LAUNCHXL2-RM57L: External Power Supply and Debugger Suggestion

Hi Chetan,

Chetan Chavan said:

1. Is there a breakout evaluation board for such applications wherein I can specifically power the launchpad?

You don't need to create any external power supply.

The RM57 launchpad comes with the micro-USB connector as shown below:

So, you can directly connect this launchpad to your PC or laptop by using a USB-A to Micor-USB cable.

Chetan Chavan said:

2. I will be buying the board by tomorrow and therefore would like to know the debugger that I should choose. I have some experience with XDS100V2 with TMS570 but not sure if the buying the same debugger will be useful for the RM57L launchpad. I don't intend to use the USB provided.

You don't need to buy any external debugger for this launchpad. The launchpad comes with the built in XDS110 debugger, using this you can easily debug and/or flash the controller.

The previously mentioned micro-USB not only just act as power supply the same USB port will be act as a XDS110 debugger. Once you connect the USB cable it will detect he XDS110 debugger

Once XDS110 debugger detected then you can simply select it in the CCS and can do the debugging or flashing by using it.

Chetan Chavan said:

3. Is there anything else apart from launchpad and debugger that I must be buying that can ease the process of debugging/development?

Nothing else required.

This below FAQ can be used as a beginning point for your development, here i mentioned how to access different examples easily. So, have a look on it.

(+) [FAQ] TMS570LC4357: Examples and Demos available for Hercules Controllers (E.g. TMS570x, RM57x and RM46x etc) - Arm-based microcontrollers forum - Arm-based microcontrollers - TI E2E support forums

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Thanks & regards,
Jagadish.

Hi Jagadish!

Thanks for the reply. 

I have some clarity with regards to debugger now but when it comes to power requirement, yes, I do understand that USB is enough for powering but then, like I said I have some external ICs too that need separate 5V, 3.3V etc., and have their own current requirements. In near future, I am planning to have a dedicated power supply board so that I power the RM57 launchpad and other ICs around it through that and use the XDS only for debugging and not powering (via USB).

Therefore, any suggestions in that direction?

Warm Regards,

Chetan.

Hi Chetan,

If you have to go for external power supply, then i would suggest you two ways for debugging.

1. This is a simple way; you need to go for external debugger XDS100V2. You can connect this debugger to the J18 connector of the launchpad and you can do the debugging and flashing easily.

2. This way is needed to test it practically.

As we already giving external power supply to the board, so isolate the USB supply of the board. You can do this by removing below highlighted ferrite bead which is serial to the +5v supply.

If we remove the above FB1, then only D+, D- and GND pins will be connected to the micro-USB connector. And board will get power supply externally. So now if we connect USB cable to the micro-usb port, still debugging should work without any issues.

This method doesn't require to buy external debugger, but you should need to test it practically to make sure it is working.

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Thanks & regards,
Jagadish.

Hi Jagadish,

Thanks again for the quick reply.

One last question before we can close this thread maybe. Now that we understand regarding power being given externally, let's say I have generated an external 5V supply; now where do I plug this supply on the launchpad? Can I connect it directly on the FB1 trace (ensuring that the track to the USB is cut) or do I have jumper pins to switch over to external supply (like few hobby boards have to switch between external or USB supply)?

Regards,

Chetan.