Building a Snoodle v1.0

Step by step building a 16/32 channel Snoodle based on the 5027 chip and standard SSR circuit. Basically, it\’s a 1/4 Grinch with onboard SSRs and PSU.’, ‘
Parts List

(qty) Description from site @ price

One 16ch Snoodle

(1) 4-5/8 x 3 1/8 Perfboard from Parts-Express.com @ $1.50ea

(1) 070-610 AGC Fuseholder from Parts-Express.com @ $.97ea

(16) BTB04-600TRG Triac from Digi-Key.com @ $.28ea

(16) 859-MOC3023 Opto from Mouser.com @ $.44ea

(1) MBI5027-GN LED Driver from KingElectronics.com @ $.92ea

(16) 180 Ohm Resistors from Electronics Goldmine @ $3.50 per 100

(16) 330 Ohm Resistors from Electronics Goldmine @ $3.50 per 100

(1) 1k Potentiometer from Goldmine Electronics @ $1 per 10

(9) 2 pin screw terminals from Ebay @ $3 / 10pcs

(2) RJ45 Keystone from the internet @ ~$1/ea

(3) Feet of Cat5 cable…

(1) Plastic Container @ ~$2

(17) 6 foot extension cords from your local dollar store @ $1/ea

(1) 5v USB cell phone charger from your local dollar store @ $1/ea

Two 16ch Snoodles connected together (Dual Snoodle)

(2) 4-5/8 x 3 1/8 Perfboard from Parts-Express.com @ $1.50ea

(1) 070-610 AGC Fuseholder from Parts-Express.com @ $.97ea

(32) BTB04-600TRG Triac from Digi-Key.com @ $.28ea

(32) 859-MOC3023 Opto from Mouser.com @ $.44ea

(2) MBI5027-GN LED Driver from KingElectronics.com @ $.92ea

(32) 180 Ohm Resistors from Electronics Goldmine @ $3.50 per 100

(32) 330 Ohm Resistors from Electronics Goldmine @ $3.50 per 100

(2) 1k Potentiometer from Goldmine Electronics @ $1 per 10

(18) 2 pin screw terminals from Ebay @ $3 / 10pcs

(2) RJ45 Keystone from the internet @ ~$1/ea

(3) Feet of Cat5 cable…

(1) Plastic Container @ ~$2

(33) 6 foot extension cords from your local dollar store @ $1/ea

(1) 5v USB cell phone charger from your local dollar store @ $1/ea

(1) 6 pin header & cable from Electronics Goldmine @ $1/two

So, for a single Snoodle, your looking at around $32 + shipping and then $17 in extensions cords for a total of $49 for 16 channels. And due to some of the quantities required for the order, you\’ll see how you can cut the price by building a dual Snoodle.

And for a dual Snoodle, components will run around $41 + Shipping and then an additional $33 + tax for extension cords for a grand total of around $74 for 32 channels ready to go.

Also keep in mind.. I have been able to pick up 6\’ extension cords on sale 3 for $1.. So if you plan on building these, keep an eye out, as they are a significant cost in this build!

You\’ll still need to build a parallel port adapter which will require a parallel port connector and at least 1 RJ45 keystone. But, using this design, you can run up to 8 “lines” from a single parallel port. I\’m running 64 channels per port. The only limit is that each “line” needs to have the same number of channels on it. In other words, you can\’t put a 16ch Snoodle on the first “line” and a dual Snoodle (32ch) on the second “line”. They all would need to have 16ch or 32ch or 64ch, etc. per “line”.

So, let\’s look at the construction.

Here is a picture of the inital design.

Here\’s one together without the RJ45 coming in, jumper wires to second 16ch Snoodle or PSU.

And here is the back.

And here is a pic of two Snoodles connected together using cat5 cable and the PSU.

Construction

Ok, lets get started. Here is a picture of how the Triacs should be bent.

This pattern allows us to connect the middle pin on the triac to the screw terminal no matter what side the terminal is on. Since we are sharing the 2 pin terminals between two channels. The layout also minimizes the need for jumper wires by utilizing the resistor wires or placing the components close enough for them to touch.

Here is a picture of the main layout, showing where the triacs and 6 pin optocouplers go.

After inserting the triacs, you can bend the longest pin back toward the triac to help hold it in. Then, insert all of the optos and bend pins 1, 2, 4, and 6 out as shown below. Then, bend the short lead of the triac over pin 4 of the opto as shown.

