Richard Wilson [rwilson@bluefinrobotics.com] somlyody@bluefinrobotics.com FW: Battery Board firmware bootloading Dear Mark and Hans, It all a bit of a mystery. The code that you have has not exhibited this problem on other batteries, Steve has spent some time looking at the problem and we are both in agreement that the most likely fault is perhaps that the board was not programmed correctly. We are going to look at the code and the compiler issue in more detail but until we find a likely source for the problem we suggest that you reprogram the board. Calibration should not be affected. Let me know how it goes, please feel free to contact Steve directly . All the best Richard -----Original Message----- From: Steve Somlyody [mailto:somlyody@bluefinrobotics.com] Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 10:56 AM To: Richard Wilson (Richard Wilson) Cc: stsy@rcn.com Subject: Battery Board firmware bootloading Richard, Please forward these instructions and attached firmware hex file to Hans Thomas at MBARI. As I have mentioned to you, Bluefin has been operating batteries with version "1.55-2" firmware since April of 2003. The problem with the "Z0" command that Hans has reported does not appear to be firmware code related. However it is possible that a portion of the firmware on the battery board may have become corrupt. Therefore, I recommend reprogramming the board with the proven version of 1.55-2 firmware. Then check to see if battery properly responds to the "z0" command as all other batteries do. If reprogramming fails to repair the problem then we should decide on the proper next step. Hans may contact me directly for further assistance to expedite the solution to his problem. -Steve Instructions: ===================================================================== HOWTO: Program battery board using BootLoader Here we assume that a single battery is connected to a Windows based computer COM port through an RS485 converter. TERMINAL Using Windows terminal emulation program - "Hyper Terminal". Access from Windows Program menu, \Program\Accessories\Communications\HyperTerminal?. Configure terminal: com port, 9600 baud, no handshaking, ASCII line delay of 100msec - line delay required for bootload programming of firmware. VERIFY COMS Enable battery Version of BootLoader and battery firmware should print to terminal. Bootloader v1.2 Batteryboard 12 v1.55-2 Send basic query command Command Response Description #00z0 $00z0 12 s ffff ffff 255 255 v1.55-2 25-Apr-03 sample response battery #12 Enable boot load mode Caution: once boot load mode is enabled - board MUST be reprogrammed to return to normal function. Do NOT interrupt boot load programming - board may require hard programming if boot loader is interrupted. Command Response Description #00zf 6270 $00zf 1 one means battery access unlocked #00yb Bootloader vf1.2 Boot load mode enabled - board MUST be reprogrammed Program firmware Send text file (file.hex) to battery board - Make SURE line delay is set to 100msec. Boot loader will echo back a one character for each successfully programmed line. When complete the program version string will be sent to the terminal. ===================================================================== Steve A. Somlyody Sr. Design Engineer Bluefin Robotics Corporation 301 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 - USA (617) 498-0187 ph (617) 498-0236 fax