PICKINI V4 - an easy to build, self adjusting PI detector

[BC547]

@ SaltyDog:

Q2 is shown as a transistor, where as my understanding a BS170 is a MOSFET, just a bit puzzled ..

The BS170 is a MOSFET. The symbol in the schematic is not correct. Something to do with the eagle library.

Bernard, did you think about adding a ground-plane to the top of the PCB, or is noise not an issue ..

Noise is always an issue - especially noise picked up by the coil when testing indoors. I never tested with a dual plane PCB. It seems to work fine the way it is ( outdoors ).

Another point of confusion. In the software it looks like you are doing a calibrate_offset() every 2ms, yet in the project specs you state that the calibration is only done at startup, what am I missing?

The function calibrate_offset() is used to do a successive approximation setup of the DC offset of the opamp. The goal is to get the steady state DC of the output signal at 8V = 4V at the input of the microcontroller comparator. After startup, this function is called a number of times - instead of the normal tx_pulse_processing(), until the DC level is OK. Then, the normal pulse processing takes over every 2 ms. Check the flag if (!calibration_busy )...

In the software code listing, I am not seeing any code for the error tones (i.e missing coil etc )

There are 2 different tones: multi frequency tones generated wit the sound() function, like void start_sound() and ready_sound().
There are also monotonous sounds, that just fill in a beepdivider value and generate a continuous tone : beepdivider = alternate_beepdivider;
That is the case for the error sound - or low battery sound: a low frequency tone ( in the case of coil error, a continuous tone - in the case of low battery: a low frequency tone : alternate_beepdivider_time.

[SaltyDog]

Hi Bernard,

In the software code listing, I am not seeing any code for the error tones (i.e missing coil etc ) Is the published code on http://users.telenet.be/willaert/MD/.../software.html the latest?
(the header shows it as v4.1)

Thanks

[SaltyDog]

A MOSFET is a type of transistor which come in N-ch & P-ch. JFETs, NPN BiPolar & PNP Bipolar are also Transistors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor

In the v3 schematic I see Q1 shown as an NPN BiPolar transistor but marked BS170.
Since this drive the Gate of Q2, the Coil driver, either an N-ch MOSFET (BS170) or an GP NPN BiPolar (2n3904) would work.

I am an electronics engineer of some 50 years, I do know what the difference is between a transistor and a mosfet is.

I am referring to the V4 schematic, it shows Q1 correctly as a MOSFET, but Q2 is shown as an NPN transistor (BS170) it is not, the BS170 is a MOSFET and should have that symbol, you normally don't replace one with the other ...
The fact that it shows BS170 and a NPN symbol, is what is the confusing part ..

[waltr]

1. Q2 is shown as a transistor, where as my understanding a BS170 is a MOSFET, just a bit puzzled ..

A MOSFET is a type of transistor which come in N-ch & P-ch. JFETs, NPN BiPolar & PNP Bipolar are also Transistors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor

In the v3 schematic I see Q1 shown as an NPN BiPolar transistor but marked BS170.
Since this drive the Gate of Q2, the Coil driver, either an N-ch MOSFET (BS170) or an GP NPN BiPolar (2n3904) would work.

[SaltyDog]

Another couple of questions regarding the schematic.

1. Q2 is shown as a transistor, where as my understanding a BS170 is a MOSFET, just a bit puzzled ..
2. Bernard, did you think about adding a ground-plane to the top of the PCB, or is noise not an issue ..
3. Another point of confusion. In the software it looks like you are doing a calibrate_offset() every 2ms, yet in the project specs you state that the calibration is only done at startup, what am I missing?

[SaltyDog]

As Altra said, you cannot generate hex output over 2K of program words with the free version. I don't know how that relates to source code, as I have a dongle-licensed copy.

To get the fonts corrected, you will probably need to install the Microsoft fonts. You can do that easily as follows:
sudo apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installer

I know that fixes the font problems with Firefox, so it will probably do the same for other programs.

Thanks. I am on ArchLinux so doing "winetricks corefonts" did the trick .. (it installs the ms core fonts within wine )

[Qiaozhi]

Thanks guys ..

I have installed mikroC Pro for PIC under WINE, and that works well, I was able to compile the code just fine (once ticking the ADC & PWM module boxes)
I will have to play around with fonts, as the defaults are horrible under WINE ..

Just a question: What is the story with licensing for mikroC? It seems to work ok without registering the product, is it time limited?

