Author Topic: Wow been so long. (Read 22037 times)

c1truz · « **on:** May 28, 2014, 12:41:09 PM »

I wanted to tell you guys that having a new kid really puts a damper on projects and time. Now that my little girl is getting a little old I have a little more time on my hands. So what to do? Make a mod of course. Still have to get some parts in. And finding a box to my liking is a pita and haven't got the 3d printer up yet.

Gonna use either the GE 12a or 20a board. So this will be 80-100w micro controlled board.

I have a few character displays laying around. They give all information need but I was looking for something more...Lets say flashy. So I picked up a TFT display and started playing around with it. I'm not 100% happy with what i've come up with so far . Its a little challenging making a display look "good".

Ill have more details next week after I actually order things this weekend but here is a "alpha" version of the display so far.

shandy27 · « **Reply #1 on:** May 28, 2014, 01:18:50 PM »

This may be a stupid question but how did you do the battery monitor icon on the display, I must say so the display looks good.

Breaktru · « **Reply #2 on:** May 28, 2014, 01:42:00 PM »

Fantastic. The display looks great just the way you have it.

I see that you have the same dilemma that I had. I didn't have an omega symbol in the Character Set for the display I was using.

Well done

c1truz · « **Reply #3 on:** May 28, 2014, 01:48:32 PM »

Idk if there are better ways to do it but I actually programmed it in by drawing squares with dif colors etc etc. Just "looks" like a battery.

and Breaktru ya If its there I haven't found it. Will have to manually draw it with pixels if I want it lol.

shandy27 · « **Reply #4 on:** May 28, 2014, 02:00:51 PM »

Thanks was wondering how to do the battery symbol.

c1truz · « **Reply #5 on:** May 29, 2014, 01:45:04 PM »

Well its decided. I just ordered my UDT020A0X3-SRZ breakout boards.

c1truz · « **Reply #6 on:** May 31, 2014, 09:18:31 PM »

Well module ordered, switches ordered, and cheapo 510s ordered for prototyping.

Dasen22 · « **Reply #7 on:** June 02, 2014, 08:12:15 AM »

Very impressive display

c1truz · « **Reply #8 on:** June 04, 2014, 06:02:56 PM »

Well I got the 20a 110w module and caps in today. When I get the switches in tom I can start writing code. Here is a pic with an 18650 for size reference.

c1truz · « **Reply #9 on:** June 06, 2014, 08:53:42 AM »

The basic board design is complete. I'm sure there will be changes as far as traces etc etc. but shouldn't be any size changes. The size of the board is 89mm x 46mm and will be about 26mm thick. This includes 2 18650 batteries, circuit board(s), and the screen.

So I have to find(which ive looked and looked) an enclosure with internal dimension of 3.52" x 1.81" x 1.02". Not exact of course and I don't mind a little working room but most that are close to the width and height are not thick enough or are 1.5" + thick. Ill find / design something after I get boards in and get exact dimensions assembled.

I think Ill have enough testing to get the boards ordered by NEXT Friday. Looking forward to getting off of the solderless breadboards. The ones I have flake out too much and I'm just too lazy to go buy jumper wires that actually make good connection.

CraigHB · « **Reply #10 on:** June 06, 2014, 04:06:47 PM »

Quote from: c1truz on June 06, 2014, 08:53:42 AM

Looking forward to getting off of the solderless breadboards. The ones I have flake out too much and I'm just too lazy to go buy jumper wires that actually make good connection.

I don't always use my solderless breadboards, but I do use them sometimes. What I find is the boards themselves wear out pretty fast. I have to replace them at some point, in fact I need to replace the ones I have right now. As far as jumpers, I always just use 22 ga nickel plated solid wire. Has to be the nickel plated stuff, the bare copper tarnishes really fast and then the connections get flakey. I just make jumpers on the fly as I need them. Never saw the sense in buying the pre-made jumpers I've seen in stock at electronics shops.

c1truz · « **Reply #11 on:** June 06, 2014, 04:46:33 PM »

I've been using solid 24 guage wire out of an old cat-5 cable. Ill look into the wire you are talking about. Mines been flakey because the wires are too small I think.

