[sdiy] panel mount optical jacks?

[Jay Schwichtenberg]

Mark,

I worked with these about 12 years ago doing a ADAT interface using the
Alesis chips and optical (AEQ/EBU) SPDIF using Crystal chips. At that time
there were two companies that made toslink (TOShiba LINK) xmit/rcv
'assemblies'. Everyone I talked to including Alesis recommended using the
Toshiba parts because they had a higher bandwidth and seemed to work better.
They did/do? have models of the assemblies that have a mounting hole in them
to attach them to the chassis. The connecting pins are all pcb pins as far
as I know. I have some samples from Sharp which have the part number GP1F32T
and GP1F32R. Doing a search on Digikey for Toslink brings up some Toshiba
parts. Don't know which one you'll need for sure. Looking at some Crystal
demo boards they use TORX173/TOTX173.

The units are self contained. Just plug the toslink cable into them and
you're ready to go. They have a LED in the xmitter and some sort of sensor
in the receiver. If you get the right parts you shouldn't need more than a
cap and a resistor to hook them up to the digital end of things. You want to
do a good PCB layout here too. The speeds are pretty fast and the LED takes
some current.

Don't know if Crystal still makes SPDIF chips. Might go there and check out
the app notes, data sheets and demo board info for optical interfaces. Can't
remember but Alesis either sold their semiconductor business or shut it
down. So don't know if you can get any reference material from them. I know
we used the same 'assemblies' on both the ADAT and SPDIF interfaces so the
drivers/receivers talking to them were pretty similar.

Some last words of advice.
* Don't loose those little dust caps and use them when cables aren't plugged
in.
* Never touch the end of a cable. Oil and dirt can screw up the
optics/signal.
* Never flex in a tight radius or strain an optical cable. They can break
inside or crack and that will effect the signal quality.

Good luck.
Jay S.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> [mailto:synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl]On Behalf Of mark verbos
> Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 2:05 PM
> To: Synth DIY
> Subject: [sdiy] panel mount optical jacks?
>
>
> Hi there,
>
> I'm trying to build this 8 channel ADAT lightpipe/analog converter
> into a module so I can just plug 2 optical cables from my modular to
> my computer and have everything else happening in the modular cabinet.
> I want to move the optical jacks from the PCB to the back panel of my
> cabinet. Does anyone know where I can get some panel mounted optical
> jacks? Are they self contained? Will I just wire to them and all the
> light stuff is inside? I don't know how this technology works at all
> and I don't have a schematic
>
>
> Mark
>
>
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