For programming I have found PICPgm for linux, that seems to be well supported .. I will try it out when I get my hardware built ..

As Altra said, you cannot generate hex output over 2K of program words with the free version. I don't know how that relates to source code, as I have a dongle-licensed copy.

To get the fonts corrected, you will probably need to install the Microsoft fonts. You can do that easily as follows:
sudo apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installer

I know that fixes the font problems with Firefox, so it will probably do the same for other programs.

[Altra]

Just a question: What is the story with licensing for mikroC? It seems to work ok without registering the product, is it time limited?

There are no time limitations, I believe you are limited to a 2kb size program.

[SaltyDog]

Thanks guys ..

I have installed mikroC Pro for PIC under WINE, and that works well, I was able to compile the code just fine (once ticking the ADC & PWM module boxes)
I will have to play around with fonts, as the defaults are horrible under WINE ..

Just a question: What is the story with licensing for mikroC? It seems to work ok without registering the product, is it time limited?

For programming I have found PICPgm for linux, that seems to be well supported .. I will try it out when I get my hardware built ..

[waltr]

Hi Bernard,

Intriguing build. I would like to try the hardware, but I really need to play with the software to try an optimize for small gold detecting ..
However, I only use Linux machines for development, so am struggling to find a compiler to build your code. I came across "sdcc" but does not like your code, can you suggest anything that will help me?

I know there is now an MPLAB for linux, perhaps an mplab version of the source would be good? Or is that too much work?

Many Thanks,
Bernard (snap!) Just call me Bernie to avoid confusion

For PIC programming there is MPLAB X that will run on Windows, MAC and Linux.

https://www.microchip.com/mplab/mplab-x-ide

There is also the newer XC8,16 & 32 compilers for MPLAB X that are GCC based.

https://www.microchip.com/mplab/compilers

I have been running these Free versions for a while and they do work well.

MPLAB is old and only for windows.

[Qiaozhi]

Hi Bernie,

My laptop also runs ubuntu natively.
I had to run a Win7 virtual machine in virtualbox to use the mikroC compiler.
I also run MPlab in this Win7 VM.
At the beginning of this project, some 4 years ago, I looked for a good microchip C compiler under Linux but didn't find any. Maybe in the mean time there are some available?
You will find that the C source code relies on some mikroC specific libraries eg Delay_ms, PWM2_Init, ...
This can also be overcome by implementing your own version of it - or an equivalent from another library.
Or download mikroC: https://www.mikroe.com/mikroc-pic
https://mikroc-pro-for-pic.software.....com/download/

I have mikroC Pro for PIC (Version 7.6.0) on a Dell Latitude 5500 (with Windows 10) that's also used to to run MPLAB X IPE(Version 5.30), and Easy-PC (Version 23).
However, everything else such as emails, web browsing, LTSpice simulation, word processing, etc., is done on another laptop running Linux Mint (Version 18.1 Cinnamon).

There's a video on youtube where someone demonstrates mikroC Pro and Proteus software running in Ubuntu. There's no information about how this was achieved, so I assume it's running under WINE.

[BC547]

Hi Bernie,

My laptop also runs ubuntu natively.
I had to run a Win7 virtual machine in virtualbox to use the mikroC compiler.
I also run MPlab in this Win7 VM.
At the beginning of this project, some 4 years ago, I looked for a good microchip C compiler under Linux but didn't find any. Maybe in the mean time there are some available?
You will find that the C source code relies on some mikroC specific libraries eg Delay_ms, PWM2_Init, ...
This can also be overcome by implementing your own version of it - or an equivalent from another library.
Or download mikroC: https://www.mikroe.com/mikroc-pic

https://mikroc-pro-for-pic.software.informer.com/download/

[SaltyDog]

Hi Bernard,

Intriguing build. I would like to try the hardware, but I really need to play with the software to try an optimize for small gold detecting ..
However, I only use Linux machines for development, so am struggling to find a compiler to build your code. I came across "sdcc" but does not like your code, can you suggest anything that will help me?

I know there is now an MPLAB for linux, perhaps an mplab version of the source would be good? Or is that too much work?

Many Thanks,
Bernard (snap!) Just call me Bernie to avoid confusion

[bernte_one]

hi Bernard, you are great.

I take that hex as soon as i return to home this evening

[BC547]

Here you go: Pickini v4.0 with 200 microsecond pulse width:
http://users.telenet.be/willaert/MD/pickini/software/v4/Pickini4.0_200.hex