Q3 Driver launch postponed...can you help me out?

[archer6817j]

So I had plans, big plans. I purchased about 50 of these drivers:

They looked pretty sweet, 3A drive current and "easy" solder bridges to let the user turn mode memory on or off and let you select between 9 different UI programs. Awesome right? Well the plan was to simply re-program the drivers with my own code. I don't know how, but I know a guy that does. Easy right?

Eh, well the problem is these chips are "apparently" the PIC12F629 which is (in)conveniently read/write protected! Since this is a family site I'll spare you all the detailed description of what I think of that situation

Can anyone tell me if this can be replaced with the Atmel chip used on the NANJG 105C? Alternately, if I desolder all of these chips and buy a bunch of new ones. Does anyone know about programming this version? My guy has only done the Atmel chip and since the PIC chips are protected, we can't even see what's on them. Help!

 

[Empire]

Jason Jason Jason .......

 

[fyrstormer]

If the wiring on the board is the same, and the rest of the components are the same, then the ICs must be interchangeable, because they both have to be capable of doing the same job under the same conditions.

Is there any chance one or more of those bridges is actually the write-protect switch?

 

[Th232]

Bad news, I don't think it's possible to do a straight swap with an AVR unless you want to do some interesting wiring that'll increase the height of the driver. The reason for this is that the PIC12F629 has V+ on pin 1 and GND on pin 8, while the ATTiny13A (the one used in the NANJG 105C driver, going by the image on your website) has V+ on pin 8 and GND on pin 4. I'd say your best option is to buy more PICs and swap those in.

 

[archer6817j]

Anyone have experience with programming the PIC? I might have to invest in a hot air pen

 

[Flucero28]

I say stick to the nanjg! : )

 

[keenism]

Don't give up yet, from what i've seen with electronics....theres always a way.

http://www.talkingelectronics.com/projects/StartHere12F629/StartHere12F629-P1.html any help? it mentions the protection and cracking even

edit: http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~martin/pic_tuts/PIC_Mid_A_1.pdf also looks helpful

 

[archer6817j]

Don't give up yet, from what i've seen with electronics....theres always a way.

http://www.talkingelectronics.com/projects/StartHere12F629/StartHere12F629-P1.html any help? it mentions the protection and cracking even

edit: http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~martin/pic_tuts/PIC_Mid_A_1.pdf also looks helpful

Hey, thanks for those links. The internet never ceases to amaze. As far as cracking the chip, I bought a hot air reflow station and hope to buy the chips (only about $1 each) and just remove the original and replace. However, I'd still like some help getting hardware set up and someone to write the software. I would love to dive into learning how to do this, but I just don't have the time. I'd be willing to hire someone or barter in exchange for services.

 

[keenism]

Could you possibly give a bit more info. ie What software he is using, what data / error was returned ect. It seems from reading it should be able to be flashed regardless if they used the _CP_ON function to protect their code or not.

 

[nickelflipper]

I am familiar with PIC's and could possibly help out with getting the program and modes you want. The 12f629 doesn't have a hardware PWM, and limited memory, so I imagine flash space is at a premium. You wouldn't need a hot air gun necessarily, they make spring loaded programming clips.

It would probably easier to change when the mode is saved, rather than mess with the cap timing.

You can PM me for more details. Your PM box is full, and needs to be cleared.

 

[tab665]

did you ever get these drivers to work?

 

[archer6817j]

Hi all, so I'm wondering if anyone can help me with this code. I think it's written in C? I have Atmel studio and AVR burn-o-mat. I have successfully flashed a driver with this programming but now I need to customize it. The source code is from the AVR Driver Flashlight Wiki.

I'd like to work towards understanding how to alter the base code myself. I'm pretty savvy but don't have the hours to spend experimenting to figure things out this time. In the short term, I'd like someone to write some basic programs for me. If anyone can figure out how to code the driver to use the little stars on the driver that would be epic...but a "want" not a "need" at this time.

Ultimately I'd love to ship the lights with a set of programs that are user selectable by soldering the stars as is intended. Anyone out there who can help?!

Thanks in advance