Ren-C Firmware update

[P. Short]

Here is an update to the Renard-C firmware. It fixes a bug related to handling of 'PAD' characters. The older firmware (without this fix) would be fine with Beta3 and earlier releases of the vixen Renard plugin, but might have flashes and choppiness with the Beta4 plugin.

I would only switch to this controller if you are having problems using Ren-C with any of the Beta4 Renard plugins (either the one from KC, or the one that I've uploaded on this site).

--

Phil

BTW, thanks to Anthony Marchini for catching this one.

--

Phil

[scorpia]

Im wondering if this is still the latest firmware?

i am getting choppy dimming and flashing when running LED's directly off the grinch.

just want to make sure its the latest before i burn it to the pic.

thanks

Peter

[P. Short]

That is the latest, although the file name has been changed somehow (perhaps in the transfer to the vbulletin).

Anyway, another thing to check is that the cables between the Ren-C and the grinch board are kept quite short (6" or less).

--

Phil

[scorpia]

Thanks phil.

my cables are premade 25cm ones so ill try and make some shorter ones. but these are not to much bigger.

also the flashing etc im seeing is very predictable so im guessing its not interferance.

i have a spare 16f628 PIC so im hoping i can just change the code a little to suit and run that chip so i can swap between the 2 different versions to test.

EDIT:
i have programmed a new pic with this code. it seems to fix the problem i was having most of the time. but im thinking im getting issues from having cables that are to long. im going to make some short cables to do some more testing and ill try with both firmwares that i have and see what difference it makes.

one thing i did notice is i seem to have a dimming over the pull 0-100% range now where the led's were turning off at like 22% and full on at about 40% on the old firmware. not sure if its the cables or firmware.


thanks again

Peter

[sadlpx]

Although not very good at understanding PIC assembly i'm pretty fair with Pic CCS.
Can you provide an outline of the driving comm protocol in case I want to use this board to drive other things than lights to music.

Thanks

[P. Short]

It's off-topic, but there are descriptions here (http://computerchristmas.com/christmas/link-how_to/HowToId-71/Simple_PIC-Based_8-Port_Dimmer) or here. (http://www.christmasinshirley.com/wiki/index.php?title=Renard#Protocol)

--

Phil

[steve.leblanc]

I've been considering jumping in with a display of my own next season - thanks for all of your great work. As I've been reviewing the PIC code for the latest Ren-C firmware - I think I may have found a problem. If I understand the protocol - you should be able to escape the three special bytes (7D, 7E and 7F) in the data stream. With the code I was looking at - I don't think this actually will happen since the SYNC and NULL look like they always get processed as SYNC and NULL, even if the previous character was an escape!

Am I missing something?

Thanks

Steve

[P. Short]

That is how it is supposed to behave. To send a dimmer level of 0x7D = 125 (for example), the plugin actual sends the sequence 0x7F-0x2F (not 0x7F-0x7D as you seemed to be expecting).

[steve.leblanc]

Ahhhhh - thanks for the clarification - and the quick response!!

Steve