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TPS61165EVM-283: EasyScale Mode seems not to work. LEDs don't dimm

Part Number: TPS61165EVM-283
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: TPS61165

Dear all

I  just bought the evaluation kit and tried to  used it with the easyscale protocol enabled. The onboard LEDs do not change brightness however.

Here is what I did

a)  The CD delivered with the kit, is empty. I hence downloaded the windows 7 compatible SW from the website of TI. I am using windows 10.

b) I connected the delivered USB-IO-Box, and tried to start the SW. The SW asked me to upgrade it to V1.8.x.y which I did. After flashing, powercycling the box, the Control SW connected to the USB-IO-Box.

c) I set the jumpers thereby closing JP1 and JP2.

d)  I connected the power to the board. The LED turn on and shine brightly.

e)I started the control application. I enabled the EasyScale Protocol using the GUI of the control program, and tried to sent new brightness values. The application complains about not receiving an ACK. The brightness remains unchanged.

I would appreciate some help- What do I need to do to make it work ? And is there source code available for changing the brightness?

Many thanks

Tilman

a) I connected the box to a windows 10 PC, and downloaded the windows 7 compatible SW from the website of TI.

  • Hi Tilman,

    Thank you for your question. We also ordered a kit and it came with all the components (including CD). I'm not sure how your kit missed a CD. However, you seem to have installed the GUI already.

    I've Windows 7 Professional and I ran into the same issue. It seems to be needing a old driver. I've asked some internal folks for it and get back to you as soon as I can make this work.

    Thank you,
    -Harini
  • Hi Harini

    thanks for your reply.

    There was actually a CD delivered with the kit, but it was empty. As your rightfully guessed,  I have found the software at the TI website and downloaded it.

    I also suspected an incompatibility of the driver to windows 10 on which I am running the GUI software. Would you happen to know if there is source code available for the GUI application interfacing the USB-TO-GPIO adapter? Maybe I would be able to reimplement  it  on linux which would avoid the windows driver compatibility issues.

    www.ti.com/.../sllu093.pdf

    Many thanks

    Tilman

  • Hi Tilman,

    Please try updating the driver from this link: www.ti.com/litv/zip/slvc422a. With this, it recognizes the USB Interface Adapter. The instructions are on Page 5 of the Userguide (http://www.ti.com/lit/ug/slvu224d/slvu224d.pdf

    If it complains about Firmware version (it did for me), see if you can update Firmware Flashing Utility in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Texas Instruments\TPS6116x EVM\"

    I'm able to use Easy Scale mode and adjust the brightness.

    Best,

    -Harini

  • Hi Tilman,

    It seems this Linux driver software can support TPS61165.

    git.ti.com/.../tps611xx_bl.c

    Best,
    -Harini
  • Hi Harini

    thanks for the link. It is however not exactly what I am looking for: I am looking for a program that runs the T61165 EVM kit, i.e. that controls the USB_to_GPIO converter via USB. The linux drivers seems to expect the TI61165 to be connected to an GPIO pin of  the processor.

    Many thanks

    Tilman

  • Dear Harini

    Many thanks for your posting. I had already installed the Windows 7 Software and suspected that it does not work using windows 10.
    Your posting however forced me to reread the manual. On page 4, the hardware setup is described. For EasyScale to work, J1 is to be removed. Once I did that, it worked like a charm.

    When turning on Acknowledge, the program always complains about acknowledge not being received. Is this normal? According to the data sheet, the TPS61165 can sent an ACK.

    Many thanks

    Tilman
  • Dear all

    now, that I got the eval kit running, I would like to change the output voltage to drive an LCD backplane. The LCD backplane consists of 21 white LEDs grouped in 3 strings of 7 LEDs per string. The current of the backplane is typically 60ma to 75ma max. The voltage is 23.1 V typically and 24.5 V max.

    To facilitate that can exchange R2 (now 0.56 Ohm) to R = U_fb/I = 200mV/0,06 A = 3,33 Ohm or assuming 75 mA = 2,66 Ohm ? Will D1 and C3 in particular be fine?

    Many thanks
    Tilman
  • Hi Tilman,

    Yeah I also noticed that with Ack on, the GUI reports "No Ack received from the Device!". As you said, the dimming works but this warning seems to be some bug in the GUI. I reported to our software contact.

    Thank you,
    -Harini
  • Hi Tilman,

    Yes, R=3.33ohm to 2.6ohm for 60mA to 75mA for total LED current. It looks like existing D1 & C3 should be fine.

    Figure 17 in DS has example configuration of similar topology.

    Best,
    -Harini