MSP-EXP430FR6989: Turning off EnergyTrace

Hello Tindel,

very interesting post, congratulations!
EZFET_VCCEN1 and EZFET_VCCEN2 signals are driven by eZ-FET master MSP101 chip.
On the page: www.ti.com/.../ENERGYTRACE
TI says:
In debuggers that support EnergyTrace™ technology, a software-controlled DC-DC converter generates the target power supply.
And a few paragraphs down:
EnergyTrace™ technology is included in Code Composer Studio (CCS) version 6.0 and later, as well as the latest version of IAR Embedded Workbench.

I have carefully checked my CCS v7.4 Preferences Run/Debug and I see no option to turn off EnergyTrace support.

You may try to go with CCS version lower then 6 but it would be a quagmire.
You may try to brutally reroute EZFET_VCCEN1 and EZFET_VCCEN2 signals.

Having so sensitive sensors I would switch these sensors to a final product power supply solution.

By the way, what type of sensors do you have?
I had a similar issue with PIRs.

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one with this issue.  I am currently running on battery power and the hardware is performing well, but switching between battery power and USB to program the target is somewhat time consuming and not ideal considering how much I need to program.

I'm really hoping there's an easy solution to change to the LDO power - rather than needing to put LDO power on my development board.  I won't cut traces on the PCB to get the enables bits doing what I desire.  I've been unable to find a solution in CCS 7.2.0 and 8.0.0 and on the website.  I'd really like to get this board doing what I need it to do without respinning the board at least until I know everything is working, and there's an LDO available so I'd really like to not have to need to use my own LDO at all.

I have found that the MSPDebugStack software is open-source and I was able to find where the DCDC converter is started up (EnergyTraceManager.cpp Line 140), but I'm unsure how to modify the file, produce a dll, and source it to the debugger.  Also, I'm not sure what else I'll break in CSS by doing this.  Obviously the energytrace software will stop working, but will that be it?  Will it be catastrophic locking up the software or will it be benign?  There are also a couple references to the LDO, but I don't think it actually enables it anywhere.

Any thoughts?

At this point I need to run everything on battery power for my circuit to work.  Any single switching event will be coupled into my circuit and invalidate my data.

The type of sensor I'm using is irrelevant to the conversation and my question.

The question at hand is really how to turn off the switcher and use the LDO instead.  Thoughts?  Tips?  Advice?