Audio (voice) - Stock 9X PCB

[magnetus]

this is a pic of my 9x bootloader. it flashes 6 times and then i have a steady bootloader message. is this normal???
i guess it is scince i have no comms between the 9x and the sound board.

[MikeB]

Do you have a backlight connected to the Megasound board?
Do you get any beeps when you press the buttons?
Can you put the SD card into your computer and make sure it is OK?

The flashing bootloader (for the main M128 processor) is normal. It is flashing in case you have a TelemetrEZ board fitted as it needs to wait for the TelemetrEZ board to "disconnect" from the serial lines before the bootloader will work. Once it stops flashing the '128 bootloader is ready for use.

Mike.

[magnetus]

no telemetryEZ board.
SD card reads and write ok from pc
no beeps
i connected the backlight and it stays on all the time

if the crystal is bad, will i still be able to program the atmel???

[flybabo]

@Flybabo, ok it is your choice but I'm sure most of the people that have the sound module like the possibility of connecting to the computer without having to remove the card or opening the radio to flash the module's firmware..

João

Understood.
For those who have HC1969's MegaSound9x card, SD boot loader doesn't make sense since the SD card is not accessible without opening the case. For me, the serial boot loader doesn't make sense since I can't access the serial port without opening the case.

Since I'm using a separate SD board, I made it accessible without opening the case.
You may do it same way with your new Arduino based voice card.
This is important for me as I'm interested in implementing a GPS logger using a serial voice card.
In order to collect the logs, I must be able to remove and put it back easily.

As a matter of fact, I don't own any Turnigy radios as I couldn't tolerate the quality of the gimbals
I just have several 40+ years old vintage ProLine transmitters with hacked 9XR boards.
I can easily make a SD card slot on this non-plastic, aluminum boxed transmitter with wonderful open metal gimbals.

[MikeB]

No, if the crystal is bad, you won't be able to program.

Check the backlight please. It should turn on, but after a short delay of about 0.5 seconds after you turn the power on. If this is the case, this is good because it means the processor on the Megasound is running as that is what turns the backlight on at startup. The 0.5 second delay is in the Megasound bootloader.

Next, power on holding the left vertical trim active (either way). This should force the Megasound board back into its bootloader. When this happens, the backlight should flash on briefly, then go off. Another useful test that the Megasound board is operating.

It's late here, but tomorrow I'll hope to put a Megasound board into a 9X with a '2561 processor. I'll follow my own instructions to make sure they are correct. The board I'm using in my '128 processor 9X is my prototype built on stripboard. It is always possible I've got something wrong in the instructions so I'll test them myself!

Have you got the beeper signal (Pad 9 on the Megasound) connected. The instructions I posted don't mention this fully, I did them rather quickly. If you look at the picture in the instructions, you can see two green wires connected to the main board. The one on the right is my ground connection for the power, the one on the left, soldered to the bottom of a large resistor, is the beeper signal and should go to Pad 9 of the Megasound.

I also notice I haven't mentioned connecting the power to the Megasound, just listed the power pins in the table.

Mike.

[magnetus]

backlight stayed on all the time. looks like bootloader mode not working.

[jhsa]

Im not sure but I think on mine the backlight also stays on sometimes. Really late here now. Tomorrow I will connect evrything again and test..

João

[MikeB]

This is a special test version for the Megasound. It includes both the main code and the bootloader, so may be flashed either using a USBASP, or over the serial.

combinedSerialTest.zip

This is of no use for real use, but it tests the board and connections.
It should:
1. Toggle the backlight every 0.25 seconds.
2. Send a 'X' character out on the serial every 0.2 seconds.
3. Play 0040.wav every 10 seconds.

Make sure you have a file called 0040.wav on the root of the SD card.

Mike.

[magnetus]

tested new file and backlight flashes for .5sec. at tx boot. and now i can hear the beep sound if i press a button.
no bl toggle no sound. i still have if connected to tx cant monitor serial port

[MikeB]

I'm working on this. I have a Megasound board on the bench I'm testing with. It doesn't always start running, but seems to be dropping back to the bootloader since I can read the flash over the serial OK. I'm investigating what the problems might be.
As always with these "embedded" projects there is limited visibility so it takes some time to sort out.
I'm also likely to not get back to this unitl Monday.