Next, insert the 180 ohm resistors with the body next to pin 5 of the opto as shown. By putting the longer lead of the resistor in the middle, it allows us to bend it around the triac lead and then on to the screw terminal, which will be shown later.

After inserting the resistors, bend the short wire over pin 6 of the opto as shown

This is the point where you should plug in your soldering iron. This is where we solder pin 4 of the opto to the triac as well as pin 6 to the resistor.

Next we are going to insert the screw terminals as shown.

Note that the screw terminal may sit on top of the long triac lead. This is OK, just make sure that it doesn\’t sit on the short lead, as it will hinder the ability to insert the resistor.

Now, bend the long lead of the resistor around the side of the triac pin that is farthest from the screw terminal, and then wrap it around the bottom side of the screw terminal as shown. You can also bend the wire after soldering to be more toward the middle, away from the other triac lead.

Now, for the screw terminal for the bottom two channels. If you bend your resistor leads just right, you should be able to reach the screw terminal as shown here.

Now, cut the middle lead from the triac and the extra resistor wire.

Next, stretch out a piece of wire to go around the outside parameter of the board as shown.

Then, strip it and put it under one side of the bent leads and solder it.

Then, make a bend in the corner and bring it by the two bottom triacs and solder. Make sure your bends don\’t cover the holes of the perf board, as we will be using those to mount them together.

Then, the final bend and back along the other side.

Now, solder the wire to another screw terminal to make it easier to attache the 110v wire that will be coming into the board from the fuse holder. And, in this case, since we will be connected two together, bring the wire over to the other terminal as well, so we can just wire from here to the second board.

That finishes up the high voltage side of the board.

Next, we need to insert all the 330 ohm resistors on pin 1 of the optos and connect them all together for the 5v power.

So, start by placing the resistor body away from the opto as shown.

And then bend the leads over to pin 1 on the opto as shown.

We do this so that we can bend the longer leads together like this.

Then, using a left over lead from a resistor, tie the two resistor leads together at the bottom to complete the VCC path for the optos.

Next we are going to insert the 5027 chip, wire up the VCC through the 1K potentiometer and start wiring the SSRs. The reason for the 1K potentiometer is so that we can adjust the supply voltage to the 5027 chip. If you look at the datasheet, it is capable of a supply voltage between 0 and 7 volts. The input voltage is between -.4 and +.4 volts of the supply voltage. So, if your parallel port isn\’t putting out 5V, you can adjust the supply voltage to the 5027 down to 3.5 volts so that it works with your parallel ports voltage. Then, the input voltage can be between 3.1 and 3.9 volts.

So, at this time, you should have two boards that look like this.

So, with the 5027 chips inserted and the two 1k pots, we need to start wiring it up. Keep in mind that pins 5-20 are the data pins that are going to go to pin 2 of the optos.

I\’ve found that soldering the wire to the 5027, then “routing” the wire to the opto, and cutting it at about the middle of the opto is a pretty good length to strip and solder to the opto, like this.

Do your best to route them all, and it should look like this.

Now, when soldering the potentiometer, it will be going from VCC to pin 24 on the 5027. The third lead is not connected to anything.

When we are done wiring it up, it should look like this.

Now.. to wire up the data in/out to the primary board. I call it the primary because we are going to solder the RJ45 data in, power, and data out socket to this one. Here is a pic of were the socket is going to go, as well as labels of were everything is.

As you can see, we are only using 4 wires from the parallel port. Because we are going to solder a power supply to this board, we are going to use that 5V supply to power this board as well as the second board that will be connected to this one. So, as an overview, per the writing in the picture, we have the following on the data in RJ45 coming from the parallel port:

RJ45 IN
3 – GND W/Green
5 – CLK W/Blue
7 – STROBE W/Brown
8 – Data In Brown

Then, going from the primary board to the secondary board using the 6 wire connection, we are moving the numbers around to make it easier to wire them to the 5027.

6 wire socket
1 – GND
2 – Data
3 – CLK
4 – STROBE
5 – No Connection
6 – VCC

And, as you can see, we follow the same pins as the 5027. This makes wiring the socket to the 5027 and then, from the 6 wire cable to the second 5027 pretty strait forward.

