of sinking 350 mA at 50V per line, and they can directly drive solenoids, relays, or lights.

Two channels of RS-232 drivers, one optional RS-485 driver, and a 5V linear regulator are on-board. These can be used to power the P300 as well as any processor board installed upon it. With the default 5V linear regulator, the P300 requires 8.5V to 12V DC power supply. An optional switching regulator can be installed to provide high efficiency regulation without generating heat for up to 35V DC power input, accommodating this controller for industrial environments.

PRODUCT COMPARISON

TERN is also offering a more flexible (but with fewer I/O channels) version of these expansion boards designed for use with 16-bit Engine controllers. The P50 offers high-speed parallel ADC/DAC with onboard signal conditioning, opto-coupler inputs, an Ethernet connection, as well as a range of other features.