• State
  • Locked Locked
  • Replies 5 replies
  • Subscribers 31 subscribers
  • Views 433 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Support feedback
Options
Options
Related

This thread has been locked.

If you have a related question, please click the "Ask a related question" button in the top right corner. The newly created question will be automatically linked to this question.

DLP5532PROJHBQ1EVM: Connecting to EVM via FTDI Adapter

Roosa Makitalo
Prodigy 10 points
Part Number: DLP5532PROJHBQ1EVM
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: DLPC230-Q1

Tool/software:

Hello,

We have a DLP5532PROJHBQ1EVM Evaluation Module that we are attempting to control with DLPC230-Q1 Control Program Lite, following the user guide of DLP5532PROJHBQ1EVM.

The cables and adapters mentioned in the user guide match those that we received - we have only the FTDI SPI Host Adapter, and no Cheetah SPI Host Adapter.

However, later the user guide instructs to download Total Phase Cheetah USB Adapter Drivers, and then select Cheetah from the drop-down menu of the Control Program. This step also notes that "Cheetah must be connected to a computer with USB cable for it to show up in the drop-down menu". We find this odd, since we did not receive a Cheetah Adapter with the EVM.

Despite the discrepancy, we have tried to connect to the EVM with the FTDI Adapter, following the user guide instructions, but nothing shows up in any of the Communication drop-down menus of the Control Program. We have tried with FTDI driver installed, as well as with Cheetah driver, but still nothing shows up in the drop-down. See Figures 1 and 2 below.

As a last resort check, we downloaded an alternative Control Program called DLPC136 DLP Control Program, which is intended for a different EVM, that also uses an FTDI adapter. With this Control Program, we are able to see the FTDI adapter in the drop-down, and connect (green light turns on). See Figure 3 below. However, we did not power up the EVM, as we did not know if this Control Program is compatible with the EVM. We simply wanted to test if our adapter is broken, but according to this test it does not appear so.

Specific questions:
1) Should the DLP5532PROJHBQ1EVM be controlled with the software DLPC230-Q1 Control Program Lite (version 1.8, build 1242)?
2) Can DLPC230-Q1 Control Program Lite (version 1.8, build 1242) connect to an EVM via an FTDI Adapter, or does it only work via a Cheetah Adapter?
3) Should we be using Total Phase Cheetah USB Adapter Driver or FTDI D2XX Driver, or some other driver?
4) How should we proceed to fix the connection issue?

Thank you,

Roosa

  • 0
    TI__Intellectual 2105 points

    Hello Roosa,

    Thank you for reaching out and using the E2E forums! An expert from our team will review the thread and get back to you shortly.

    Regards, 

    Tristan Bottone 

  • 0
    TI__Expert 3765 points

    Hello Roosa,

    Thank you for reaching out to us.

    The DLPC230 Automotive Control Program (all versions) supports Cheetah USB-to-SPI, Cypress USB-to-SPI/I2C, and FTDI USB-to-SPI adapters. However, I have only used Cheetah and Cypress till date. Please allow us some time to setup communication with FTDI and we will let you know if any special settings are needed.

    Thank you,

    Regards,
    Aishwarya 

  • 0 in reply to Aishwarya K Aithal
    TI__Expert 6820 points

    Hi Roosa,

    Thanks for catching this. The FTDI cable is in fact intended to use the FTDI cable that we have provided. This is also shown inside the EVM User's Guide on the product page of this EVM. Please take a look at Figure 2-2 for the wiring.

    Figure 2-7 then shows the SPI communication settings. You may use SPI mode 0 or 3. Please note the speed.. By default, DLPC23x Automotive Control Program uses 10,000 kHz as its clock speed. This is not correct. You must use 5000 kHz clock speed, as shown in the User's Guide.

    I have confirmed communication and confirmed a change in source image from checkerboard to horizontal ramp, for example.

    One thing that you may or may not have installed already is the driver to use this FTDI cable. You may find the installer on FTDI's website.

    To summarize:

    1. The EVM should be controlled through DLPC23x Automotive Control Program (or through a host using our API from the DLPC23x's Programmer's Guide
    2. Control Program recognizes the FTDI cable, even without the drivers--connecting the driver may be another matter
    3. You may use the Cheetah(TM) Adapter driver or the FTDI D2XX driver, respective of which hardware interface you have on hand. This EVM has been confirmed to work with both adapters.
    4. The fix is listed in the User's guide, which I gave an overview of at the beginning of this comment. Please let me know if you have any further questions. Please consider checking the "This resolved my issue" button for future users to see the answer to this post. I believe others may have this same question in the future. Thank you for bringing this to our attention!

    Regards,
    Michael Ly

  • 0 in reply to Michael Ly
    Prodigy 10 points

    Hi all,

    Thank you very much for your prompt replies. Unfortunately none of the instructions fixed the issue. After further inspection, I think we are doing everything correctly, but the DLPC23x Automotive Control Program might be missing the Connection Adapter DLL for FTDI adapter.

    See picture below for FTDI cable connections, they are connected like shown on the user guide:

    After re-installing FTDI D2XX driver and DLPC23x Automotive Control Program, I still face the same issue - nothing is seen on the Connections drop-down.

    On connection settings, I have the correct clock rate. Please note that on the side panel, under Connection Adapters, there is only Cheetah and Cypress listed:
     

    Further, in the program files accessed through file explorer, there is only connection adapter DLLs for Cheetah and Cypress. When re-installing the Control Program (from this link: DLPC110 Support software | TI.com), I also checked that indeed, only these two connection adapter DLLs are installed, there is nothing related to FTDI being installed as far as I see. Also the Readme.txt file lists only Cheetah and Cypress as host connection options.

    Could you please check if this is the source of this issue, and provide the needed DLL or other files that we might be missing. If this is not the root cause of the connection issue, please suggest how we can investigate the issue further.

    Thanks,

    Roosa

  • 0 in reply to Roosa Makitalo
    TI__Expert 3765 points

    Hello Roosa,

    Thank you for sharing the information.

    I suppose the support for FTDI was added in the later versions. May I ask for your myTI account ID? I will provide you permissions to the latest version of Control Program.

    You can send it over private messages as well.

    Thank you,

    Regards,
    Aishwarya