Pic programming? velleman k8048

[j m]

this site is what I’ve been looking for, really good stuff !!
Stumbled across http://www.terry-is.f2s.com/ and while reading about his mill I caught the bug. Reading about the picstep http://www.fromorbit.com/ controllers decided I wanted to start to play with pic’s. I am imprested that some one has spent so much time developing it and when I have built mine I will be contributing to “buy Alan a lathe fund!”

I brought the k8048 from http://www.velleman.be/ I’ve e-mailed this to velleman


I am having problems with the k8048 PIC programmer. I have closely cheeked my soldering and don’t think it is the problem. When I bought the kit from MAPLIN. I was advised to which lead to use, it was the wrong one (Null Modem Cable pin wiring as follows 2-3, 3-2, 4-6, 5-5, 6-4, 7-8, 8-7 ) as I had a strait thro converter which would change the gender of one of the plugs from female to male I tried it thinking the null modem cable had a straight thro connection, which did not work with the message from the software saying I could not find the k8048. I then got the correct serial lead, and now can detect the k8048. When I try to write to the PIC the reed/write light comes on but the software displays the message that (no device id received) I have brought a new PIC because I thought that the fist one mite have bean damage from using the null modem cable but the same thing happens. Has using the null modem cable damaged the serial port on the computer or some of the components on the k8048. I am using a laptop, and know that some laptops have problems interfacing with the parallel port because they do not produce enough power through the port, but have not found any mention of this happening with the serial port.


But thought that I would post it hear as well, in case any one could help.
Any help greatly appreciated

Thanks
jm

[j m]

This doesn’t really answer any of my questions, but at least they replied. if any one could tell me how to test the serial port is working correctly or what the problem is, I will be very grateful
Dear sir,

Thank you for your interest and using our kits.

Yes, the cable must be full connected and connected "pin-to-pin" because
the kit use the "handshaking" signal lines and not the normal RS232
lines: RxD-TxD.

Please check the following things, these are the most common problems.

- The voltage, supplied to the K8048 must be at least 15V (=12V
unregulated adapter)

- Serial port is not 100% IBM compatible (new PC's may have different
voltage level)

- Cable is not correct

- Kit has an assembly error ?


Best regards,

Pascal De Petter,
Velleman KIT R&D.

[smarbaga]

if you didn't spend to much $$ on it , you cal always check out k149

http://www.kitsrus.com/upuc.html#k149
i think i payed $24. us for one, works good ( serial, usb and icsp )
Here is a list of the PICs the software & firmware of diypack25 supports for Kits 149 and 150. Kits 128 & 182 are Flash programmers and support only those PICs with an 'F' in the partnumber:

12C508 16C65A 16C77 16F76 16F877
12C508A 16C65B 16C710 16F77 16F877A
12C509 16C66 16C711 16F737 18F242
12C509A 16C66A 16C712 16F747 18F248
12C671 16C67 16C716 16F767 18F252
12C672 16C620 16C745 16F777 18F258
12CE673 16C620A 16C765 16F83 18F442
12CE674 16C621 16C773 16F84 18F448
12F629 16C621A 16C774 16F84A 18F452
12F675 16C622 16C83 16F87 18F458
16C505 16C622A 16C84 16F88 18F1220
16C554 16C71 16F627 16F818 18F1320
16C558 16C71A 16F627A 16F819 18F2220
16C61 16C72 16F628 16F870 18F2320
16C62 16C72A 16F628A 16F871 18F4220
16C62A 16C73 16F630 16F872 18F4320
16C62B 16C73A 16F648A 16F873
16C63 16C73B 16F676 16F873A Added diypack23:
16C63A 16C74 16F684 16F874 16F5x
16C64 16C74A 16F688 16F874A 10Fxxx 18F6525 6621 8525 8621 (all beta)
16C64A 16C74B 16F73 16F876
16C65 16C76 16F74 16F876A Added diypack25 12F683

[j m]

Thanks smarbaga for the reply. your programmer looks better than the one I’ve got, with the USB a serial ports, but I want to get this one working.

Does any body know which pins to test for the voltage of the serial port. And the qbasic number for the port e.g. for the parallel port ( OUT,888 1 ) will give you the high voltage over pins 2, 25
thanks j m

[abasir]

Serial port pinout shown below. Measure voltage of any pin against signal ground. For more explanation, goto http://www.acumeninstruments.com/Sup...cs/index.shtml

[smarbaga]

to input and output data to/from a serial port you may want to use a terminal program like hyper terminal in the windows communications dropdown menu.
many fancier ones can be downloaded for free.

