Sales Catalog Page for Betalert 10 (NOT 10B!)

As I promised in my last blog entry on February 19, here is a copy of the page from the 1985 Beta Products sales catalog that shows the Betalert 10 (the predecessor of the Betalert 10B).

NOTE:  I am not the copyright holder of the sales catalog or of the image presented below.  It was originally published by Beta Products in the 1985 timeframe.  When Beta Products was bought by Hathaway Process Instrumentation a year or two later, the copyright transferred to them.  I'm not sure who bought Hathaway, but I'm reasonably certain that the copyrights have expired.

When I was given the charter to redesign the BL10 to make it less expensive to build, I quickly found out that there was not a lot of material cost that could be removed.  So, I concentrated my efforts on reducing the labor content.  But, being an enthusiastic young engineer, I didn’t want to just make it cheaper … I wanted to make it better.  So I set out to add some features to it wherever I could while still making it cheaper.

Below is a list of differences between the BL10 and the BL10B.

STANDARD SEQUENCES:  The BL10 only provided two ISA sequences (AFL and SFFL).  However, the BL10B provided 7 different ISA sequences (plus a “secret” eighth sequence which was never mentioned in any of the BL10B literature).  The eighth sequence was a three-color version of the AFM sequence, using tri-color LEDs.  However, tri-color LEDs were expensive and so I was ordered to remove the tri-color LEDs from the BOM and replace them with cheaper mono-color (red) LEDs.  Fortunately, both LEDs fit the same footprint, so the unit could be populated with either and would work just fine without any software changes.  I was always really disappointed that the tri-color option was never marketed.

TERMINAL BLOCK CONNECTIONS:  The BL10 used black, barrier-type terminal blocks that were so commonplace in the power generation industry.  However, the BL10B used green Phoenix-type pluggable terminal strips.  I caught A LOT of grief about that from sales and marketing back when I was designing the BL10B.  Phoenix connectors were new to the USA back then and marketing was certain that customers would not like them since everyone in the industry (said marketing) was accustomed to barrier type terminal blocks and would not cotton to these new-fangled terminals that were that ugly green color.  But I stood my ground and I insisted (rightly) that I could not get enough terminals on the back panel if I used the barrier blocks.  The Phoenix connectors allowed me a higher density of connections.

I eventually won the argument (it was about the ONLY argument I won) and we went with the Phoenix connectors.  It turned out that customers loved them and within a year or two, nearly all of our new annunciator products had Phoenix connectors on them.

The big savings here was in labor.  For the BL10, look at the picture of the BL10 in the picture above.  See that big honkin' wire harness sticking off of the PWB?  Each of the wires in that bundle had to be hand soldered onto the PWB.  They also had to have a connector pin crimped onto the other end.  And that pin had to be pushed into the nylon connector shell.  Then, on the rear panel, more wires had to be soldered to the barrier terminal strips, connector pins crimped on the opposite ends, and then pushed into the mating connector shell.  That was a lot of labor!  And, in talking to the ladies who actually built these things, they said it was nearly impossible to get those two nylon connectors pushed together when putting the units together.  It was hard for them to get their hands into the units to push them together.

Now compare that to the BL10B.  On the BL10B, the Phoenix connectors were wave-soldered directly onto the PWB during assembly and, when the assembled PWB was slid into the chassis, the Phoenix connectors stuck out through cut-outs in the rear panel.  There was no soldering of wires, crimping, or mating of connectors at all!  It was labor-free.  I was really proud of that change.

MICROPROCESSOR:  The processor on the BL10B was a Hitachi HD63A03, whereas the BL10 used, I think, a Motorola 6800 or some derivative of it.  The source code for the BL10 had long since been lost by the time I began work on the BL10B.  I believe it was somewhere in the back of the building on an 8-inch floppy disk (for which we had no disk drives).  The HD63A03 was actually a Motorola MC6303 that Motorola granted a license to Hitachi to manufacture using CMOS technology.  This meant that it drew less power.  It was also one of the very earliest examples of a “system on a chip” microprocessor.  It had a built-in UART, digital I/O, and some programmable timers and counters.  It was a pretty cool device in its day.  It’s pretty primitive nowadays, though.  Ahh, how I miss programming in assembly language!

LED DRIVERS:  The BL10 used discrete transistors to drive the LED and relays.  The BL10B used IC-type drivers that were an 8-bit wide logic latch that drove 8 open-collector output drivers.  I think I did that to save PWB real estate . . . or something.  I can’t remember.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, though in retrospect a 74HCT373 and 8 transistors probably would have been cheaper.  But I was young . . .   Or perhaps I just didn’t relish the idea of laying out 16 or so discrete transistors and their associated discrete components on a PWB using black tape on mylar.  I’d probably STLL be laying out that PWB!

PROGRAMMABLE FEATURES:  The BL10 used gold-plated Cambion jumpers to select various programmable features.  The BL10B used DIP switches.  I think I went that route for PWB real estate reasons.  Plus everyone in the factory that did final assembly or test hated Cambion jumpers.  You needed needlenose pliers to install or remove them and more often than not they would pop out of the pliers and go flying.  They looked like golden staples  … and were just as sharp.

LED INSTALLATION:  The BL10 had LEDs that were mounted to the front panel and were then connected to the main PWB via discrete wires.  For the BL10B, Tom (our draftsman, but essentially a mechanical engineer), and I found a way to ingeniously install the LEDs on the back side and on the edge of the PWB such that they protruded at just the right spot in the front panel.  That saved assembly cost (i.e. labor).  Unfortunately, it required us to drill a cutout for the LEDs on one end of the engraved legend plates in order to make it work.  But no one ever complained about these non-standard legend plates.

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That’s about all I can remember, though I’m sure there were other differences.