What's the difference between the ACA500+ boards with "2013-2016" and "2013-2018" on them?

Caution: Non registered users only see threads and messages in the currently selected language, which is determined by their browser. Please create an account and log in to see all content by default. This is a limitation of the forum software.


Also users that are not logged in can not create new threads. This is a, unfortunately needed, counter measure against spam. Please create an account and log in to start new threads.

Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • I see two different ACA500+ boards online in different places when I Google. Some are marked with "2013-2016" and others "2013-2018". One difference I see is the digit display is bigger on the 2013-2018 version. What else? Which one is better? I would assume the newer one, but what would make it better?


    Thanks

  • Which one is better?

    The core development is the same. All software updates and compatibility is identical. You can use the same set of CF cards, it has the same amount of memory, the same clock settings and both are compatible with the X-Surf-500 networking card.


    The newer cards use the 68sec000 CPU instead of the 68ec000. This is slightly more happy when overclocking, so the guaranteed clock rate is not 14MHz, but 21MHz for the newer model.


    You already found the bigger DisMo, and there's another tiny detail for the LED: on the small DisMo, it's only red/blue, but on the new DisMo, it's an RGB LED. Since the software is backwards compatible, the green part of the LED is only shown during the colour cycling when the menu is active. When showing error codes, only the blue and red part of the LED are used.


    The last detail is for those who don't read the manual (or like to ignore it): If the "old" card is plugged in the wrong way round, one of the CPLDs and all chips on the DisMo are getting fried. The new cards have a protection circuit that limits damage: In most cases, only two resistors will be burned, so the repair can be done by any person in the world. "most cases" means that this is not a full protection - we did have cases where the DisMo survived and the CPLD dies and vice versa. However, for the majority of those who connected the card the wrong way round, the repair was as simple as "exchange the resistors of shame" (that's what I called them, because they only burn for those who shamefully didn't read the manual and ignored all warnings that are written on the card itself).

  • Ah yes, "the resistors of shame". I've read about them in other posts in some other forum I think, where a card stopped working :)


    Thanks for the info.

  • The last reply was more than 365 days ago, this thread is most likely obsolete. It is recommended to create a new thread instead.

    • :)
    • :(
    • ;)
    • :P
    • ^^
    • :D
    • ;(
    • X(
    • :*
    • :|
    • 8o
    • =O
    • <X
    • ||
    • :/
    • :S
    • X/
    • 8)
    • ?(
    • :huh:
    • :rolleyes:
    • :love:
    • 8|
    • :cursing:
    • :thumbdown:
    • :thumbup:
    • :sleeping:
    • :whistling:
    • :evil:
    • :saint:
    • <3
    Marks thread as resolved after post creation.