Connecting other components to RAK4631

WisBlock
1

I don’t want to introduce an off board IC chip if I don’t have to -for example an 8bit shift register- however, we would like to power multiple LEDs and a couple of switches.

It should be possible to use the RAK5811 0-5V module’s exposure of the I2C pins or even the pins exposed on the RAK5005-0, however this would require the use of an IC chip.

Are there any RAK modules which might be of more use?

Has anyone here connected multiple LEDs to a Wisblock board … it should not need saying, but I will for clarification: the LEDs will need to be controlled individually, since they will be indicators for things such as number of satellites (when using GNSS), LoRa receipt notification, etc.

We also need to wire in a couple of switches, whose positional data will be used to take alternate code paths, has anyone done any of this using nothing but RAK modules?

Further using the RAK5811 module, the self-crimping connection blocks are a little on the tall side when looking at the enclosure profile we woudl like to maintain -has anyone perhaps removed these teminal blocks and instead connected directly to the pins?

Another quickie is whether or not anyone has had any success extending the reach of the reset button? i.e. is there any way of resetting the board, for example, do we tie RST to GRND on the RAK4631?

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So I’ve just answered my last question, simply by giving it a go.

If you want to have your RAK board in an enclosure and you want the ability to reset the board without opening the enclosure, fit a momentary switch to your enclosure and connect it to the GRND and RST pins on your board.

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Hello @billr
Did you look into our new RAK13004 PWM module? It can control up to 16 LED’s. Or if you need additional GPIO’s, the RAK13003 IO module might be helpful with 16 additional IO’s. They can be used for both your LED’s and external switches.

For the reset function, you found the solution already.

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These two new modules look pretty good and would solve problems, however it looks as though we could not use one of these at the same time as the RAK5811 0-5V module. It appears that we can only install one extension module at a time :confused:

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Big WisBlock Base with two IO slots is in development. Cannot say when it is available, but we are working hard on it.

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