assign id to a device

Thread Starter

bug13

Joined Feb 13, 2012
2,002
Hi guys

I am looking for a very easy way to assign an ID to a device. The ID is from 1 to 8000. What I mean by easy is, lets say, someone don't know how to use a smart phone or computer can use it, with no trouble.

The ID needs to be able read electrically and then my firmware can write the ID into eeprom.

And reasonable cost.

Thanks guys!
 

Alec_t

Joined Sep 17, 2013
14,280
Provide the device with its own PROM including the ID?
Barcode or QR code?
Hand-written label?
Scratch the ID on the device?
Array of magnets oriented to define the ID in binary?
DIP switch array?
......
 

Alec_t

Joined Sep 17, 2013
14,280
The ID may be 1-8000, but how many devices do you have?
If only a modest number you could give each one a different resistor from e.g. the E192 range. If the full 8000 you could give each device two resistors from e.g. the E96 range.
 

Thread Starter

bug13

Joined Feb 13, 2012
2,002
Please give us a more detailed of what you mean by "assign", "use", and "read". Your description is not very clear.

ak
Don't know how to explain assign, but I can tell you what I am doing now to assign an ID to an device.

First, I need to tell how my device works. To make it easy to understand (and hopefully less confused), there are two types of devices: Master and slave. There will be only 1 master, but up to 8000 slaves.

All the settings for all the salves are stored in the a separate EEPROM in the master. Every salve could have up to 20 different settings, and the setting on every slave could be any combination of those 20 settings.

When slave power up, the slave will send it's ID to the master, then download its setting from the master. The idea is to make it very easy to replace a faulty slave, and very easy to change the settings on a lot of slaves if requires.

Now, to assign an ID to a slave, I wrote a simple DOS config tool to send the ID to the slave over serial port. That will require a computer with an serial port, my DOS config tool, a serial cable/usb-to-serial cable, a serial-to-TTL converter, then something to plug into the slave. That's not easy for someone not too technical.

The person who is likely to replace the faulty device is usually someone not very technical. Ideally, a switch than can physical to dial a number, then a slave can read that number will be good. but I don't find a switch that can represent up to 8000, and if I use multiple switch to represent up to 8000, it costs too much, and lots of PCB space.

So, I need a way to give an ID to a slave, and it needs to be easy enough for an non-technical people to be able to do it. At reasonable cost.

Does the explanation helps??
 

AnalogKid

Joined Aug 1, 2013
10,986
Yes. If the slave is not already built, you could add a row of 4 BDC rotary switches. These are little pc board critters, not panel mount. For slave number 1234, you adjust the switches to read 1234. Reading them is a bit more complicated than a 13 segment dip switch, but it is very human-friendly. If the only way into the slave is through the serial port, then a small pc board with the 4 switches and a PIC could be sent out as an ID loader, maybe cheap enough to throw in one with each slave.

ak
 
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