Breaktru · « **Reply #12 on:** June 06, 2014, 05:03:13 PM »

Yeah the contact points wear out rather quickly. I solder the high current stuff directly. Only takes a sec to tac a wire to a pin.
If you are going to use the cat-5 wire, double over the wire ends and squeeze w/ a pliers. Works for me.

c1truz · « **Reply #13 on:** June 11, 2014, 10:46:23 AM »

Thanks BT. the doubling and smashing works a lot better! No more moving it here or there to get it to stay on.

On to the mods progress.

I designed, ordered, and recieved breakout boards for the module. However I'm not going to use them. It will be a waste of 17 bucks or I would have to desolder it after I'm done prototyping. I'm going to use the 12a module I already have on a breakout for the prototype. It uses the same commands as the 20a module.

I received the switches and I really like the feel of the 200g ones. Got extra so I can just put some on a breadboard, solder them on and use it for all prototyping. Up, Down, Fire.

I have some basic code done....variables etc etc and the display coded so not very much done as far as code but I'm hoping to get some basic code done this weekend.

Rough draft of specs are:

Display:
1.8" full color TFT as seen above

Battery:
Going to be using 2 of the 35A IMRs I have unless I find something better in the mean time.

Microcontroller:
For simplicity I'm going to just use an Arduino Mini. Prototyping on an UNO. I COULD design the board with just the 328p but I couldn't cram the components on a smaller area than they already do. I'm going to mount it on a designed circuit board but to save board space per say I'm only going to go "through hole" on the pins Im using for the switches, spi, and i2c. That way there is more room for traces under the board and the fact that if i mess up or want to add features in the future I can (worst case) solder to the arduino from the top and run wires.

Case:
Still not sure but If it works and functions like I want it too I will prob design one and get it fabbed.

Power Module:
As said before it will be the GE UVT020A0X3-SRZ. 20A Voltage will be set to ~3.3v-5.5v or maybe 6v if it can be pushed to it. It is a 20A module but the "Warning" level on the module is actually 24A and cut off is 26A. So If I really wanted to push it I could prob get 137 watts out of it @5.5v. 150 watts @ 6v IF it even goes that high. Seems like I read that the cut off for voltage on the module is actually. 6.1something volts. I will not know what it will actually do until i'm in the final stages because im not using it till I get the final boards in. It is a little excessive but I do not own a clearomizer(fiance on the other hand does) I only vape drippers. So on average i'm running at about .5 ohms. I'm a mechanical guy and want a VV mod that can somewhat keep up. I would rather have way more power than not enough.

Thats all I can think of now. I'll keep this post updated.

CraigHB · « **Reply #14 on:** June 11, 2014, 09:08:27 PM »

Quote

It is a little excessive but I do not own a clearomizer(fiance on the other hand does) I only vape drippers. So on average i'm running at about .5 ohms. I'm a mechanical guy and want a VV mod that can somewhat keep up. I would rather have way more power than not enough.

Just like batteries there are advantages to using electronics rated higher than what you need. When something has a high power and/or current rating, losses have to be minimized to keep heat under control. Heat is wasted power so even at lower loads, you get the benefit of higher efficiency which means improved run times and greater reliability.

c1truz · « **Reply #15 on:** June 17, 2014, 03:48:13 PM »

By no means are these final. But im exploring the option to use just the mcu instead of a whole arduino board. Here is a basic board that is in no way complete or even checked to be right. Just checking sizes.

CraigHB · « **Reply #16 on:** June 17, 2014, 06:56:28 PM »

Yes, you should do that. The Arduino boards carry a lot of overhead you can eliminate by building your own host board for the MCU. All you need is the MCU with the bootloader preloaded and a USB interface. If you want, you can use a pin header in lieu of a USB receptacle, just a matter of making your own interface cable.

