Close

Parts List

A project log for RJ45 Cable Tester

I don't need this, but couldn't help building it.

ted-yapoTed Yapo 12/21/2020 at 22:560 Comments

I have been asked what the parts are. I haven't prepared an actual BOM, because this isn't that kind of project.

The microprocessor is a PIC16F1705 in SOIC.

The 8x8 LED matrix is one I bought on Amazon. Digikey doesn't seem to stock these displays from reputable LED manufacturers that supply actually useful datasheets, so I bought these on Amazon and figured out the pinout. I have no idea if all displays of this shape are electrically interchangeable. Here is the link to the Amazon product.

This is the pinout I came up with. Of course, it's also embedded in the Eagle component, so you could download the free version of eagle, open the file and look.

I updated the schematic with resistor values I used: they are all 0603 size. They're based on a 5V supply. R1-R8 are 49.9 ohms, which yields around 40 mA peak for the LEDs.

Q1-Q8 are listed as MMBT3904 in the schematic. I populated the board with MMBT4401 because I didn't want to wait for the Digikey box. MMBT4401 are arguably better, anyway.

There are three caps on the board: two 10uF 1206 and one 1uF 0603.

The pre-biased transistors are DDTD123TC in the schematic, but I populated the board with DDTC143TCA, again because I didn't feel like waiting for the parts box to arrive. And again, these are probably a better choice than the ones in the schematic because the internal pulldown resistor will help them switch off faster, preventing display bleeding.

The RJ45 jacks are Keystone 949.

The LED is an 0603 green. I don't have a part number.



Firmware

I uploaded a zip file for the PIC16F1705 firmware to the files section. I think you need a PICKit4 to program it, as I'm not sure if any of the older programmers will do it.

It's mostly bloat generated by MCC, with a few lines of actual code in main.c

Discussions