Mike.

[magnetus]

thanks for all your help. i will try to load an arduino bootloader and run a sketch. to test. any chance hats there is a pde file for the megasound. or should i upload the files using avrdude

[jhsa]

I think you can't run an arduino bootloader because the megasound is running at 12Mhz?
João

[MikeB]

OK, I've found a bug in the bootloader. When it decides to run the main application, it checks to see there is an application to run. It is supposed to check the first byte of flash memory is not all 1s (0xFF). If it is 0xFF, then there is no application preset to run. Unfortunately, it was reading the first location of RAM, which happens to be register R0.
I've fixed this, and here are some combined hex files:
1. CombinedSerialTest.hex - Test version as above
2. CombinedSerial.hex - standard 12MHz serial version
3. CombinedSerial16.hex - 16MHz serial version

CombinedSerial.zip

14-Mar-2015 23:08

(82.45 KiB) Downloaded 293 times

REMINDER: IF YOU FLASH YOUR MEGASOUND USING A USBASP AT 5V, MAKE SURE YOU REMOVE THE SD CARD WHILE FLASHING. SD CARDS ARE ONLY SPECIFIED TO WORK UP TO 3.6 VOLTS.

I'll try to sort the non-serial versions. In the meantime, if you wish to update your existing, non-serial, version bootloader, flash the 12MHz serial version using the parallel programming pins, then use the serial programming method to re-flash your non-serial application.
If your board is currently working reliably, and you don't want/need the model backup/restore function, then just leave it alone.

Mike.

[magnetus]

try this commands
avrdude -p m328 -b 38400 -P usb -c usbasp -B100 -v -e -U lfuse:w:0xff:m -U hfuse:w:0xd6:m -U efuse:w:0x05:m

avrdude -p m328 -b 38400 -P usb -c usbasp -v -e -U flash:w:combinedSerialTest.hex:i -u lock:w:0x0f:m

pause

the test file works flawlessly

when change the name to combineserial, i have nothing. also i noticed that the combineserial file has yesterdays date versus todays date on combineserialtest

[MikeB]

I've updated the combinedSerial.zip in the post above. I must have either copied the wrong file, on not copied the new one into the .zip file.

Mike.

[magnetus]

still no Joy. new file old symptom. backlight stays on all the time, unable to enter bootloader mode. im uploading the files using the parallel pins

[MikeB]

I'm out of time today, and tied up tomorrow now.
To summarise where you are at.
You have a mega128 processor on the main board.
If you load the test code, you do get the backlight flashing and the voice file playing.
You have the serial connection in place from pins 27 and 28 of the main processor to pads 7 and 8 of the Megasound.
Please double check they are pins 27 and 28.
You have re-routed the two trim wires from the connector to the two connections on P1 beside the rectangular pad.

You don't have a serial connection from your PC to the Megasound board. A standard USB to serial unit (RS232 signals) may be connected to pads 5 and 6 of the Megasound.

With the trims re-routed, what happens if you power on with the left vertical trim switch held active (either way)?

When I get back to this I'll be putting my Megasound board into my '2561 Tx. I'll have to just put a LED on the backlight as I don't have a backlight for that Tx at present.

Mike.

[magnetus]

I'm out of time today, and tied up tomorrow now.
good night sir thanks for your help
To summarise where you are at.
You have a mega128 processor on the main board.
YES
If you load the test code, you do get the backlight flashing and the voice file playing.
YES
You have the serial connection in place from pins 27 and 28 of the main processor to pads 7 and 8 of the Megasound,
YES
Please double check they are pins 27 and 28.
double checked they are correct
You have re-routed the two trim wires from the connector to the two connections on P1 beside the rectangular pad.
YES
You don't have a serial connection from your PC to the Megasound board. A standard USB to serial unit (RS232 signals) may be connected to pads 5 and 6 of the Megasound.
I do have a usb to ttl adapter. how do i connect it to the megasound board, can i have the adapter and the transmitter connected at the same time
With the trims re-routed, what happens if you power on with the left vertical trim switch held active (either way)?
nothing happens. also if i let boot the transmitter the left vertical trim does not work at all

When I get back to this I'll be putting my Megasound board into my '2561 Tx. I'll have to just put a LED on the backlight as I don't have a backlight for that Tx at present.

