greeeg 460 Posted August 31, 2014 Author Share Posted August 31, 2014 Thanks for the update. Which MCU did you settle for in the end? What's the bare minimum required to get this board to work? Do you have plans to put the design up on the store or something? Sorry I thought I had uploaded the new schematics+BOM. the board is pretty simple. basically I've taken TI's freely available ezFET lite schematics and created this board, this way it is fully compatible with their code. I just used a MSP430f5528, so it's the biggest in the family. But this also ensures it's always fully compatible with TI's code. I don't want to re-invent the wheel here. No plans to mass-sell this at the moment, I could make one off individual boards at cost. It fills a very small niece market. Most people using the tag-connect for MSP430 work will be using it, via adapter with their UIF FETs for high volumes and wouldn't want to rely on a cheap programmer like this. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
juani_c 66 Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 If I made this programmer, can I use a Launchpad to upload the firmware to the MSP430F5528? Do you think it is possible to make a single side board design? thinking in a homemade pcb.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mbeals 74 Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 Yes you can. That's what I'm doing with mine. I just made the icsp programming header for the MCU match the pinout on the launchpad. As for a single sided board, in sure it's possible but it's going to be tough. The QFN footprint would not be fun to home etch juani_c 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
greeeg 460 Posted September 20, 2014 Author Share Posted September 20, 2014 If I made this programmer, can I use a Launchpad to upload the firmware to the MSP430F5528? Do you think it is possible to make a single side board design? thinking in a homemade pcb.... Possible yes. The QFN has a pretty tight pitch. 0.25 track/gap are required. If you are confident in your home PCB etching then go ahead I'm not sire if the G-launchpad will work. But the F5529LP and FR5969LP will be able to program the MSP430F5528 juani_c 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mbeals 74 Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 At least the latest revision of the g launchpad can. greeeg 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
juani_c 66 Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 At least the latest revision of the g launchpad can. I should have been clearer, I have an MSP-430EXPG2 rev 1.3. I use it a while ago to program an MSP430F5510 wich I think is newer than the F5528, so I think it should work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Colika 0 Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Dear Greeeg.Let me allow to say a big "Hey Good Work Man" .Im also planning to build my own eZ-FET Lite, but i have many things what is not clear. The First is that , What is the exact size of the firmware. Is it possible to make it smaller??I just would like to use it as a programmer, not needed the debugging functions. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jazz 209 Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Im also planning to build my own eZ-FET Lite, but i have many things what is not clear. The First is that , What is the exact size of the firmware. Is it possible to make it smaller?? I just would like to use it as a programmer, not needed the debugging functions. If you want to have exact copy of eZ-FET Lite, than original MSP430F5528/5529 must be used. MSP430F5528 and MSP430F5529 are the same devices, except footprint. Maybe compatible part (from MSP430F552x family) with smaller flash size will work. Flashing part (without debugging) probably can fit to MSP430F5510, but in this case code customization is needed, and question is how this part with changed original firmware will be recognized by TI / IAR or any other MSP430 development platform. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Colika 0 Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 If you want to have exact copy of eZ-FET Lite, than original MSP430F5528/5529 must be used. MSP430F5528 and MSP430F5529 are the same devices, except footprint. Maybe compatible part (from MSP430F552x family) with smaller flash size will work. Flashing part (without debugging) probably can fit to MSP430F5510, but in this case code customization is needed, and question is how this part with changed original firmware will be recognized by TI / IAR or any other MSP430 development platform. Yes, you are right, it would be better an open source Firmware from TI. So the short answer is: built the exact copy or do nothing what do you think , the 1:1 copy can supply the target board with enough power ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jazz 209 Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Yes, you are right, it would be better an open source Firmware from TI. So the short answer is: built the exact copy or do nothing what do you think , the 1:1 copy can supply the target board with enough power ? Hardware, including supply, can be done by yourself on any way you want. Changing (shrinking down) original software is not one-day job, and finial result is unknown. I am already working on my own flasher so don't have any interest in customizing eZ-FET Lite software. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
barawn 2 Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Yes, you are right, it would be better an open source Firmware from TI. So the short answer is: built the exact copy or do nothing what do you think , the 1:1 copy can supply the target board with enough power ? There is an open source firmware from TI, provided with the MSP Debug stack. http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/MSP_Debug_Stack Not exactly simple, though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shanemc31 0 Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Hello, I am new to this and I have recently built one of these EzFET Lite boards but am having problems when going to program using code composer. Board will program a MSP430G2553 when using IAR embedded workbench but will not program at all with code composer or in linux. It come up with an error that it could not set device VCC. Attached is a print screen of the error and the schematic. Have you any suggestions. What software package do you recommend to upload firmware to the programmer and what firmware should be uploaded. This should tell me if i am uploading the firmware correctly. Thanks Shane ezFet.pdf Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shanemc31 0 Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Hello, Does anyone have any suggestions for my problem. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated Regards Shane Quote Link to post Share on other sites
greeeg 460 Posted March 27, 2015 Author Share Posted March 27, 2015 ...built one of these EzFET Lite boards but am having problems when going to program using code composer. Board will program a MSP430G2553 when using IAR embedded workbench but will not program at all with code composer or in linux. It come up with an error that it could not set device VCC.... Hi Shane, From this description, It appreas as though you have not properly flashed the custom BSL portion of the ezFET firmaware. Note that the BSL requires the programmer to send a specific unlock code, since the BSL does typically not need to be changed. I had trouble getting mspdebug to perform this task, however the cross platform MSPFlasher worked flawlessly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
juani_c 66 Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Finally made it. I end up using an adapter board for the MSP430. more pics... greeeg, bluehash and jazz 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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