ANY-maze Help > I/O devices supported by ANY-maze > The ANY-maze interface device family > The ANY-maze Digital interface > Configuring an ANY-maze Digital interface

Configuring an ANY-maze Digital interface

Introduction

The ANY-maze Digital interface configuration window is primarily used to configure the individual ports of the device; however it also shows information about your device, and allows you to change its ID and update its firmware.

Accessing the ANY-maze Digital interface configuration window

To access the ANY-maze Digital interface configuration window, select your ANY-maze Digital interface in the list on the left side of the I/O page and then click the Configure this device button in the ribbon bar.

Figure 1. The ANY-maze Digital interface configuration window.

Configuring the ports of the ANY-maze Digital interface

The ANY-maze Digital interface has six connectors, each of which includes two ports for a total of 12 ports in all. These ports can be independently configured as a:

To configure a port you simply need to select it in the list on the left and then choose the type of port you wish to configure it as, using the drop list on the right - see figure 2, below.

Figure 2. Each port of the ANY-maze Digital interface can be independently configured in one of seven different ways.

If you want to configure multiple ports in the same way, for example, you want ports 1 to 4 to all be switch inputs, then you can make multiple selections in the list on the left and then choose the port type in the drop list on the right - all the selected ports will be configured to be of the selected type. (To make multiple selections, either hold down Ctrl and then click on each item, or click the first item and then hold down Shift and click the last - all the items between the first and the last will be selected.)

Depending on the port type you select, various additional options may be displayed. For example, figure 3 shows the additional options for a switch input port.

Figure 3. Depending on the chosen port configuration, a range of options may be displayed - these allow you to fine-tune how the port behaves.

These additional options are described in detail in the following topics:

Configuring a port as a photobeam, a rotary encoder, a photobeam array or a pellet dispenser will actually cause other ports on the same connector to be disabled (see figure 4, below). This is because the first three of these port types all utilise two digital ports; the selector can use any number of ports from 2 to 12.

Figure 4. Here port 3 has been configured as a photobeam. This has automatically caused port 4 to be disabled, as the photobeam on port 3 will use this port too.

Configuring output power

Each connector on the ANY-maze Digital interface has 4 'pins'. By default these are configured as (counting left to right, looking into the port):

However, there may be situations in which you would like to have power available at the port - perhaps to power some circuit you have connected. This can be achieved by changing Pin 2 from being a GND pin to a 5V power pin, which you can do by selecting the Configure output power... button on the configuration window. Selecting this button causes the Output power configuration window to open - see figure 5, below.

Figure 5. The ANY-maze Digital interface Output power configuration window.

To change Pin 2 on one of the connectors from being GND to being 5V, you simply need to open the drop list for the appropriate connector and then select 5V - see figure 6.

Figure 6. To change the power setting for a connector simply open the drop list and choose whether Pin 2 should be GND or 5V.

Note that sometimes you may find that a connector's power configuration is disabled (shown in grey) and can't be changed. This occurs when the connector's ports have been configured as a photobeam, a photobeam array or a rotary encoder, as these configurations use all 4 pins on the connector and require that pin 2 is configured in a specific way.

The amount of power available at Pin 2 depends on whether the ANY-maze Digital interface is itself connected to DC power or not (something you can check by referring to the Current power source entry in the Device information section of the Configuration window). When the device is powered from the USB bus, then the total power available across all the connectors is 300mA - this rises to 900mA when the device is connected to DC power. Note that if you draw excessive current from the device, then it will automatically limit power to the ports and ANY-maze will display a message telling you about the problem; this won't damage the device.

Preventing output power from being turned off when ANY-maze exits

Internally, ANY-maze Digital interface ports are 'pulled-up' to 5V via a 15K resistor. When the device's internal power is turned off (such as when the software is closed), this voltage drops to ground - which can cause problems for ports which are set up as 'active low' TTL outputs and are connected to devices with an 'active low' TTL input. These devices will see the signal dropping to ground as the output turning 'active'.

To prevent this from causing you problems, you can either make sure you disconnect your device with 'active low' inputs before you exit from ANY-maze, or you can select the Don't turn off output power when exiting ANY-maze option here.

A hardware solution is also available to address this issue, which takes the form of a small board that plugs into the 'active low' TTL output ports. Please contact ANY-maze Support for more information.

Suppressing the LED on the ANY-maze Digital interface front panel

The ANY-maze Digital interface has an LED on the front panel which shows the status of the device; red when connected to the PC and green when communicating with ANY-maze.

If the interface will be visible to the animal during a test, then you may wish to suppress this LED - perhaps the test should be performed in darkness, or perhaps you're concerned that the LED could provide visual cues to the animal. To suppress the LED, you simply need to check the Suppress LEDs on this device button in the Device information section of the configuration window.

Changing the device ID

The method of changing the device ID is the same for all ANY-maze interface devices. Full details, including what the device ID is and why you might want to change it, can be found here.

Updating the device firmware

The process of updating the firmware is the same for all ANY-maze interface devices. Full details can be found here.

See also:

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ANY-maze help topic T1057