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TMS570LS0432: The Hercules Safety MCU Demos software can not connect to LaunchPad

Wei Liu79
Prodigy 40 points
Part Number: TMS570LS0432
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: TMS570LC4357, , DRV8301

Hi,

We are trying to evaluate TI Hercules micro processor to see if it can be used for our motor control application.  We bought the Hercules TMS570LS04x/03x LaunchPad and followed the Quick Start Guide exactly to have Hercules Safety MCU Demo software installed on PC.

However, when running the demo software, it always complains "Connection to the microcontroller has been lost ..." (see screen shot in below).   We tried hit the PORST button on the pad or reran the demo software as instructed but nothing worked.

We also tried the demo software on both Windows 8 and Windows 10, but still no luck for the demo software to connect to the pad.

The firmware comes with the LaunchPad itself seems working fine. 

We are new to TI MCUs .  We are kind of disappointed that the brand new kit does not even work for a demo.   Can someone share with us if they had similar experience or if there is something missing in the Quick Start Guide fort the LaunchPad?

Thanks,

  • 0
    TI__Guru 59540 points

    Hello Wei Liu79,

    I do apologize for the inconvenience. We have a wiki page were we discuss this specific issue and how to get around it. The Wiki is located at this link:

    Although this demo is a good demonstration of some of our detection capabilities, it is purely a demonstration and in many cases only an animation representing the feature. For a real look at the diagnostic capability and deeper understanding of the diagnostic mechanisms available, I would recommend you review or Safety Manual (Safety Manual for TMS570LS04x/03x/02x Hercules ARM-Based Safety Critical MCUs (Rev. B) )

    For a getting started exercise for the LS0432 kit, I would recommend you have a look at the one day training material located on the Training Wiki here: http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Category:TMS570#Training

    Additionally, although the LS0432 device can be effective for some lower end motor drive applications, I would recommend having a look at the TMS570LS12x/11x family for a more capable set of features related to motor control including the N2HET, ePWM, eCAP, and eQEP supported modules. These same modules are also supported in our most advanced Safety MCU TMS570LC4357 which utilizes lockstep Corte-R5F CPUS with Cache.

  • 0 in reply to Chuck Davenport
    Prodigy 40 points
    Hi Chuck Davenport,

    Thanks for the reply.

    We followed the Safety demo wiki but still no luck with the TMS570LS0432 Launchpad connection problem. Anyway, as you suggested, we got TMS570LS12x Launchpad and tried the on board program and then reprogrammed the board with some simple LED control programming from CCS v7 and it worked fine so far.

    We are also looking at RM46/LS1227 which has Ethernet MAC on the chip. However, it seems the testing board for those processors with Ethernet jack are either obsolete or not available. Do you know if there is development/testing kit which have Ethernet interface+drive+AC motor with velocity/position sensor as a complete development kit for RM46/LS1227 ?

    Also, is there a motor control software library exist for Hercules MCUs?

    Thanks,

    Wei
  • 0
    Guru 15175 points
    , Friend, I think you can help a lot on this blog!
  • 0 in reply to Wei Liu79
    TI__Guru 59540 points
    Hi Wei,

    A good starting point would be to have a look at this page to see some of the newer kits available from our DRV associates: www.ti.com/.../automotordriver.

    The discontinued cards with Ethernet that you are referencing were the control cards to be used with the DRV8301 development kit which has also been obsoleted. We still have some BLDC software on our wiki pages, but it is out of date and a bit buggy I am told. Not that it can't be worked through, but support is limited due to the obsolescence of the control cards and recent personnel changes.

    An alternative would be to use either the RM57/LC4357 Launchpad together with one of the newer DRV kits in the link above, to create a board to access the Ethernet pins on the RM46/LS1224 Launchpad (all of the pins are available through the holes along the edges and the booster pack pins), or to get one of our HDKs with the Enet capability. For each of these solutions, they would need to be paired with the DRV kits mentioned above (DRV32xx kits). I don't think we have any code created by the Hercules team, but the DRV team may have some example code that was written for a Hercules device.