Logomatic V2: In the beginning...

[gnu_B]

I have a recently purchased Logomatic V2 (Apr-14-2009).

Upon recieving it, I plugged it in to the USB (with no SD card) and two leds came on.

I powered down and put a new SD card in the Logomatic V2. My PC recognizes the memory card and correctly identifies the size. At this point the SD card is completely empty. I can drag and drop files to it and it performs as I would think it should.

With the exception that there are no files other than the one I dropped onto the SD. There is no LOG CON .TXT and LOG 0.TXT.

I even tried creating them in Textpad,

the LOG CON.TXT file read as follows:

MODE = 2

ASCII = Y

Baud = 4

Frequency = 100

Trigger Character = $

Text Frame = 100

AD1.3 = Y

AD0.3 = Y

AD0.2 = Y

AD0.1 = Y

AD1.2 = Y

AD0.4 = Y

AD1.7 = Y

AD1.6 = Y

Safety On = Y

…with filenames:

LOG CON .TXT

LOG 0.TXT

Which are the filenames I get when I cut the filenames from SFE-0016-DS-Logomatic-v21.pdf…

And the same files with the filenames:

LOGCON .TXT

LOG0.TXT

…as they appear to the eye on SFE-0016-DS-Logomatic-v21.pdf.

…with no apparent file activity.

Then I read “First Power-up and Configuration File”. Is this a one-time-only action? Does it happen only once and never again?

I tried recompiling the original firmware and putting the resulting FW.SFE on the SD card and power cycling the Logomatic V2.

…still no love.

Reading through the forum, I have found that some people have needed to use something other than Windows to do a correct FAT format on the SD card. I downloaded a Panasonic utility and re-formatted the card, but nothing seems different.

I even repeated the above steps with the newly formatted card.

…no love.

I’m also confused about power. Am I correct in assuming that this board will run on USB power? Or do I need a battery to make it function?

I have also tried the ‘Boot Loader Tutorial’ exactly as it is written. the compiling part of the operation seems to work just fine, but nothing else happens. The tutorial does mention that the code will need to be changed “a little bit”, as it was meant for the Uberboard and not the Logomatic V2. Since I really am new at microcontrollers, I haven’t a clue as to what “a little bit” might refer to.

Has anyone posted the main.c file that will work correctly for this tutorial on the Logomatic V2?

Also, am I correct to assume that the Logomatic V2 does have the boot loader already installed? In one part of the Bootloader Tutorial, the Logomatic V2 is not listed as having the bootloader, elsewhere in the toturial is is listed…

I feel like I have put in so much work and have gotten so little reward.

Any help would be appreciated.

[joshuat]

Hi GnuB,

I have also just started playing with the Logomatic. From what I can see, it is necessary to provide an external power source - it won’t run on USB power (in fact, the USB needs to be unplugged in order to get it to log). I am using a 3.6V NiMH cordless phone battery that seems to be working nicely (and is charged by the onboard charging circuit when plugged into the USB).

Once you have an external power source, I suggest following the steps on the datasheet for starting up again (remembering to format as FAT16, not FAT32 - on WinXP FAT16 is just shown as FAT). Assuming that you didn’t change any of the source code, you shouldn’t need to re-download the firmware.

Hope this helps.

Josh.

[gnu_B]

joshuat,

Thanks! Your advice was just what I needed.

As it turned out, even through all my helpless flailing, the Logomatic hadn’t even run once because of no power.

Getting a power connector locally proved to be a minor problem, but Radio Shack had some Precision Mini-Clips that worked just fine.

I guess my next question would be does anyone have a schematic for hooking up thermisters to the Logomatic V2?

Thanks again…

[Octagon26]

I am having the same problem, having followed the directions on the documentation that came with my logomatic-v21, i have a fat 16 disk in the slot, but when i apply power to the logomatic, no flashing lights, and no files written to the card.

I am supplying power to the logomatic from an arduino, which is 5v.

The one issue is that the first time that i tried it, i had a fat 16 disk that i formatted on my mac, which appearantly did not work, as the logomatic (when powered up) blinked its lights for an indefinent period of time, and so i turned it off, and reformatted the sd card when i had access to a PC.

Any suggestions? Is there a need to reset the logomatic somehow? Perhaps reading the first disk corrupted it?

I’m a newbie so any suggestions would be helpful

…

[gnu_B]

Octagon26:
I am supplying power to the logomatic from an arduino, which is 5v.

The conditions for running are:

• There must be a source of power going into the tiny white power connector.

• The USB must be UNPLUGGED.

• A properly formatted card must be in the micro USB slot.

• The little power switch on the Logomatic must be on.

The problem I had was that I falsely assumed that the Logomatic would run off of USB power. I still think that it should, but it doesn’t. You have to supply power to the power connector.

What it will do is charge a battery that is connected to the battery connector, when the Logomatic is connected to a powered USB, but it won’t run while a USB cable is attached.

If you connect a USB from your computer, you’ll be able to read and write files to the Logomatic. But not run.

Octagon26:
The one issue is that the first time that i tried it, i had a fat 16 disk that i formatted on my mac, which apparently did not work, as the logomatic (when powered up) blinked its lights for an indefinent period of time, and so i turned it off, and reformatted the sd card when i had access to a PC.

Any suggestions? Is there a need to reset the logomatic somehow? Perhaps reading the first disk corrupted it?

I saw posts that suggested that you could do a FAT format from XP and it would work. I also saw posts that said you needed to format using a Canon still camera. I also saw posts that said you needed to use a format utility from Panasonic to do the formatting.

I searched around and found a free SD Card formatting utility, and used that and had success.

But I think it was the USB cable being plugged in that was killing the run cycle.

I hope this helps. It’s a petty cool board. My only problem is that the minimum read frequency is one per second, which is much faster than I want (1 per minute would be better for me), and the CPU is kind of power hungry. It would run my 3 cell Nickel Metal Hydride battery down in about 3.5 hours. I’d like to run it for months on a battery.

I bought 10 thermistors from Spark Fun and attached 7 of them to the analog in via a voltage divider, they work fine. I also use the eighth analog input to measure current flow. It works fine. I think the chip will actually allow 16 analog inputs, but the board is only set up for 8.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

-gnu_B