Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply

EARTH PEOPLE TECHNOLOGY, Inc The PowerG Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply User Manual

The PowerG Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply is designed for the Do It Yourself community. It provides an easy mechanism to power your Arduino along with sensors, actuators, LEDs, and any other electronics. It contains two supplies that are completely independent, however they share the input power. Each supply is controlled by its own potentiometer. There is also a selectable current limit for each supply. The output voltage and current are independently displayed on a Windows PC. The PowerG gives you the ability to control power like the expensive bench top power supplies. It provides two outputs: +5V to +12V and +1V to +3.3V. You have a choice of current output options. Use the PowerG connected directly to your laptop and provide a total of 2Watts for both supplies (Up to 180mA @ +12V or Up to 600mA @ +3.3V). Or use the optional 5V external power and provide up to 1.2A for each supply individually. Circuit designs, software and documentation are copyright © 2015, Earth People Technology, Inc

Microsoft and Windows are both registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Altera is a trademark of the Altera Corporation. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners and no trademark rights to the same are claimed. http://www.earthpeopletechnology.com/

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply

Contents 1

Quick Start Guide .................................................................................................................... 2

2

Introduction and General Description ..................................................................................... 3

3

EPT Drivers ............................................................................................................................. 5 3.1

The FTDI CDM Installation............................................................................................. 6

3.2

EPT Driver ....................................................................................................................... 6

4

PowerG Application Install ................................................................................................... 12

5

PowerG Connections ............................................................................................................. 13

6

5.1

USB ................................................................................................................................ 14

5.2

Terminals ........................................................................................................................ 15

5.3

External Barrel Connector .............................................................................................. 15

5.4

Arduino Mini-Pro ........................................................................................................... 15

5.5

JTAG .............................................................................................................................. 17

PowerG Data Flow ................................................................................................................ 18

1 Quick Start Guide Below is a list of the steps to take to get started using the PowerG.

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply 1. Install the FTDI CDM_12.12.06 Driver executable 2. Install the PowerG Driver. 3. Install the PowerG Applications. 4. Connect the EPT 5M57-PS-F2 board to an open USB Port on the PC. 5. Determine your power requirements, +5V to +12V or +1V to +3.3V and select the appropriate supply, PSA or PSB. 6. Connect a “Positive” power lead from the ”+” terminal to your bread board “+” rail. 7. Connect the “Negative” power lead from the “-“ terminal to your bread board “-“ rail. 8. Click on the PowerG Icon under “All Programs” 9. When the application opens up, click on the drop down box in the upper right corner. 10. Select the “EPT USB Serial&Bus Cable B”. 11. Click on the “Open” button then click on the “Start” button. 12. Both PSA and PSB voltage and current will show up on the display. 13. Adjust current limit settings. 14. Adjust voltage. 15. Begin creating your project.

2 Introduction and General Description The PowerG Arduino Dual Power Supply was designed for providing power to assist in developing projects. It has two independently controlled power supplies, PSA and PSB. PSA is a Boost Switching Power Supply. It converts the +5V input (from either USB Port or External Barrel Connector) into +5.5V to +12V. PSB is a Buck Switching Power Supply. It converts the +5V input (from either USB Port or External Barrel Connector) into +1V to +3.3V.

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply

The PowerG has a unique control and display feature that allows the user to interface the dual supply to a Windows PC. When connected to a PC via the USB Port, the voltage and current can be displayed for both Power Supply A (PSA) and Power Supply B (PSB). The display is in the form of seven segment numbers. Each number has five digits with the PSA voltage having 6 digits. Each supply can be turned on or off using the buttons on the application interface. The user can also set a current limit using the appropriate slider. The current limit defaults to 180mA for PSA and 600mA for PSB. The current limit number is displayed next to the current display. Also, the PowerG provides serial communication between the Windows PC and your Arduino. There is a six pin connector that is compatible with the Arduino Mini or Pro Mini. The Arduino communications connector has a jumper to select which voltage Input/Output for the signals, +3.3V or +5V. Another jumper allows the user to select between DTR and RTS for the reset signal to be applied to the Arduino. There are also two LEDs which indicate TXD or RXD activity.

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply

2.1 Power Specifications The PowerG can provide power either form the USB Port or from an external barrel connector. Both power supplies share the incoming power. The USB Port power is limited to 500mA total. This power is shared between the PowerG electronics, PSA and PSB. The available power at the output of each power supply is shown in the table below.

3 EPT Drivers The PowerG system requires drivers for any interaction between the Windows PC and the EPT5M57-AP-U2. The communication between the two consists of sending start/stop commands and receiving data from Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). To allow this communication, the USB

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply Driver is required. This will allow Windows to recognize the USB Chip and setup a pathway for Windows to communicate with the USB hardware.

