REvised to flag the 3 error blinks method of training as an error.
See more detailed post here:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...light=major+IR
I spent part of the afternoon at Microchip in Chandler with a couple super FAE's resurrecting our IR board. It was like being at the Mayo Clinic for uControllers.
TEam 39 had tried the WinPIC freeware and the serial cable with resistors scheme yesterday and managed to erase the chip and then successfully program all but 3 memory locations correctly (many times). We basically rendered the chip totally non responsive. This serial cable "bit banging" programmer scheme may have worked for some teams with success but among other things, it depends a lot on the RS232 voltages from the PC being "just right". These voltages vary from 5 to 12V from Lap top to Desktops and everywhere in between.
At Microchip We used MPLAB IDE and an IDC2 type programmer that is part of the PICkit II progrmming kit. Very easy to do. Nice because it uses the familiar MPlab. MPlab will show you the assembly languge code that corresponds to the hex code for the IR. You could tweak the code if you like!!!
http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/pro...FC-GB100000001
After reprogramming, we found that the IR board perfomed just as unreliably as it did prior to the first reprogramming with the freeware. We could not get through the training of all 4 LED's without an error. After much trial and error we discovered that it trains real well if you hold down the key on the remote untill the 3rd flash of the error light. Wow , what a difference. I wish we knew this little detail at the start of all of this. REVISED: Even though thsi resulted in a tained IR board, it is likely we had the wroing frequency on the REMOTE. After reprogramming remote to a 38 kHz code, we did not see any error lights during training.
If you are getting the error light to blink on power up but have not been able to train, I suggest that you try the "realase on 3rd blink" method above. The error light blinks at power up because the chip is working and the code is executing.
FYI, we used an RCA universal remote (from Walmart) and programmed with code 1001 which is a Sony remote. This is a 38 KHz code.
As some background, when we were still in the desparate mode, we had built an IR detector (phototransitor) and actually verified that the IR remote were using was producing 38kHz pulses. With a box full of remotes collected from households, only a few were 38 kHz. Note that 36 and 40kHz remotes will train the unit but range will be limmited.
Alternate IR's are mostly DIY circuit diagrams. In my searching for over an hour, I found no USA source.
Note that you can replace the chip if you are careful. Use tweezers and a heat gun if you do not have a surface mount rework station. Kill the heat as soon as the chip is free. Let it cool if you have made an usucessfull attempt and then retry. It is not a fine ptich part so a thin tip soldering iron can be used to solder in the new part. heat gun will work too ....if you have done this before.
Get the PIC16LS87 chip here for $5.
http://parts.digikey.com/1/parts/561...lf87-i-so.html
The L means that it can operate 2.5 to 5VDC. This makes it more brown out resistant...but not immune. We did turn on the brown out protection bit before reprogramming. This will cause the processor to halt and preven errant execution. It will reset/restart when voltage is back withing spec. nice part ... 5 Mips for $5 !!!
Team 39 will bring a programmer to AZ and Vegas in case a team wants to try to reprogram their chip. We are in Gilbert if you want to do so before the regionals.
This ends a frustrating chapter for Team 39.
Will repost under separate thread for more visibility.