Monthly Archives: December 2010

Microcontrollers

Issue with Rescue Shield and targets with SUT = 0ms

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HV Rescue Shield 2.0 customer Matthew Beckler has uncovered an issue that affects all variants of the Rescue Shield.

Long story short, if the target AVR is configured for a fast internal clock and zero startup time (eg. LFUSE=0x62 on the ATtiny13A gives a 9.6MHz clock with 14CK +0ms startup delay), then a slow rising edge on the 12V RESET signal from the Shield results in the target not entering or dropping out of HVSP or HVPP mode.  The symptom is that regardless of the fuses stored on the target, the Rescue Shield fuse reads return 0xFF.  In addition, the fuses can’t be changed.

I am currently investigating a solution.  There is more information about the issue and updates regarding debugging in the HV Rescue Shield support forum.

Kits

HV Rescue Shield 2 and ICSPOV Shipping Update

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HV Rescue Shield 2ICSPOV

This week I’ve been busily shipping orders for the HV Rescue Shield 2 and the ICSPOV.  Some folks have been buying one of each kit and building their own mightyohm sampler pack.  Cool!

A couple notes about shipping:

  • While the shipping notes on the product pages say to allow 1-2 weeks, this is really the worst-case scenario (parts shortages, I’m on travel, etc.).  Typically I ship within 3 business days max, and often I ship the next business day if possible.   Domestic customers, you will typically receive your order within 5-6 business days.  International shipping takes quite a bit longer because of the shipping time and customs delays.
  • I will not be shipping orders between Dec. 23rd and Dec. 30th, so if you place an order during this time, you’ll get it sometime after Jan 1st.   If you want kits sooner, order before 12PM CST on Dec 22nd.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who has placed orders this week.  Thank you!

Happy Holidays everyone.

– Jeff

Electronics

TGIMBOEJ

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Oh look, it’s a TGIMBOEJ!  This one is box GRAY-R.  It made its last stop in Portland, OR.

TGIMBOEJ GRAY-R

If the USPS ever opens this box for inspection, they will get a nice surprise…

TGIMBOEJ GRAY-R

Lots of junk!

TGIMBOEJ GRAY-R

This is what I took:

  • A SAW voice recorder
  • A Game Boy (with Dr. Mario!) – not working
  • An Ultra Road Whiz
  • Some misc PCBs from Laen’s PCB service
  • A muffin fan
  • Some indicator holders / Keystone electronics bits
  • A pedometer
  • An LED +1 indicator
  • A transformer

TGIMBOEJ GRAY-R

This is what I contributed to the box:

  • A giant graphics LCD panel
  • A big electrolytic cap
  • A Maxwell ultracapacitor (1F @ 2.5V or some other silly thing)
  • A Sparkfun Simon Game
  • A Radio Shack Voice Synthesizer IC Set
  • A curiously strong dual-rotor fan
  • A blue LED pen thingy
  • An alarm control panel
  • A solenoid
  • Alarm clock guts
  • A bunch of 100uF electrolytic caps
  • Some RCA jacks
  • Some IEC jacks
  • An electromechanical counter
  • A couple LED strips
  • A composite video camera
  • An ECE-108 electronics lab kit (741’s and some digital logic)
  • Velcro

TGIMBOEJ GRAY-R

This week I’m releasing the box out into the world again.

Next destination – Los Angeles, CA.

Microcontrollers

New Product: HV Rescue Shield 2.0

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HV Rescue Shield 2.x

The HV Rescue Shield 2.0 is a high voltage parallel mode fuse programmer for Atmel AVR microcontrollers.

It currently supports a wide variety of AVR chips, including the 28-pin ATmega48/88/168/328 series, the 20-pin ATtiny2313, and many 8-pin ATtiny devices (such as the ATtiny25/45/85 and ATtiny13A).  A list of supported devices is in progress, but the Rescue Shield supports many more devices than those listed on the wiki.

The HV Rescue Shield 2.0 is in stock and ready to ship today!  Scroll down to place an order.

New in release 2.0:

  • Support for 8-pin ATtiny devices that use High Voltage Serial Programming (HVSP) mode!
  • Mode selection at startup so you don’t have to recompile the Arduino sketch to change parts.
  • More reliable HFUSE burning on all HVPP targets.
  • Numerous minor bug fixes and speed improvements to the code.
  • Reduced price, kit is now only $19.95 (was $24.95).   This means the kit is lower cost, but with more supported parts!

Requirements:

  • A working Arduino (tested with Arduino Uno, Duemilanove and Arduino NG)
  • A computer with USB and the Arduino IDE installed (tested with Arduino 0021)
  • A soldering iron and basic electronics assembly skills

What you get:

  • A high quality printed circuit board with the DC-DC converter preassembled, as shown below.
  • All other components needed to build the kit
  • An Arduino sketch, assembly instructions, Eagle schematics and layout files.

Here is a snapshot of the components included with the kit.

parts

How to Order:

Visit the HV Rescue Shield 2.x product page to place an order.

Events, Microcontrollers

Microcontroller Mondays @ ATX Hackerspace

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ATmega8U2/16U2/32U2 Breakout Board

I am hosting a weekly microcontroller study group at the ATX Hackerspace. If you are interested in learning about microcontrollers in a casual setting, come on by at 7:30pm tonight.

Tonight at 7:30pm we will hold our weekly evening of microcontroller exploration, otherwise known as Microcontroller Monday.

The idea is not to have a fixed agenda or format.  This is not a class, though I’m pretty sure everyone who comes will learn something.

Some examples of things we might do on MM:

– start learning about the MSP430 and play with the MSP430 launchpads at the space
– have Danny and Christian teach us about the dsPIC
– build some USB devices and play with LUFA (the open source AVR USB library)
– corrupt Arduino users with the notion that there is something beyond analogWrite()
– discuss related topics, like circuit design, PCB layout, etc.

If any of this sounds interesting, consider stopping by tonight.

I plan to be at the space from 7:30 to around 10PM, but that doesn’t mean people can’t start hacking earlier or stay later.  While this event is open to non-members, since a member needs to be present to keep the space open, non-members should adhere to the 7:30pm – 10pm schedule.

ATX Hackerspace maintains a calendar so you can stay up to date with this and other goings-on at the space.