The one problem with Arduino is you need to load the bootloader beforehand. For high density parts, there's not always an easy way to do that since you need a programming socket for the part. Otherwise you have to do it with the MCU in circuit. In that case you need two programming headers on the board, one for Arduino and one for the programmer/debugger applicable to your particular MCU.

Arduino often uses an Atmel MCU, but not exclusively. Atmel has their own inexpensive programmer/debugger which uses a JTAG interface. Kind of sucks to have two programming headers on your PCB. To get around all that mess, it may be possible to find even the high density chips for sale with the Arduino bootlader pre-installed.

The Microchip MCUs I normally use don't utilize a bootloader so I don't have that problem. Though they can utilize one if I want them to. What I've been using is a pin header held in there by hand. Though I use an ICSP interface rather than USB, the idea is the same. All I need is a set of through holes in the PCB which takes up much less space than a plug receptacle or a pin header soldered in there.

When programming, I just put some lateral force on the pin header by hand so the posts bite into the through holes. Works like a charm, zero issues. Though if you want to hardware debug, it's not really practical to hold the pin header in there the whole time, but I rarely have to do that. I debug almost exclusively in the simulator provided by the Microchip IDE.

c1truz · « **Reply #17 on:** June 17, 2014, 07:10:27 PM »

Craig have you ever used one of these? http://m.ebay.com/itm/301200346595?nav=SEARCH

I can also fit a 28 pin pdip on there as long as I put the buttons on the side instead.

CraigHB · « **Reply #18 on:** June 17, 2014, 07:25:55 PM »

Looks like that would do the job. Personally, I stopped using a programming socket quite some ago. I've been doing all all my stuff in-circuit since.

For Arduino, you have the requirement to install the bootloader so it demands an extra interface. You have to install the bootloader either with a programming socket or in circuit with an interface specific to the programmer/debugger. No way around that. The dependence on USB is kind of a big ding against Arduino, but it also provides a convenience.

Other products that utilize a bootloader are more flexible on the interface. They can use the same interface for the bootloader as the programmer/debugger and there's a range of types that can be used.

c1truz · « **Reply #19 on:** June 18, 2014, 08:07:13 AM »

I think what i'm going to do....since i'm kind of stuck with arduino until i can learn how to program using something else is buy that socket to install the bootloader. Then put a 6 pin header on board so I can program in circuit because I do not want to mount a chip with a program on it only to find out it has a bug that I can't change. The more I think about it, It just doesn't make sense to mount a mcu(that not in a socket) that you can't flash the firmware in circuit.

c1truz · « **Reply #20 on:** June 18, 2014, 10:21:36 AM »

Gets a lot more messy when you have to add all those pins in there. 95 x 38 x ~26 at its longest points.

CraigHB · « **Reply #21 on:** June 18, 2014, 12:46:58 PM »

Well, you generally want to be able to program an MCU after it's been installed, that's a given. You can either use a socket on the PCB that allows you to remove and replace the part for programming or you can add a receptacle of some kind on the PCB that allows you to program the MCU in circuit.

In circuit programming is actually a newer concept. Prior to that, you always had to use a socket on the PCB to remove and replace the MCU for programming. A couple decades ago, serial interface standards were developed to allow in-circuit programming eliminating the need for a chip socket on the PCB.

Also, the high endurance on-chip EEPROM required for in-circuit programming was not available cheaply until a couple decades ago. Used to be you had to use some rather odd methods to program an MCU and some could only be programmed once.

A bootloader is a small block of code that's permanently resident in MCU flash memory. Bootloaders are not unique to Arduino. Any MCU of any ilk can use a bootloader. It normally does not need to be changed though it can be if required. You only need to install the bootloader once to allow you to program the MCU in-circuit with Arduino or any other software that requires it.

