The PropNIC Ethernet adapter combines a Ethernet Jack, Microchip ENC28J60 and all requisite parts, It allows a Propeller, or other suitable microcontroller to communicate via ethernet to a Local Area Network, or connect through the internet to remote locations. Only the important connections to the ENC28J60 chip are brought out to the 2 supplied connectors. This provides an easy connection to many existing Propeller development setups, including SpinStudio, Protoboard, Propeller Education Kit and the Demo Board.
Assembly
- Start
inserting the Resistors from the top side of the
PCB(the side with white silkscreened legend). Bend the leads slightly
to hold in place, then flip the PCB over and solder resistors in place.
Trim the excess leads.
- There are 2 - 220 ohm resistors (colored bands red,red,brown), labeled with Red A on the photo above, on each side of the Ethernet Jack.
- There are 2 - 10k ohm resistors (colored bands brown,black,orange), labeled with Red B in the photo above
- There is 1 2k ohm resistor (colored bands red,black,red), labeled with Red C in the photo above
- Install the 10 pin right angle header from the top of the PCB and solder in place, the installation location is marked by a Green A.
- Next insert all 0.1 uF Capacitors (labeled 104) from the top side of the PCB. In the photo above these are labeled with Blue A's. Again, bending the leads to hold in place. Flip the PCB over and solder them all in place. Cut off excess leads.
- The ENC28J60 gets soldered in place next. The indexing tab is located toward the top when the PCB is held as in the photo above. It will be necessary to bend the IC pins inward to line up with the holes in the PCB. Solder 4-5 pins at a time, and wait a few moments before continuing to prevent the IC from becoming overheated and perhaps ruined.
- Next insert the 25 mhz crystal (labeled with a Purple A in the above photo) in place, solder and clip off excess leads.
- Insert the 8 pin resistor network (labeled D) carefully hold in place as you turn the PCB over, Solder in place. As this is an isolated resistor network, the orientation of insertion is not critical.
- Next install the inductor (labeled with a purple B), solder in place and trim leads, polarity is unimportant with this component as well.
- Add the 2 18pf capacitors (labeled with Blue B's)
- Now insert the 10uF Electrolytic Capacitor(labeled with a Blue C), Polarity is important on Electrolytic capacitors. Insert with the negative lead (indicated by a black stripe on the Capacitor's body) closest to the 10 pin right angle connector (Green A)
- It's time to insert the Mag Jack into it's place (shown as a Green B above) and solder in place.
- Now install the 20 pin SpinStudio connector in the position marked with a Green C. Note - This component is inserted from the bottom of the board, and soldered on the top, opposite of the other components! You may want to solder 1 pin first, check to be sure the connector is positioned snuggly against the bottom of the circuit board before soldering the remaining 19 pins. Also you may want to turn the circuit board while soldering, to "attack" the pins in each row from a different angle.
The 20 pin female header provides the following connections when plugged into Socket B on a SpinStudio Mainboard. Socket B is the prefered location for the PropNIC Ethernet Adapter to provide compatibility with existing code that utilitizes P11-P15 as the default interface pins. A Socket B can also be easily added to a Parallax ProtoBoard using the simple steps in the Propeller Cookbook, with is hosted in the Tutorials section of this website.
| ENC28J60 interface | Propeller Pins |
| CS | P11 |
| SCK | P12 |
| SI | P13 |
| SO | P14 |
| INT | P15 |
**** Important note - The ENC28J60 consumes quite a bit of current (250 mA), the 5 volt regulator on the Proto Board or SpinStudio mainboard can get very hot if using 9 volts to power it due to the considerable voltage drop and current consumption. I suggest using a 6 volt supply for a ProtoBoard, or if using SpinStudio, at least 7 volts are required due to an inline reverse polarity protection diode
**** another Important note - when using with a Microcontroller other than the Propeller, the PropNIC must be communicated with at 3.3 Volt levels. If your uC operates at higher voltage levels, you must use some type of level shifter between the uC and PropNIC.
other Propeller Development Systems
Propeller Proto Board:
When using the PropNIC Ethernet Adapter with a Propeller Proto Board, it is not necessary to use the 20 pin header, simply use the 10 pin right angle header. There are pins for P8 through P15, VSS and VDD. These pins correspond with the holes indicated in the following diagram.
The adapter can be soldered directly to the Protoboard, or a 10 pin single row female header can be soldered to the board, allowing the PropNIC to be plugged in only when needed.
Another great way to plug into a Proto Board is to replicate a SpinStudio Socket B on your Proto Board. This is covered in the Propeller Cookbook, hosted in the "Tutorials" section of this website. This Excerpt covers this modification in detail. Using this method will allow you to use other Peripheral modules that are available on uController.com
Propeller Education Kit: or other Solderless Breadboard mounted Propellers
If using the PropNIC with a solderless breadboard, simply insert the 10 pin header into an unoccupied area of the breadboard near the Propeller, the VSS and VDD pins will be connected to the associated power busses(the red and black wires in the picture below). The remaining 5 connections, Pins 1-5 on the PropNIC are jumpered to P15-P11 on the Propeller as shown below. (note - all unrelated connections to the Propeller have been removed for clarity)
Propeller Demo Board:
In this application, the PropNIC is connected in the same manner as the solderless breadboard example. Plug the Adapter into the breadboard area, then wire each of the pins to the appropriate spot in the female header adjacent to the breadboard. For this application, you must use pins in the range of P0-P7 for your connections to the propeller, appropriate adjustments must be made to you code.
Study the photo below, The chart immediately following it explains the functions of each pin in the photo, and instructs on the proper connection to the Propeller or other Microcontroller.
| PropNIC Pin | Function | Propeller Connection |
| 1 | INT | P15 |
| 2 | SO | P14 |
| 3 | SI | P13 |
| 4 | SCK | P12 |
| 5 | CS | P11 |
| 6 | No Connection | No Connection |
| 7 | No Connection | No Connection |
| 8 | No Connection | No Connection |
| 9 | VSS | VSS |
| 10 | 3.3 Volt | 3.3 Volt |
The Propeller pin connections listed above are only suggestions based on other available hardware platforms, the PropNIC can be connected to any available Propeller pins. Details on configuring your software are listed below.
Code used to interface the PropNIC is available at
http://code.google.com/p/proptcp/downloads/list - This code was written by Harrison. The following changes need to be made to the code.
In the object "driver_tcpstack" you'll need to edit the following line of code
nic.start(3, 2, 1, 0, 5, 4, @eth_mac)
Change this to read
nic.start(11, 12, 13, 14, 15, -1, @eth_mac)
Then in the DAT section, change the following section to acurately relect the IP settings of your network ip_addr BYTE 10, 10, 0, 4 ' device's ip address
ip_broadcast BYTE 10, 10, 0, 255 ' network broadcast ip
ip_gateway BYTE 10, 10, 0, 254 ' network gateway (router)
ip_dns BYTE 10, 10, 0, 254 ' network dns
Your PropNIC is now configured and ready to use.
Schematic
