Search results for:

@Gordon

Personally I've always wanted to make a PCB with a whole bunch of
snap-out adaptors for various modules...

That's a great idea. I personally find that they key part in that is the "universal connector/port" design if you want to attach multiple modules. Probably would be good to stick with one that is already out there ....

• JeeLabs has the JeePort (http://jeelabs.org/2011/11/10/pins-damned-pins-and-jeenodes/)
  
• .Net has the Gadgeteer socket (http://gadgeteer.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=.NET%20Gadgeteer%20Socket%20Types)
  
• the Netduino folks are working on a "GoBus" which uses the same Gadgeteer connector (http://komodex.com/blog/2012/07/a-developers-introduction-to-gobus/)
  
• Olimex has the UEXT connector (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEXT)
  
• MikroElektronika has the "MicroBus" (http://www.mikroe.com/mikrobus/)
  Then of course you have the Arduino Shield layout, XBee footprint and probably a few others.
  
  

The "MicroBus" seems pretty versatile, but the footprint is kind of big and doesn't use a regular connector.
UEXT seems versatile too, but might be lacking dedicated GPIO/Analog/INT/PWM pins.
Gadgeteer defines different "Port Types" for the 10-pin connector to get around the limited number of pins.
So there isn't really one out there that can do it all, Gadgeteer comes pretty close I think, but the connector and the cables are just a pain to work with (not 0.1" compatible) ...

Hi Ollie,

the Espruino has a linear Voltage regulator (MIC5205) so since the electronics need 3.3V as power supply, the excess is converted to heat in the voltage regulator. Assuming your whole setup takes about 200mA current, for a 9V battery this means 5.7V * 0.2A = 1140mW = 1.14W of heat is being generated by the voltage regulator (9V - 3.3V = 5.7 V).
Since it's mounted on the PCB without really a heat sink, I am guessing it gets really hot and goes into thermal shutdown (The MIC5205 has an internal thermal protection, see the datasheet: http://www.micrel.com/_PDF/mic5205.pdf There are also some more detailed thermal calculations on pages 8/9 of the datasheet).

At least that is my guess as to what is happening. The other scenario is that your battery is already too weak to supply the current for the Espruino + BT + CC300 module, but you could easily measure that by checking the battery voltage when you have everything connected.

I would probably use a rechargeable battery (LiPo) or 3 NiMh cells to power the Espruino. A 9V battery has inherently a pretty low energy density. You could also use a high-efficiency switching regulator circuit to power the Espruino if you really have to use 9V batteries.
Hope that helps,
Mike

@Andrey:
Did you see this note (from here: http://www.espruino.com/Other+Boards):

"Note: This board is more difficult to connect to. You need to power
up the board without 'USB USER' plugged in, and then plug in USB
later. If you subsequently reset the board, you'll need to unplug USB
and plug it back in."

You need to use the "other" USB connector (USB_USER) and not the one you used to upload the Espruino software.
Maybe that is the issue you are running into?
But reading your note again, you probably already tried that.

@ngmacha:
Did you ever figure this out?
Looking at your mapping table and at http://www.espruino.com/HD44780 it seems that:
RS = A0 (Espruino) = D2 (Maple)
EN = A1 (Espruino) = D3 (Maple)

So with that the constructor would have to be:
var lcd = require("HD44780").connect(D2,D3,D15,D16,D17,D18);

(Also, I am not sure if you just could use the Espruino pin names directly or if the Maple build remaps those to the Maple pin names - I assume so since you probably thought of that already).

Regards,
Mike

Hello user6350,
did you ever succeed in getting the SDCard to work on STM32F4DISCOVERY?
I have a few of these boards laying around and want to make them useful by using the Espruino firmware on them...

It might be a python or python version issue:
http://forums.leaflabs.com/topic.php?id=9322

@Stev
I would also be interested in how you got the toolchain set up on your Mac and how you get the executable onto the board from the Mac.