[abasir]

Most serial port problems arise because of non-compliance voltage levels (-12V,+12V vs 0V, +5V). Just measure the pins against ground, if its somewhere around +12V or -12V, then you should be okay... i.e., problem is somewhere else

[j m]

hi abasir
I’ve tried to do this before but think that I need to get a high reading between pins 2, 9 but don’t know how to get it into a high state.

with a volt meter, the - lead on signal ground (5)
This is what I got

Pin,
1 0.01v
2 0.00v
3 0.66v
4 0.26v
6 0.04v
7 0.66v
8 0.01v
9 0.02v

And I know this is not right, as I didn’t even get 1volt. And I can not compare it to my main desktop computer as it doesn’t have a serial port just usb. Perhaps the port is completely blown?
I’m on the look out for an old computer instead of using a laptop any way, this will just speed the search up.
Any help greatly appreciated
jm

[abasir]

I suspect your serial port having problem. I just measured the voltage on my USB->RS232 adaptor; getting about -8V on pin 3,4,7 againts pin 5. The rest is around 0V.

[Patrick_II]

I have experienced exactly the same problem than you jm.

The first thing I did was to change the PIC : I've replaced the original 16F627 by a 16F84A one.

The problem remained. Exactly : "no device ID received" whit the 16F627 and
"write error..." with the 16F84A.

I've then reinstalled the soft PROGPIC2.EXE, without success.

I've also replaced the non-regulated 12 Vdc supply, no more success.

I've then measured, with a Tektronix TDS 210 scope, the non-regulated voltage produced by both supplies : it appeared to be near well regulated (!) at +/- 17V3...I thought the problem was not there.

Please note that my PC offers two serial ports, my scope was connected on COM1, and the VM111/K8048 on COM2.

I've swapped the VM111 with the scope : it now works well with the 16F627 but the problem persists with with the 16F84A...but maybe that the 16F84A is out of order?

Of course my scope still works well on COM2.

Don't ask me why the fact of use COM1 instead of COM2 SEEMS to solve the problem (of course I knew that the COM's can be selected with PROGPIC2...)

I think that peoples, like you and me, experiencing this kind of problem, have not to look on the hardware side (bad programmer, bad PIC, bad cable,...) but on the software side.

I think the first thing to do is to uninstall ALL the devices addressing a serial
port (except the VM111), even if you think that they do not address the COM# where your pic programmer is connected, connect the pic programmer on COM1, and then retry...but I'm absolutely not an expert.

Hope this will help.

[j m]

Hi Patrick thanks for posting what you have done, it may help other people and I’m glad that you have got yours working.
I think I know what my problem is, as like you I have ruled out the power supply. I have also tried other PIC’s and I have reinstalled the software and tried another software program. I have the correct port selected in the bios. So that leaves the serial port, and from what I understand there are different standards for the serial port. As I am using a laptop I think this is some of the problem.
When I measured the voltage of the serial port it was very low but the K8048 is detected by the software and when I try to program a PIC the read/write LED lights up.
So I am still on the look out for a new computer (but I haven’t done much looking, but you have reminded me to start), as my main desktop doesn’t have a serial port, or I may get a USB adapter.

If you want to use the other serial port I think you may need to change your bios settings.

The link for the web site for the other software I found which is compatible with the vellemen K8048
http://www.qsl.net/dl4yhf/winpic/

Out of interest how useful do you find your scope as I don’t have one, and am not really sure what you use it for?

So when I get my programmer working after making the stepper driver’s for my CNC the next projects will be:
I found this web site were some one has made a clock out of a cathode ray tube from a scope and using PIC’s to control it. This has to be one of the coolest clocks in the world
http://www.webx.dk/oz2cpu/clock-scope/scope.htm

Tetris on a pic
http://www.rickard.gunee.com/projects/

james

[Patrick_II]

Hi James, bad news (for me). To swap COM2 with COM1 has not solved anything. The problem reappeared the day after.
So please forget all that I've written...Is an oscilloscope useful? Yes of course. It allows you not to only measure a voltage, but, mainly, it allows you to SEE THE SHAPE of your signal. I think that the reading of a DB9 pin voltage with a multimeter, even a very good one, is very hard (if not impossible) to interpret. The multimeter will read, e.g., "9.05 VRMS" if the byte is "00110011" then maybe "9,65 VRMS" if the byte change to "11110011" and so on...very quikly...but what will it really read finally ? With a scope, I think you'll see the byte itself. At last, it's not "my" scope, but one I've just borrowed at my job...thank for your superb links.