MBHP_BURNER beta

[TK.]

This schematic for the successor of the MBHP_JDM module is now available:

http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp_burner.html

I hope that this programmer works more reliable with all PCs - please report issues here

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[Martin_Haverland]

For 16F and 18F ! Cool.

I have some 16F laying around because my jdm never worked.  ;D

can i use another npn universal small signal transistor as a bc337 replacement?

Maybe i can put my broccoli-18 back in the "emergency only" case... ;)

thanks alot for another new design

Martin

(when do you sleep?)

[SexyBeast]

Hi Thorsten,

I've made a PCB from your schematic. I have just etched it and will try it tonight. I have made some minor changes to suit my needs:

1. I wanted the new burner to fit in my old burner's case.

2. The burners PIC-socket is on a different board (which makes it easier to mount in my case).

3. I added a switch and another trimpot to be able to switch between the voltages for 16F and 18F PICs. With the switch I added another LED to show which voltage is provided.

4. I omitted the rectifier and put in just one diode (for safety) because I will reuse my old burner's DC-source.

If you're interested I can send you photos and the Eagle files, though it might be better to test it first...  ;)

regards, tom

[TK.]

Martin: each general purpose NPN which can drive ca. 20-50 mA should be ok

Tom: a tested PCB layout sounds good - I don't think that I will use it 1:1, but it will be helpful :)

I just have noticed that the base of T1 is more or less floating when D2 is closed, therefore I've added a 10k pull-down resistor (R14) between D2/R3 and ground to avoid trouble

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[SexyBeast]

Hi all,

first of all: sorry for the delay; I thought I'd be ready monday night, but I was missing some parts and could not get them until today. Secondly, the changes I had to perform on the case of my old burner to fit in the new board were quite demanding...  ;)

But yes!, it is done! I have built the new burner, and it's working perfectly as far as I can tell now.

I have tried 18F452 and 18F4550 PICs, and they're both recognized by the P18 software. Then I burned the bootstrap loader into one 18F452 and it worked perfectly (have done no other tests so far but will do tomorrow)

I've added the resistor between D2/R3 and GND (like Thorsten said) and I used 74LS14s (no issues). For the transistor I used a BC547.

I are some minor things (concerning beauty, not function  ;D ) I wish to change on my PCB layout, and that's what I'm doing at the moment.

To say it in a few words: I recommend the new burner to you!

regards, Tom

P.S.: Man, I'd love to post one or two photos of my new burner here but I have no webspace... :'(

[SexyBeast]

Hello,

I have burned a PIC 16F877A and had to try it 3 times. I got an eeprom writing error twice.

I used PBrenner35U and the 12.5V  supply and I burned Admir's edrum16_v1_4_0.hex file.

I don't think this is a major issue. Maybe it's a problem of my PCB because I use 74LS14 instead of the (newer) HC type. I will try this as soon I get two of these in my hands...   ;)

regards, tom

[TK.]

Hi Tim,

thanks for testing! The PIC16F877A has to be programmed with 13.1V, did you also try this voltage?

(I've just tested Admir's .hex file - it works)

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[SexyBeast]

Hi Thorsten,

no, I didn't ! And if it really has to be burned with 13.1V then there is an error on your "PIC Burner" page!

Quote:

Adjust the programming voltage with pot P1 and measure it at J2:

12.5V for a PIC18F or PIC16F...A device

13.1V for a PIC16F... device

So I only buned with 12.5V, because TK is always right, of course!!  ;)

But I will try it again in the next days.

Anyway, I'm glad that this probably is the problem, for I'm very impressed by the work the new burner has done so far (apart from the one faulty 16F877A burn).....

regards, Tom

[SexyBeast]

Hi,

I'm sorry to say that the test burn of the 16F877A at 13.1V showed the same problem as I described before. This does not seem to be the problem...  :-\

(I tried it with two PICs of that type under the same conditions as last time)

regards, Tom

[TK.]

Hi Tom,

So I only buned with 12.5V, because TK is always right, of course!!  ;)

of course... ;-)

The spec says Viih = 13V +/- 0.5V, so 12.5V and 13.1V are matching values.

