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Using external clock for ADS1292R EVM does not work.

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: ADS1292R, MSP430F5529, ADS1292

Hi,

I am testing on ADS1292R EVM with ADS1x9xEVM.exe running on a PC. 

I have connected a 3.3V 4MHz clock signal (generated by a microcontroller) to pin 17 of ADS1292R.

I changed the System Frequency Selection to ExternalClock/16 on the LOFF and RLD tab page.

Then I selected CONTINOUS button on the Analysis -> Scope tab page.

Now data is being collected and displayed continuously.

When I connected pin 14 (pulled up to 3.3V by R17) of ADS1292R to ground, the display and data collection simply stopped.

When I disconnected pin 14 from ground, data continued to be collected and displayed.


I know the frequency for external clock has to be 4.096MHz.  But could it be the reason for the problem?  Thank you.

Regards,

Peter

  • Hi Peter,

    Correct me if I’ve missed something, but from reviewing the datasheet for the ADS1292R, the only two external clocking options are 512 kHz and 2.048 MHz. To confirm that we’re looking at the same thing, I’ve attached a screenshot of page 40 of the ADS1292R datasheet. Changing the System Frequency Selection is important such that the internal clock divider is always feeding the modulator a 128 kHz clock signal. If a 512 kHz external clock is used, that frequency will be divided by 4. If the 2.048 MHz clock is being used, the external clock gets divided by 16.

    As for your question about the device’s sensitivity to smaller changes in the clock frequency, you can also see from the datasheet that it is possible to clock the device at other frequencies that are relatively close to the "ideal" ones. For example, the datasheet specifies a valid range of 485 kHz to 562.5 kHz for the “512 kHz” clocking option and 1.94 MHz to 2.25 MHz for the “2.048 MHz” clocking option. What you will have to remember, though, is that the data rates specified in the datasheet will scale by the same factor as the master clock frequency. So if instead of 2.048 MHz you fed the device a 2 MHz clock, and you had configured the device in the 500 SPS data rate mode (bits 2-0 of the CONFIG1 register set to 010), the data rate that you would measure would be ≈488.3 SPS.

    Let me know if this helps,

    Brian

  • Dear Brian,

    Thank you for your reply. So you have confirmed that a 2MHz external clock should not cause any problem as it is still within the specification and the expected data rate would be ≈ 488.3 SPS. So what could be the reason that the ADS1292R stops working after switching from internal clock to external clock? As mentioned in my initial post, while the software is collecting data from the hardware continuously, it will stop getting any data from the hardware after I switch the ADS1292R to use external clock by pulling CLKSEL to LOW. The software will continue to get data from the hardware as soon as CLKSEL goes to HIGH again. During this period of time, the CLK has been fed with a 2MHz clock signal and the Frequency Selection has been changed to ExternalClock/16 beforehand.

    Thank you for your time.

    Regards,
    Peter
  • Hi Brian,

    Section 5.2 of ADS1x9xECG-FE Demonstration Kit User's Guide (page 28) says "The demonstration kit also porvides the option to generate an external clock for the ADC from the MSP430 ...". I followed the instructions and mounted R24 and R76 and removed R77. When I run the demonstation software, it can get connected to the hardware but the values for registers are all zeros in the Register Map tab. I checked the ADC_CLK output from pin 31 of the MSP430F5529 with an osciloscope and found no signal output at all. Does the MSP430 output a clock on this pin when the input signal ADC_CLK_SCL to pin 32 of MSP430 is driven to "low"? Or is there a way I could enable MSP430 to output a clock siganl for ADS1292R? Thanks.

    Regards,
    Peter

  • Peter,

    From my understanding the MSP430 should output the clock signal under those circumstances. I will take a look at a ADS1292 EVM and see if I can replicate the problem you are having and get back to you.

    Brian
  • Hi Bian,

    I have found the problem. Pin 32 of MSP430 must have been configured as an output. Once I cut the PCB track coming out of pin 32 of MSP430, the ADS1292R is working perfectly with an external clock. Thank you.

    Regards,
    Peter
  • Peter,

    Thank you for posting your questions and I'm glad you have got the device to work. Let us know if you need anything else.

    Brian