Sorry, ignore this post, I had posted to wrong thread :(

I would also like to see an Espruino board with more "headroom", that is one of the reasons why I haven't bought one yet. The STM32F103RGT6 is about $3.50 more in small quantities on mouser.com, I'd gladly pay more for a board that has some room to grow, since I am planning to use Ethernet/Wifi and nRF24L01+ connectivity.

@conor Thanks for posting this code! Great you got it to work (at least one way).
How are you powering the nRF24L01 module on the Espruino?
Are you using a module with PA?
Maybe the module doesn't get enough power from the Espruino in transmit mode.

This is pretty cool. But being not familiar with meteor, could you add some info to the readme file on GitHub how to install this project and run it?
I.e is the "gc-meteor-full.js" file running on the Espruino? What about the code in the "website" folder?
I'd really like to try this out, so any help would be appreciated.
Mike

Great work Gordon! Can't wait to try it out.

Did you try lcd.setCursor(1,0) to get to the second line?
http://www.espruino.com/HD44780
At a low level, it seems this is based on the LCD controller(s) used in the display. See here: http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php/topic,123864.0.html (Reply #5).

@DrAzzy:
I just came across this thread: http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,18103.45.html which mentions the FQP30N06L MOSFETS (the "L" at the end is important, since it denotes the "logic level" compatible version.
Datasheet is here: http://www.fairchildsemi.com/ds/FQ/FQP30N06L.pdf
They are about $0.95 in small quantities, but get cheaper in volume.
The other one mentioned in that thread is the IRLZ44N (http://www.irf.com/product-info/datasheets/data/irlz44n.pdf) which is also a "logic-level gate drive" MOSFET). Be sure not to confuse it with the IRFZ44N which needs more gate voltage to turn on.
Disclaimer: I have not used these, but looking at the datasheet they seem well suited for driving from 3.3V logic. And the TO220 should be easier to mount and cool than the SMDs.

I would not mess with 220V in the same enclosure as your device(s) and rather use a pre-made power supply. Modern power supplies use optical isolation between high and low-voltage sides, sufficient gaps between high and low voltage and thermal protection.
It really depends on what your devices are. Many of the LED strips come with a power supply that is made for them. I would just get a 5V Power supply (e.g. 5V 2A) that pretty much allows you to power anything you need. If you need a 3.3V supply with more power, get a 3.3V regulator and put it behind the 5V supply, e.g this one which can handle 1A (http://www.newark.com/texas-instruments/lm3940it-3-3-nopb/ic-ldo-volt-reg-3-3v-1a-to-220/dp/41K5126). (Also think about your own safety, the safety of your family and your home owners insurance.)

They're already all gone it seems...

I have one of these boards:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Spruce-STM32-Arduino-Maple-Compatible-Board-Without-LCD-/201006487188
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Spruce-STM32-Arduino-Compatible-Board-With-LCD-/110934072470

It is compatible with Maple/Olimexino, but has the bigger CPU:
STM32F103VET6, TQFP 100 pins FLASH 512K BYTES, SRAM:64KBYTES
It also has:

• 2.4" LCD (optional)
  
• Ethernet through ENC28J60
  
• RTC
  
• MicroSD socket
  
• SPI Flash EPROM
  
• RS232 port
  
• JTAG connector
  
  

So it looks like a great platform for Espruino with enough "headroom" in the flash.
I am looking to get Espruino running on this board, I assume I can just modify the makefile and add a new Python .py file to the https://github.com/espruino/Espruino/tree/master/boards folder (based on the Maple and or the HYSTM32_24 boards) to at least get Espruino loaded and possibly also LCD support?
Later on hopefully also support Ethernet.
Are there any other things to look out for/gotchas or does this sound like the right approach?
Thanks,
Mike

I have two of the WIZ820io modules, but I am a total noob when it comes to the Espruino. How would I go about adding support for the WIZ820io module? I.e which files would need to be touched?
Thanks for any pointers!
Mike