Electronic School Project - Coffee Maker

[Netsky56]

Hello .
I'm a french student and i'm working on an electronic school project.
My work consists in helping the user of the coffee maker to solve the problems that sometimes happen on the machine by their own, by linking the machine to a computer.

Presentation
Actually, the errors are stocked on a memory of the CPU card. I will link the CPU card to a FOX LX832 card by RS232, and link the FOX LX832 card to a computer by Ethernet.
The error data stocked in the memory on the CPU card will transit to the FOX LX832 and then to the computer.

I will create a dynamic website to read the errors , make a diagnostic and reinitialize them.


Work
I have already found all the components that i'll use and now my job is to modify the existing program (FlowCode) to count and memorize the the defaults which are on the memory of the EEPROM of the PIC18F4620, transmit them via RS232 and read the data received on the FOX LX832.

My second task is to create the website. I have already done the presentation of the site but i don't know how to use the error data to use it on the website.


Summary
To resume, i need help to :
- Program the PIC
- And then use the error data to create my website and to make a diagnostic and reset the defaults.


I hope that i have been clear (english is not my native tongue and this is my first english post about an electronic project).
Hope you can help me .
Thanks.

 

[JimB]

Hello NetSky and welcome.

First of all I do not drink coffee!
Second, the concept of a coffee maker which needs a remote diagnostic computer makes my head hurt!

I will however comment on your English, (always a capital first letter, never english).

The expression:

errors are stocked on a memory of the CPU card

although understandable, looks odd.
It would be much better writted as:

errors are stored in a memory of the CPU card

The French word stockee translates to stored in relation to computer memory/data.

Otherwise very clearly stated.

JimB

Afterthoughts:
Having read my reply again, it occurs to me that we usually say that

data is stored in memory

but that

data is stored on disc

either hard or floppy (remember them?)

It also occurs to me that the word "data" is actually plural, the the gramatically correct expression which is sometimes seen is:

data are stored in memory

Now my head really hurts!

 

[Netsky56]

Thanks for the correction, didn't know that data was plural .
And this project makes my head hurt too x_x.

 

[nickagian]

hi NetSky,

have you ever used any PIC in the past? Your question is quite general in fact!! What kind of help do you want about programming the PIC? The part that you've chosen is programmed in standard C language.

Nick

 

[Netsky56]

Unfortunately, i have never used any pic in the past, and never programmed in C :/.
So.. i don't know where to start.

 

[nickagian]

hi NetSky,

well, first of all information about the PIC you need to use can be found at the site of microchip :

PIC18F4620

In order to program the device, in essence you need a programmer. You can use either PICkit2 Product Search - microchipDIRECT or the newer version of it, the PICkit3 Product Search - microchipDIRECT

Moreover, probably you gonna need a DEMO/Evaluation Board -unless you have your own or plan to build one. In that case, you can buy something like this, which in fact includes the PICkit3 programmer.

Also note, that the above eval. board also includes the the FREE MPLAB IDE and FREE PIC18 C Lite Compiler, which are the software tools that are used for code development.

Of course, you can find a lot more evaluation boards at other online stores (not from microchip).

 

[Netsky56]

Thanks a lot for your answers .

I already have the board and the programmer. The problem is to program the PIC to transmit the data stored on the EEPROM to the FOX LX832 via RS232. (I have to use FlowCode to program it, so i don't know if it's C language or if it's different)

 

[Netsky56]

Anyone?

1° : Correct me if i'm wrong but, about the flowcode program, can i make something like
"if -there is error1-
then -indicate it on the website that there is error1-
else -nothing and begin to test if there is error2-" ?
(in C langage , and not with flowcode)

2° : I have EEPROM <-- RS232 --> FOX LX832
How to transmit the data stored on the EEPROM to the FOX LX832? Do i have to program something or is it automatic?
Thanks.