A bootloader allows programming via USB or any other non-standard programming interface. It also provides the ability to use a customized loader program in the form of a computer program or iPhone app or whatever else. Arduino requires a bootloader to allow programming with the Arduino IDE (integrated development environment) utilizing a USB programming interface. If you wanted, you could use the same Atmel MCU with Atmel's IDE utilizing a JTAG interface (which is what I would do myself);

www.atmel.com/microsite/atmel_studio6

www.atmel.com/tools/avrdragon.aspx

MCUs don't natively support programming access through a USB interface, they use other serial interfaces like JTAG. I imagine at some point someone will come up with an MCU that can natively use USB for programming access. They're probably out there already, just haven't come across one yet.

Claviger · « **Reply #22 on:** June 18, 2014, 02:22:23 PM »

http://www.femtoduino.com/spex/femtoduino

is pretty small and you can get the current draw down to 0.6uA while it is in sleep mode for the board if you use an external voltage regulator! Just linking maybe it gives you some ideas on trace routing and layout to minimize size.

The MEGA32U4 supports native usb from on chip, from what I understand, which is why it is so popular with tiny arduinos like the micro pro and femtoduino.

CraigHB · « **Reply #23 on:** June 18, 2014, 03:28:34 PM »

Well, most new MCUs offer a USB module on-chip, but they can't program from it without a bootloader. I'd have to read the data sheet on that part, but it may or may not be stand-alone programmable using the on-chip USB module.

In any case, just about any MCU suitable for use with Arduino needs to carry a USB module on-chip. That's a lot of overhead saved in not having a USB chip on the board. In fact that's true for just about any project involving an MCU. Most need some kind of user interface and it's usually USB.

The little Arduino board you linked to can make the whole issue moot. It's probably smaller than one you can build yourself. On the other hand, if you want to carry that part on a host board, it's going to be a kludge.

BTW, the one you linked to is for use slaved to another Arduino in ISP mode, which is fine, saves the trouble of a USB port for programming. Arduino ISP mode even allows you to install the Arduino bootloader. Did not know Arduino could do that until I looked at the specification on that part;

http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoISP

Here's the one with a USB port which would be used as the programmer or if you wanted to program via USB normally;

http://www.femtoduino.com/spex/femtoduino-usb

c1truz · « **Reply #24 on:** June 18, 2014, 04:09:20 PM »

I have a FTDI breakout that I was planning on using for the isp stuff. The catch with the USB is just as Craig has stated. You still have to get the bootloader on the chip before you can use the USB port for programming. Although USB sounds a lot easier and takes up less space than a 6x1 header. Ill have to look into it and im also looking into atmel studio atm.

CraigHB · « **Reply #25 on:** June 18, 2014, 04:21:41 PM »

Yeah, there's a number of reasonable solutions you can use. Just have to go with works best for you.

I don't use Arduino myself so I'm not an expert on it. I've always used the manufacturer IDE and programmer/debugger with all the MCU stuff I've done.

The IDEs are free for Microchip and Atmel, but they can be cost prohibitive for other makers. Most are starting to go the free route now because of what Microchip and Atmel have been doing, they gain a lot of popularity with a free IDE.

Then there's the proprietary programmer/debugger you need. Those are inexpensive from Microchip and Atmel, but again they can be cost prohibitive from other makers.

Arduino has the big advantage in that it's open source and does not require a proprietary programmer/debugger. It's pretty much free all around except for the actual electronic components. So, you can't beat the price.

Claviger · « **Reply #26 on:** June 18, 2014, 04:31:24 PM »

C1truz,
Not sure how your code looks, but running an OLED I am nearly at the RAM limit on my arduino code. I think only about 300 bytes left available once all the variables have been populated while it's running. Really limits what more I can do, things like multiple button functions via number of clicks, voltage control via the MCU instead of a Pot, or VV/VW target mode. If you hit the same wall, there is a very small 16 and 32 bit solution available via:

https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/

c1truz · « **Reply #27 on:** June 24, 2014, 12:41:10 PM »

Been working on board design for a few days now. Nothing is ever as easy as planned. I'm going to go over the board a few times between now and next monday. Planning on ordering all parts and boards then. Here is the board so far. I'm going to purchase that socket for the smd 328p to burn the bootloader. Then burn code via onboard pins. Its amazing how many hours you can put into something and still not be satisfied. Dimensions are in MM. All the what seems to be wasted space on the right side of the board is where the display sits.

