Knowledge Base

Note: This document is not yet complete. It may contain inaccuracies.

All standard range controllers released subsequent to the MMi99 (such as SL99, MMi200 and MS12) will support the board, and the DK versions of those controllers ship with appropriate support software.

SPLat/PC can be configured to handle the HIO16 board. The HIO16 is represented as an extra 8 inputs and an extra 8 outputs.

Once SPLat/PC is configured for the HIO16, you program it as you would any other inputs or outputs. There are some minor timing restrictions.

There are two ways you can configure SPLat/PC to recognise the HIO16 board:

1. Automatic configuration

If you connect the HIO16 to a compatible SPLat controller, and then connect the controller to SPLat/PC, if SPLat/PC recognises the controller and HIO16 combination (i.e. you have a recent enough SPLat/PC), SPLat/PC will automatically configure itself. You will see the I/O window grow to accommodate the extra I/O from the HIO16.

2. Manual configuration

Within SPLat/PC, there is a menu item to configure SPLat/PC to the board you are working with. This menu item is File>Configure>Board Type. Each controller board that can support XPice expansion boards like this one is represented by several variants. These variants relate to the amount of XPice expansion capacity connected to the controller.

For example, for the MMi99 there are the following variants:

MMi99Just the controller, no expansion
MMi99+16XPiceController plus 16 XPice I/Os
MMi99+32XPiceController plus 32 XPice I/Os
MMi99+48XPiceController plus 48 XPice I/Os
MMi99+64XPiceController plus 64 XPice I/Os

Because the HIO16 has 8 inputs and 8 outputs, for a total of 16 I/O points, you need to select MMi99+16XPice (assuming you have just one HIO16 connected). Similar for other controllers (like SL99).

Input and output numbers

You will need to carefully work out what input and output numbers apply to each HIO16 I/O point. This will depend on what type of controller the HIO16 is connected to, and on what other HIO16 (or other XPice) boards are involved.

For an HIO16 connected directly to a controller, the input numbers ‘run on’ directly after the controller’s onboard inputs, including SPice pins, and the output numbers ‘run on’ directly after the controller’s outputs including SPice pins. On an HIO16 connected to an MMi99, which has different quantities of inputs and outputs, this means that the 8 inputs and 8 outputs will not have identical numbers.

For an HIO16 that is connected to another HIO16, the input and output numbers ‘run on’ from the HIO16 closer to the controller.

The easy way to get this clarified is to actually hook the boards up, connect to SPLat/PC and experimentally activate inputs and outputs. Don’t do this with real loads connected to the relays, rather use a multimeter to check the state of the relays contacts. The SPLat/PC I/O window will show what’s happening.

Implementing systems with more than 64XPice I/Os

The limit on I/O count implied above is not absolute. Using the SPiceX method you can go considerably further. Tutorial.