MSP430 Launchpad board versions?

[FransTrein]

Hi,

I am at the point of installing glass scales from Sino on my lathe.

I am tempting to use the quadrature build.your.own board for that as described by Yuiry as "MSP430 LaunchPad Quadrature DRO Controller".

However, sourcing this Launchpad Kit these days from Texas Instruments is not easy. It looks to have been replaced by a different, newer version. See on the TI website:

https://www.ti.com/tool/MSP-EXP430G2ET#1


Although the partnumber looks similar, the pictures from the board look to be different.

Is any one having experience in using these for the DRO Controller?

Thanks,
Frans

[Yuriy]

Frans,
The new kit is 100% pin-compatible with the old version. They added some fancy power benchmarking stuff to the FET side but it has no effect DRO functionality.
I started posting build instructions on the new site here: https://www.touchdro.com/resources/adapters/diy/, but there is still a lot of stuff that is missing from there. Also, I will be posting a simpler (and faster) version of DIY quadrature build "soon".
Regards
Yuriy

[FransTrein]

Yuriy,

Thanks for your fast response, and very nicely looking new website.
Can you say more on the simpler version of the DIY quadrature? Do I need the same launchpad kit? If so, I will order it today.
Thanks again,
Frans

[dethrow55]

NICE new web site with great information, great deal.

[FransTrein]

Hi Yuriy,

Thanks for your answers and the new website. I received my MSP-EXP430G2ET Launcpad kit and a HC05 Bluetooth module today, so I started playing, eh, testing..

Can I give some feedback on my first steps? Maybe you can use that info for your new website..

1. Flashing the MSP430 with the firmware took some time... I started with Uniflash from TI which runs in the browser/Cloud environment, e.g. at https://dev.ti.com/uniflash/#!/ , but that assumes that the flash image is somewhere in the cloud?.. The browse button didn't work (in my case)
   
2. When I installed Uniflash as a program on my PC, it was able to find the DigitalReadout_Quadrature_v1.2 files I downloaded before.  After the first load of the image into Uniflash, I got a Verify Error on the image. It looks that when downloading from the old website things were better (although the files look the same to me..).
   
3. When connecting the HC-05 module to the Launchpad, I think your picture on https://www.touchdro.com/resources/adapt...rcuit.html is not correct...
   It is connecting the GND from the HC-05 to P1.1 on the Launchpad. I changed Vcc and GND to use the next two pins, as shown here:
   http://franstrein.fknieuwerth.nl/wp-cont..._0324.jpeg
   
   That helped and the Bluetooth started to work.
   
   
4. Before the DRO can connect, you first need to establish a Bluetooth Pairing Connection in Android of the tablet/phone being used. Maybe obvious?
   

Thanks for your work, next step for me is to figure out how to connect the scales.
Frans