Mike.

[jhsa]

do have a usb to ttl adapter. how do i connect it to the megasound board, can i have the adapter and the transmitter connected at the same time[/color]

Ok, let's start here..
1- What adapter do you have? FTDI? If possible post a picture.
3 - where are you connecting the adapter? you say that is a TTL adapter, so it should be connected to the same lines that go to pins 27 and 28, with a diode between Adapter TX and the voice module RX with the cathode (little stripe on the diode) facing the adapter side.
2- Is there a diode between the RX pin of the voice module m328 and pin 28 of the radio?
3- is there a diode in line with your adapter tx line and the RX line of the voice module?

I have been building and testing a voice module using an arduino pro mini 5v 16Mhz. I also had problems with the adapters. The only ones that work for me are chinese ones. The original FTDI doesn't work.. I also tried a serial adapter with a CH340G chip and it works, but it needs another diode on the other line as well..

João

EDIT: Here is a schematic that I have been putting together for the ArduSound module. I still have to check it for errors, but pretend that the arduino is the chip on your megasound board. Have a look on the connection to pins 27 and 28 and the adapter..

[magnetus]

1- my adapter is this one: hxxp://www.amazon.com/NooElec-Adapter-Harnesse ... B009GXEF8A
2- there is a diode between the RX pin of the voice module m328 and pin 28 of the radio.
3- i havent connected my voice module to my adapter.
does any signal diode works (ie 1n914) or it has to be a schottky diode. I will go to RS later to look for a schottky but i think they dont have those in store just regular signal diodes. as a separate test, i will try to load MikeB's files to my pro mini and try then.but i will try to get the diodes first.

[jhsa]

You need schottky diodes.
When I was testing the arduino I also had some problems to make it work. On my radio I removed the resistors on pins 27 and 28 and connected the serial wires to their pads on the CPU side.
The bigger problem I have was that the module would not create the folder "Models" on the SD Card. I found out I had a couple bad connections on my breadboard, but I can't tell for sure if that was the problem. It was one of those things that start working and we don't know why.. And that is not of much help for you. Sorry

João

[magnetus]

i went to HC1969 page and downloaded V4 Update (FW:combined.hex).
installed in my megasound 9x board and connected to my transmitter using the parallel lines (LCD mode)
well this didnt work either. lcd has no display at all. if i disconnect line D3 (pad 5 from P1) i get my lcd display back.
im going crazy with this ......

[jhsa]

if you're using the LCD lines, the megasound board must be on for the LCD to work..
The same as you need the radio to be on for the serial to work. If you try toi connect to the computer, the radio must be in Bootloader mode. When the radio is OFF, it loads the serial lines. That was one of my headaches as well..

João

[magnetus]

if you're using the LCD lines, the megasound board must be on for the LCD to work..
what do you mean by the megasound board most be on for LCD to work???
The same as you need the radio to be on for the serial to work. If you try toi connect to the computer, the radio must be in Bootloader mode. When the radio is OFF, it loads the serial lines. That was one of my headaches as well..

João

i loaded hc1969 original V4 files and connected via LCD via usbasp. im not trying to use the serial function at the moment, im just trying to see if i can make it work without serial. i think the board never worked as intended since the beginning.

[jhsa]

I mean that if the megasound is connected to the radio using the LCD lines, it must be powered on when the radio is on. otherwise the radio's LCD won't work as the sound module is loading the lines when it is off..

João

[MikeB]

If you are trying the parallel mode, don't forget to turn the "Megasound Serial" option off.

Mike.

[magnetus]

will try when i get back home. what should be my fuses for serial and for parallel?

[MikeB]

The fuses are the same for both:
(begin edit)
High:D6
Low:DF
(end edit)
Extended:05, although this might read as FD, only the last 3 bits are actually used.

Mike.

Edited as a result of the following post.

[KAL]

Mike,

can it be you mixed high and low?
In Istvan's batch file for V4 (USBASP) I found the following:

Code: Select all

avrdude -p m328P -b 38400 -F -P usb -c usbasp -B100 -U lfuse:w:0xdf:m -U hfuse:w:0xd6:m -U efuse:w:0x05:m

Klaus

[MikeB]

Edited, thanks.

Mike.