mbeals 74 Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 I've never liked populating a board with a 4 x .1" header to make it simple to program with the launchpad...and the official TI JTAG header is even worse, so I made a board to breakout the launchpad to a tag connect cable, which takes up much less room on the target board. I chose to use the 6 pin cable designed for the Microchip ICD because I already have one, and because the 6 pin format works well with the 6 pins on the .05" header on the emulation side of the launchpad. I threw together 3 different boards: TAG-connect: Basic 6 pin .05" header to RJ12 (for the tag connect cable) TAG-connect-iso: Same board but with galvanic isolation. If the target board is independently powered, pulling the jumpers will isolate the FET from the target. LaunchFET-iso: Same isolation as the TAG-connect-iso, but without the RJ12. The isolated boards have what I'm calling a safe-MSP header on the target side. This is the standard 6pin .05" header with the top two pins (Vcc and Rx) offset by an extra .025". This makes the header uni-directional and will make it harder to accidentally cross Vcc and Gnd. I also put together an eagle library with 4 and 6 pin versions (with and without the RX/TX lines) of the headers as well as the tag-connect footprints. There are two versions of the cable; one with retainer clips and one without, so there are two versions of the footprint...one with extra holes and one without. I will warn you that to get signal lines to the footprint with the retainer holes, you will need to use 6mil traces and you will violate the 15mil from drills rule that OSHpark has. It's right on the edge though, so I'm not sure if it is really a problem or not. Everything is up on my github and I've attached a static copy to this post. I haven't ordered or built these yet, so there is a chance that I mixed something up. I'll keep things up to date on the github though. github.com/mjbeals/LaunchFET LaunchFET.zip bluehash 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spirilis 1,265 Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Searching and found this thread because I have a project where I'd like to use the TagConnect. Just bought the TC2030 cable and rigged up a PCB for the F5529LP's eZFET-Lite, with a footprint for an SMD RJ12 jack by 3M. Will get those boards back in 2wk from OSHpark and will report how well it works. I commandeered the 2 unused pins (used for JTAG Vcc Out and TCK according to TC's Spy-Bi-Tag adapter description) for UART_RXD and UART_TXD, respectively. No images on my phone here but I'll post details later when I've had the opportunity to test it. Sent from my Galaxy Note II with Tapatalk 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fred 453 Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Weird. I was thinking about TagConnect recently. Nobody here on the UK seems to have them in stock, so I bought some pogo pins thinking that I might make my own. I'll be interested to see how you get on. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bluehash 1,581 Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 @@mbeals @@spirilis I was in contact with the guy who created TagConnect. Since you guys are doing something on it, I can ask him if he is ready to sponsor some cables for you guys. I might need bench pictures in return. Let me know. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spirilis 1,265 Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 @@mbeals @@spirilis I was in contact with the guy who created TagConnect. Since you guys are doing something on it, I can ask him if he is ready to sponsor some cables for you guys. I might need bench pictures in return. Let me know. Very cool, I had thought you mentioned TagConnect at some point and wondered if they had a 43oh discount of some type but didn't find it. I would personally love to get a TC2030-NL and maybe a TC2050 at some point. I'll let you know soon as I have 2 pending oshpark boards--one is the TC-F5529LP adapter and the other is an F5172-based project with a TC2030 footprint for the FET+UART. Pics will be forthcoming (in a new thread when it's ready). Sent from my Galaxy Note II with Tapatalk 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mbeals 74 Posted March 16, 2014 Author Share Posted March 16, 2014 @@bluehash yea, that would be great. Although we are in the process of relocating, so my "bench" consists of some cardboard boxes and a coffee table Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fred 453 Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 It'd be nice if we had a 43oh standard for TagConnect. I know there's the TC2050-IDC-430 but to be honest the full 10-pin JTAG connector is a bit over the top for the boards I make that can use SBW. The 6-pin combo of the TC2030 and the SPY-BI-TAG adapter fits the bill, but it ends up a bit expensive when you buy both. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spirilis 1,265 Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 It'd be nice if we had a 43oh standard for TagConnect. I know there's the TC2050-IDC-430 but to be honest the full 10-pin JTAG connector is a bit over the top for the boards I make that can use SBW. The 6-pin combo of the TC2030 and the SPY-BI-TAG adapter fits the bill, but it ends up a bit expensive when you buy both. Yeah I don't like the cost of the Spy-Bi-Tag adapter, so I made my own for the F5529LP. Will see how well it works & then release it to everyone else. 3 of the boards at OSHpark cost just a hair over $5... the RJ12 jack is <$1 and then it just needs the female headers to mount onto the F5529 FET headers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bluehash 1,581 Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 @@spirilis @@mbeals Neil Sherman, who is the creator of TagConnect replied back saying he would love to sponsor you guys. I've offered a month's advertising is return. Could you guys decide and give me links as to what you want? Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
greeeg 460 Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Wow, I'd never heard of TagConnect. But I wanted something exactly like it. So I bought $10 worth of pogopins (50pcs), and drafted up a very quick 4 pin pad layout. My boards arrived today. This is what I've ended up with. I'm definitely going to look into getting some tagConnect cables down here in AUS, they look much more robust than my current setup :S As for a 43oh standard, the 6 pin just makes sense, (SBW, PWR, UART) and we could all just follow @spirilis layout. bluehash, pine and Fred 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bluehash 1,581 Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 @@spirilis @@mbeals Neil Sherman, who is the creator of TagConnect replied back saying he would love to sponsor you guys. I've offered a month's advertising is return. Could you guys decide and give me links as to what you want? Thanks! @@mbeals Could you please get back to me with a model number. I have spirilis's request. By bench I meant, a picture with your project using the tag connect cables. @@greeeg If you are interested for a cable, let me know. I'll try. greeeg 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
greeeg 460 Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 @@bluehash, If you can, I'd go a TC2030-IDC-NL. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bluehash 1,581 Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Ok.. Thanks all.. I have your requests. With let you know. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fred 453 Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 @@bluehash I'm feeling a bit left out now. Do you think you could squeeze me in? Especially as I can't get them in the UK - Digikey is always out of stock. If you can, I'd love either the TC2050-IDC-430 or TC2030-IDC. (I reckon the legs are worth the extra effort if you need to do any debugging.) I don't make a lot of boards, but I home etch them, so I'd be more than happy to write up how practical it is to use TagConnect for home made boards. This is the sort of thing I tend to make: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bluehash 1,581 Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 @@Fred ok sure. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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