Drakedev pinewood timer Please Help!

[KemperKid]

http://www.drakedev.com/pinewood/

I have purchased and started building this timer. I have talked to the company that I purchased it from for help and seem to get nowhere on my question. I need help on getting my computer to talk to the P40 if anyone here knows how to get this thing to work please let me know. Do I need a seperate hardware programmer or can I program it with my pc?

I plan on using the gran prix software whenever I get this thing running. But If I cannot get it working then I have no need to purchase the gran prix software.

Thanks, Kemp

[KemperKid]

OK I got it working but how do you write the code here: http://drakedev.com/pinewood/protocol.html and put it on the chip?

[dknowles67]

I don't have any experience with this timer, but I looked at the url you referenced.

It looks like you need to connect the timer to a serial port on your PC, and run HyperTerminal (if you are using Windows) on your PC.
(Start, Programs, Accessories, Hyperterminal, HyperTerminal).
This will ask you for a name (you could use Pinewood Derby), then a serial port (probably COM1 - depends on your PC, and which port you plug into), then it will ask you for serial port settings.
The web-page says "9600 Baud, 8-bits, 1-stop bit, no parity".
The 9600 is the Bits per second, Data Bits is 8, Stop Bits is 1, Parity is None. For Flow Control, I would try None.
You could also use another serial port software program such as ProComm if you have it available, and are not running Windows.

I don't think I answered your question, but I don't think you asked the right question either. Hopefully, I got you pointed in the right direction.

[bdrake]

Sorry, I've not been monitoring these forums.
I've got a discussion group for my timer at yahoo groups:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pictimer/

The beta 1.0 version of my firmware is actually set for 19200 baud, so if you are having problems, you may want to try that setting.

I will post an updated version of the firmware as soon as possible (hopefully this evening) to correct this to the 9600 that was intended.

[bdrake]

I've posted updated firmware, some additional schematics to fill out details for hooking up the sensors and a solenoid, and a MS Windows program that helps to configure the firmware in the timer for your particular hookup specifics.

The URL for the timer is:
http://www.DrakeDev.com/pinewood

Also I've had so many requests for preprogrammed chips that , I will am now offering 16F877A chips with the firmware already programmed into them, for those who do not want to buy a chip programmer or do it themselves.

To make things even easier, I'm having some PC boards made. This should greatly simplify construction of the timer. These are high quality double sided boards with the part locations printed on the board. That makes them a little more expensive, but I think it is worth it. Because of the cost, I didn't order many. If I sell them all, I'll order more next time. I expect they will be about $15 each, depending on the cost of shipping from the manufacturer.

Just so there is no confusion, this is not a commercial product, and I'm not doing this commercially. I'll still do my best to help and support anyone building a timer using my plans or boards, but I do have a real job that has to take priority.