But the spec is one site, practice the other - here we have to find the voltage which works with all PIC16F877A, therefore these vague suggestions. I only know that the copy protection of PIC18Fxxx cannot be removed with vpp>13V, and I'm not sure if the same design flaw is valid for PIC16F877A (which seems to use the same flash technology)

However, to the programming issues: can you try out another PIC16F firmware, e.g. from http://www.ucapps.de/pic16f_firmwares.html

If you still notice problems, then go into the setup menu, deselect the "Auto. Speedregelung" button and try different speeds from "schnell" (fast) to "sicher" (secure)

Does it help?

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[SexyBeast]

Hi Thorsten,

had little time the past days, so my answer is somewhat delayed - sorry for that.

I tested the burner with two 16F877s and your midibox16e and midibox_mf firmwares - no issues!

I burned it with 13.1V and the usual (means: as above) setup.

I did not play with the "automatische Speedregelung".

Perhaps it is a 16F877A specific problem I had?

regards, Tom

[TK.]

Hi Tom,

it could be a part specific problem - I mean: how many times did you try to program this chip with a JDM, and how much did you torture the device with different voltages? Maybe you've fried the chip during the experiments

I can burn a 16F877A without problems, is there somebody else who could try this?

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[KillaB]

I just breadboarded the new programmer after having no luck at all with breadboarded versions of the JDM and SCHAER+

On my PC, I've tried all the different parallel type options (Normal, EPP, ECP, EPP+ECP, etc.) but none of them seem to be working as far as writing to the PIC goes.  Reading works fine though.

Everything seems to be working properly on my fathers Dell laptop however.  Tested with the mios_bootstrap_loader_v1_1b.hex file and only got one Program error.  Tried rewriting but always come back with the same error.  I only have 18F452 Rev.7 to test with.

Reading back from the PIC, I only see two differences in the hex:

:0400000000EF3EF0DF                                            <-- Not read back

:0E000000FFFEFFFFFFFFFBFFFFFFFFFFFFFF05  <-- different data (I'm at work so can't post what it is right now)

Anyone know what these addresses do?

BTW, I'm using 74LS14 as I don't have the HC version.  Also using a 2N5088 as the BC337 replacement.

[TK.]

Hi,

is there anybody (beside of me) who got the burner working with all PICs? ;-)

The :04 entry defines an address extension. This information is not part of the memory image, and therefore cannot be read back from the PIC - ignore this

The :0E... entry contains the PIC configuration. So, it seems that the code has been programmed correctly, only the configuration sector is wrong.

The same line of the read-back .hex should help to find out what is wrong

If you've luck, the PIC will already boot properly.

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[sjakie]

Hi,

I also build the burner today as I have problems burning 16F676 with JDM. Programming and verify works for the 16F676.

However I also have a 18F482 which I can burn with JDM but not with the new one.

When reading the VPP voltage on the socket pins (after enabling it in P18), it does not read 12.5, it is only 7.8V.

On the measure point it is 12.5V. Could this be the problem with the 18F ? What should the voltage be on the socket vpp pin?

(Note: I did use some other parts as well because I didn't have all the ones in the schematic; 1K resistors for leds instead of 470 and a LM317T with 10K pot)

Oh and also: I used 15V DC first, but I couldn't get higher than 12.5 at measure point. Now using 20V DC and it can get high enough.

Cheers

[TK.]

Hi,

thats interesting - Snapper reported the same problem in the German forum. On the other hand, I got some mails in the last weeks from people who had no problems. Please let me some days to think about possible reasons.

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[sjakie]

Ok great. Hope you find something.

Cheers

[sjakie]

Well after a lot of attempts to fix the problem, I decided to put in relay  :P Works like a charm  8)

I could only determine something went wrong with the transistor circuit, but replacing it, trying different types, adding resistors etc. all didn't work. Sort of looked like the transistor still leaks when not on and therefor creates divides the voltage or something. For example when I added a small resistor between transistor and ground, the VPP got a little higher (and of course with VPP off the voltage was also higher) .. Another thing I noticed is that regulating the voltage with the pot worked 'strangely', somewhere in the center it would be highest, going either left or right would always decrease it.

But I know too little of these things to be of better help ):

Still hope you can figure it out.

Cheers

[smycza]

note that some BC337  transistor have different E B C countings (depends on the manufacturer). I had the same problem - rotated the transistor 180 degree an voila - works fine.

try looking on www.alldatasheet.com for BC337 and you will see that in some manuals you got EBC counting, and in others CBE.