NOTE: Data in from the RJ45 is going to go strait to pin 2 (Data in) on the 5027, not to the socket. And, pin 22 (Data out) on the 5027 is going to go to pin 2 (Data) on the socket!

So, you should end up with something like this.

Hopefully yours looks better than this one.. Which, is the cause for the note above.. It wasn\’t till after soldering the socket, soldering the RJ45 wires next to the socket and then soldering the wires from the socket to the 5027 that I realized the RJ45 needed to go to the 5027, not the socket.. Oops.. So, I had to desolder it and start over.. which ends up looking like this..

Eash.. I know..

So.. now for my hack job for the power supply. In this case, I had a 4.5V (labeled) PSU that I had purchased from Electronic Goldmine. But, I have also used the 5v USB cell phone chargers as mentioned in my list at the top. Either way, they don\’t take a lot of power, so whatever you find should be fine. In my case, the 4.5v label was actually putting out around 6v.. but either way, we have the potentiometer there to adjust the supply voltage to the 5027 so that our data voltage will be fine.

The wall wart:

I used a rotary cutting tool to get it started, and cracked open the case with a screw driver.

I cut off the end and soldered it to the board next to pin 1 of the socket as shown, so that the ground is next to pin 1, and the VCC is next to the resistor of the 16th channel.

Here you can see where they were soldered to.

Next, we are going to solder the 6 wire cable to the secondary board.

Keep in mind that 1-6 are going to be reversed now, as we plan on mounting these back to back. So, if you follow pin 1 from the socket, make a mark on the board, so you know which side is pin 1 on the cable.

Then, wire it up just as you did the first one, but this time pin 2 from the cable (Data in) will go to pin 2 on the 5027, and pin 22 on the 5027 will go to the RJ45 jack going out. So, now you should have two boards that look like this.

Here are some closer pics.

Now, connecting all the cut extension cords to the boards.. Here is how I do it.. this is going to get a little bit ugly.. because I\’m to cheap to use a ground bar to connect all the common side together, so I cut the male plug off the extension cord, and strip about 1/4″ off the hot side, and about 1″ to 1.5″ off the common side like this.

At the same time, take the extra extension cord and cut off the female plug side, and then cut another 6″ off to be used later.

Now, tin the short lead.

Now comes the ugly part. I take the extra extension cord with the male end. I then strip it the same as shown above, and then take around 4 of the socket side and twist them together. Then, apply solder. Then, take another 4 extension cords and wrap them around that, and apply solder. I do this till all 16+1 common side of the extension cords are all soldered together. Then, add a 6″ piece we cut off the male cord and solder it. This is going to be used to solder the two lumps of 16 common wires together for the entire 32 channels. Don\’t forget to include the common side of the power supply here as well. Now, if you don\’t want to have an ugly clump of wires like this, you can just as easy buy a ground bar and screw them all together.. that\’s your call, but you\’ll need a total of ~36 terminals (16+16+1 in+1 to next block+1 coming from other block+1 for power supply) . The main thing is, the common coming from the male cord is going directly to all the common of the socket cords.

Now, on the hot side of the male extension cord, we are going to solder it to the fuse holder. Then, from the fuse holder, we are going to use the other 6″ piece that we cut off earlier. We are going to strip and tin the tip of this one the same as the rest of the cords.

Next, I cut 1″ stand offs from a 3/8″ dowel I purchased from Walmart (In the craft section) for $.57. and pre-drilled and screwed the boards together like this:

Here is another picture, with the power supply A/C (Hot side) going to the A/C screw terminal on the secondary board, as well as a 6″-ish wire going from the primary board to the secondary board to supply power. Where this wire came from.. is magic I guess. :/

All that is left is to screw in all the hot sides of to the boards, screw in the hot from the fuse holder to the open terminal shown above and run them through a test.

Once it passed the test, I daisy chained two of them together. No issues at all. Running Vixen with the 8-channel 595 output plugin, set to 64 channels on output 0, going to the first Dual Snoodle, and then out to the second Dual Snoodle, everything worked perfect.

Next I will build another Snoodle and add it to the end. It should be as simple as setting the output plugin to 80 and everything should work.

Also, since I have some Grinches, I plan to test this soon as well: Computer -> Dual Snoodle -> Grinch (Power by first Dual Snoodle) -> Dual Snoodle.

I\’ll post videos when I get everything setup.