3.1 The FTDI CDM Installation The EPT-5M57-AP-U2 uses an FTDI FT2232H USB to Serial chip. This chip provides the USB interface to the PC and the serial/FIFO interface to the CPLD. The FT2232H requires the use of the FTDI USB driver. The USB driver can be loaded onto your Windows 7, 8, or 10 PC. It is accomplished by using the extract and install utility,

3.2 EPT Driver To install the driver onto your PC, use the FT_2.12.06 Folder. The installation of the FT_2.12.06 driver is easily accomplished using the “Update Driver Software” utility in Device Manager. Locate the FT_2.12.06 folder in the Drivers folder of the PowerG Dual Power Supply System DVD using Windows Explorer.

Plug in the EPT-5M57-AP-U2 device into an available USB port.

Windows will attempt to locate a driver for the USB device. When it does not find one, it will report a error, “Device driver software was not successfully installed”. Ignore this error.

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply

Go to Start->Control Panel

Locate Device Manager and click on it.

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply

Locate the entry under “Other devices”. Right click “EPT USB Serial&Bus Cable” and select “Update Driver Software…”.

At the Update Driver Software Window, select “Browse my computer for driver software”.

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply

Click the Browse button and browse to the \Drivers\ FT_2.12.06 folder of the PowerG Dual Power Supply System DVD. Click the Ok button.

Click the Next button

The next window is the Windows Security notice. The EPT driver is not signed by Windows. Click on the “Install this driver software anyway”.

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply

Windows will add the FT_2.12.06 driver to the System Registry.

When Windows has completed the update driver the following screen will be displayed.

Channel A of the EPT-5M57-AP-U2 is ready for use. Next, repeat the process for Channel B.

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply

The driver files will automatically install in the System Registry.

When this is complete, the drivers are installed and the EPT-5M57-AP-U2 can be used with for programming and USB data transfers.

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply

4 PowerG Application Install The PowerG application software must be installed onto the users PC before using. This is an easy process as the application and all the supporting files such as Data Sheets and the application itself has been packed into Windows Installer files. This comes in the form of two files:

Just double click on the setup icon to launch the installer. Click through all of the install screens by clicking “Next”.

When the installation is complete, the application is ready for use. The installer adds a folder under the users Programs (x86) folder. Go to Start-> PowerG to view the files and folders.

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply

Just click on the PowerG icon to launch the application. The “Documentation” folder contains the Data Sheet and User Manual for the PowerG.

5 PowerG Power Supplies The PSA is a Boost Switching Power Supply. It has a capability of providing up to 1.2A over the +5.5V to +12V output range.

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply The PSB is a Buck Switching Power Supply. It is capable of providing up to 1.2A over the +1V to +3.3V output range.

Switching power supplies differ from the typical Bench Power supply. The typical Bench Power Supply converts AC power from a wall outlet into DC and then uses serial regulators to provide a filtered and compensated output power. This has the benefit of providing an output from 0 to Max voltage with very little ripple current. Switching power supplies typically work within a range of output voltages.

6 PowerG Connections The PowerG has several connectors on the EPT-5M57-PS-F2 hardware. This section will explain what each connector is and how to connect it.

6.1 USB The PowerG requires a connection to the USB port of the PC for operation. The power supplies will not operate until the PowerG board has power provided by the USB Port. When the board is connected to USB, it will operate stand alone. Both power supplies will operate independently Page 14

Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply and the PowerG application will display the voltage and current for each supply. Connect the board to an open USB port on the PC. The EPT-5M57-PS-F2 is equipped with a USB Micro-B connector.

6.2 Terminals There are two Terminal Blocks on the top of the PowerG Board. Both blocks have screw terminals. They accept up to 20 gauge wire. They easily accept common solid core wire that can be connected to solderless bread board.

6.3 External Barrel Connector

6.4 Arduino Programming The PowerG has a six pin inline connector that is designed to program the Arduino. This connector includes RXD, TXD, Arduino Reset and Power/Ground. A jumper allows the

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply selection of the voltage to interface to the Arduino. The voltage selection sets the output voltage to apply to the Arduino and also the I/O voltage of the TXD, RXD and Reset signals. There is also a jumper to allow the selection of the reset signal, either DTR or RTS.

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply

6.5 Arduino Reset Selection

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply

6.6 Arduino Voltage I/O Selection

6.7 JTAG TBD

7 PowerG Data Flow The PowerG is designed to sample the voltage and current output for both power supplies and display the result to the screen. The PowerG accomplishes this by incorporating a four channel Analog to Digital Converter. A voltage divider is used to sample the voltage at the output of each power supply. For the current, a current sense amplifier is used. The output of these two circuits

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Arduino Bench Top Dual Power Supply

is fed into a four channel ADC. The CPLD sends a start ADC conversion command to the ADC. It then reads the four analog channels via an SPI bus. The CPLD packages up the ADC samples into channel EndTerms. Then the data is sent to the PowerG application.

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