Research Concepts RC2500 - Manual (Page 157)

150 RC2500 Antenna Controller Appendix S Andrew Plug Compatible Controller
Research Concepts, Inc. • 5420 Martindale Road • Shawnee, Kansas • 66218-9680 • USA www.researchconcepts.com
Appendix S – Andrew Plug Compatible Controller
A new version of the RC2500 Antenna Controller has been produced. It is plug compatible with Andrew
APC100 and APC300 Controllers. This allows the user to enjoy the industry-standard qualities of the
RC2500 on their existing Andrew antennas. The RC2500-ANDREW uses the same DB-50 Receptacle
(DB-50R) control connector and DB50 Plug (DB-50P) resolver connector as the Andrew Controllers. This
allows the direct field replacement without cable changes.
This appendix consists of two major parts, the first, a description of hardware and interconnects and the
second, a description of the new “Soft Limits” portion of the configuration menu. This appendix is meant
as a supplement to the main RC2500 manual. Please refer to the main manual text for installation
guidance unless this appendix calls out a change.
Note that there are no Hard Limit inputs used in this version of the RC2500. Limit switches on the
antenna interact only with the Antenna Interface Unit (AIU) halting motion at that level. The RC2500-
ANDREW controller uses “soft” limits. Soft limits are stored positions, set during installation, that halt the
antenna motion before the “hard” limits are reached.
After the Hardware and Software sections of this appendix, 5 sections of the I/O PCB schematic are
reproduced along with two diagrams showing the component layout of the I/O PCB. Finally, a diagram
showing the interconnects between the original RC2500 resolver connectors and the DB-50P is shown.
Hardware Description and Interconnects
The RC2500 Andrew controller uses a larger housing. While still 2 rack-units tall, the RC2500-ANDREW
version is 12 inches deep versus the 9-inch deep standard RC2500. This version of the RC2500 uses
the same front panel, display, and processor board as the standard RC2500. A new I/O PCB is used
which accommodates the Andrew APC100/300 features.
The RC2500 back panel differs from the standard RC2500. A back Panel drawing showing the new
connectors is in Figure S-1. Connector J1 is still the same AGC input connector described in Section 3.3
and 3.3.3. J2 is now a DB-50R used to take as input all three of the resolvers. J2 is described below. J3
is now the PC remote control connector (RS-422) this has the same characteristics as the J5 referred to
in section 3.3 and 3.3.4. J4 is an auxiliary input connector and is described below. Finally, J5 is the
motor control connector. In a normal, non-tracking installation, only J2 and J5 are used.
The following three tables describe the new connectors, J2, J4, and J5 found on the RC2500-ANDREW
Antenna Controller.