Visus · « **Reply #28 on:** June 24, 2014, 05:47:36 PM »

Looking good

I typed in the UVT020A0X3-SRZ wouldn't ya know, Mundy has built on it. He has built every module out there it seems

..

SingedVapor · « **Reply #29 on:** June 24, 2014, 10:51:36 PM »

That is a great looking display!

c1truz · « **Reply #30 on:** July 01, 2014, 08:53:08 AM »

Thanks.

Ok I just got finished ordering all parts and pcb. Now have to play the waiting game to see if everything turns out as planned. I also found a place that sells the tqfp chips with the bootloader already installed so to save a bit of money I got one from them for $5.50 instead of buying the adapter. Just didnt make sense to buy the adapter unless I was making a lot of these mods. Should have everything in about 10 days so I can start my build.

c1truz · « **Reply #31 on:** July 07, 2014, 08:27:22 AM »

Received all parts for the mod. Only thing i'm waiting on now is the custom pcb. Could be another 10 days but worth the wait.

c1truz · « **Reply #32 on:** July 08, 2014, 02:25:32 PM »

OSH Park

Order #CbZxmPzb received from fab.

Should have my boards in a few days now.

CraigHB · « **Reply #33 on:** July 08, 2014, 05:56:37 PM »

I love those guys, usually get my boards a couple days after they go out in the mail, not more than three. Though I'm pretty close to them in terms of mail delivery. They ship from Portland Oregon I believe, but I'm not sure about that.

c1truz · « **Reply #34 on:** July 08, 2014, 06:01:35 PM »

It only takes about 3 and im all the way over in sc. You told me about them a while back. Ive ordered about 8 boards from them without a single complaint. These were pricey compared to other ones ive ordered. Just hope I had the schematic right..lol.

CraigHB · « **Reply #35 on:** July 08, 2014, 06:08:25 PM »

Yeah seems they get more expensive fast as the size goes up, but they charge a flat rate by area. I guess it's because you gain area as a factor of length and width so what seems like a small increase in dimension makes a big increase in area.

I saw someone at SparkFun call circuit boards with errors in them "coasters" as in that's all they're good for if you make a mistake. So, hope you didn't order coasters. I've ordered my share of them. Just glad mistakes are not particularly expensive, they used to be for me.

c1truz · « **Reply #36 on:** July 08, 2014, 08:59:49 PM »

They were under $30 so not too bad but still an expensive coaster!

c1truz · « **Reply #37 on:** July 11, 2014, 05:02:50 PM »

Well moment of truth.

c1truz · « **Reply #38 on:** July 11, 2014, 09:46:53 PM »

Well got it assembled without too much trouble. Had a bad joint on the vreg and had to modify 2 of the battery holders because they covered and touched some of the programming pins. the company i ordered the mcu from put the wrong bootloader on it but i got it working anyway. After that everything that ive checked seems ok. Ill have to get to programming the ge module and the mcu tommorrow. For now the module puts out exactly as calculated. 4.8v. It has and adjustment for +- 25% from there. Here are some pics. The cutout is for the 510 . I shouldnt have to run wire more than half an inch. Here are a few pics. :rockin smiley:Ute

Jasen · « **Reply #39 on:** July 12, 2014, 01:29:53 AM »

Sweet!!!

Breaktru · « **Reply #40 on:** July 12, 2014, 07:14:10 AM »

Looking good. Nice going

c1truz · « **Reply #41 on:** July 12, 2014, 08:58:43 AM »

Well im going to have to buy button top batteries. Spacing on my holder is a lil off. I shrunk it 2 mm from manufacturing spec but isnt quite enough but thats minor. Here is a pic of the box I originally was going to use because of the size of my circuit. The left is what I finally got it down to. Right is hammond 1591bs. Left is a bud industry but I forget the product number.

miskol · « **Reply #42 on:** July 16, 2014, 01:10:46 PM »

Nicely done, hoping to see it in action, good luck!