PIC16C745-IP and K8055 Velleman Kit

[Lumpy2]

Hi,

Thanks for your time.

I have a working K8055 with the 'dll' files loaded and can run the 'demo software that came with the Velleman CD but that is where it stops.

I am a retired electronics tech and would like to learn how to use this board to monitor and control parameters in/on a car engine.

I purchased two books on the PIC controller but they are too complicated and do not help me learn how to interface the PC with the board.

I have a full copy of Visual Basic.net [2002] but not yet installed on the PC.

I would appreciate some sites, and or software guides, that I can use to learn and then adapt the K8055 to my project.

I realise that this post we placed elswhere but attached to an older 2006 message.

I now have Programing and Customizing PICmicro Controllers from Myke Predko and will work through this volume.

If anyone knows of a PICmicro course run by TAFE, Queensland, in the Brisbane - Ipswich area that would also help.

Kind regards, KH.

 

[futz]

I have a working K8055 with the 'dll' files loaded and can run the 'demo software that came with the Velleman CD but that is where it stops.

I am a retired electronics tech and would like to learn how to use this board to monitor and control parameters in/on a car engine.

Velleman is a strange Euro company that produces some very strange products. Your K8055 for instance! Seems like an extremely odd way to do PICs. Velleman sell some really horrible old fashioned programmers too. I stay well clear of their stuff.

The reason you're getting no replies here is probably that nobody (that I've ever talked to or read on forums) uses anything Velleman. The K8055 seems a bit like a fancy type product, except it's able to use Windows languages instead of a proprietary BASIC (PICAXE) or C-like language (Arduino). It's quite a strange setup.

I would appreciate some sites, and or software guides, that I can use to learn and then adapt the K8055 to my project.

Google around, but I expect you'll find very little except at the Velleman site.

I purchased two books on the PIC controller but they are too complicated and do not help me learn how to interface the PC with the board.

I now have Programing and Customizing PICmicro Controllers from Myke Predko and will work through this volume.

I suspect that book (or any PIC book) might not help you very much in getting started. It's an ok book, though way out of date, but your PIC board and software is so completely non-standard that much of the info in the book may not make a lot of sense to you, and will have to be heavily adapted to suit.

If anyone knows of a PICmicro course run by TAFE, Queensland, in the Brisbane - Ipswich area that would also help.

If you want to learn PICs, you may find that you'll have to set that hardware aside and get something much more mainstream. You can learn to program the K8055 board, but that won't teach you much about PICs. You've picked a board that just has no popular support because it's too proprietary and non-standard.

To learn PICs the "usual" way, get yourself a USB programmer/debugger like the PICkit 2 or the Junebug, which is a PICkit 2 clone with an 18F1320 experimenter onboard. There are **broken link removed** too. Get a breadboard(s) and some PICs and discrete components and build (or buy) some ICSP cables and connectors . Using MPLAB (and the PICkit 2 software) and one of these programmer/debuggers with a breadboard for your circuits you can program almost all PICs in assembler (MPLAB comes with an assembler), BASIC, C or whatever you like. The C won't be a Windows C like Visual C though. It will be one made for PICs and not translated through a DLL. I prefer BoostC, from SourceBoost.

And doing it this way, books and tutorials will make sense. People will know how to and be able to help you.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I think the OP is confused about what he has?.

It's nothing to do with programming PIC's, or learning anything about PIC's - it's just a PC I/O board that connects to a USB port, and happens to use a PIC (and an old OTP one at that).

So it's not about programming the PIC (which you can't), it's about programming the PC using the supplied DLL files, in whatever language you want.

 

[Lumpy2]

Hi, Futz, Nigel

Thanks for the reply.

My end application is the use of PIC controllers in auto engine monitoring and fuel system control.

The choice of the K8055 was local, it was available from an electronics store, as a basic intro to the PIC and PC interface with monitoring - and some control.

I now understand that the PIC on the k8055 has a machine code program imbeded as OTP and that the dll is used to call up procedures from the PIC.

It will take some time but I hope to learn how to program the PC-Laptop in Visual Basic.net and develop some experiments to monitor engine sensors and give readouts on the PC-Laptop via the k8055.

Will let you know how I progress.

Kind regards,

KH

 

[cormackp]

Hi,

Thanks for your time.

I have a working K8055 with the 'dll' files loaded and can run the 'demo software that came with the Velleman CD but that is where it stops.

I am a retired electronics tech and would like to learn how to use this board to monitor and control parameters in/on a car engine.

I purchased two books on the PIC controller but they are too complicated and do not help me learn how to interface the PC with the board.

I have a full copy of Visual Basic.net [2002] but not yet installed on the PC.

I would appreciate some sites, and or software guides, that I can use to learn and then adapt the K8055 to my project.

I realise that this post we placed elswhere but attached to an older 2006 message.

I now have Programing and Customizing PICmicro Controllers from Myke Predko and will work through this volume.

If anyone knows of a PICmicro course run by TAFE, Queensland, in the Brisbane - Ipswich area that would also help.

Kind regards, KH.

Hi Lumpy I find my self in the same boat , I have just purchased a Vellman K8055 for Jaycar in an atemp to learn about PIC chip , so I would like to know how you are progressing and dialog with a fellow explorer.

 

[futz]

Hi Lumpy I find my self in the same boat , I have just purchased a Vellman K8055 for Jaycar in an atemp to learn about PIC chip , so I would like to know how you are progressing and dialog with a fellow explorer.

You'll learn very little about PICs with the K8055. Instead you'll learn to control a program in the PIC (that you can't change - it's a OTP chip) that operates the PIC's pins with commands from a windows program. It's kind of an odd way to go about it.

 

[cormackp]

Thanks Futz for your reply.
Well I start looking at PICAXE 8 pin chip and thought that was cool then research other bigger PIC chip , USB interface seemed the way I wanted to go , then i saw the Velleman demo board as a kit set from jaycat here in New Zealand and sort of assume the PIC was in the same family line . So $84 buck latter I have the kit only to realize the chip is a bit of a rare best , my option are to aleast give it a go or just dump it and start from scratch.
My want are USB would be nice but I can live with serial , then a high level windowns type language would be nice to write GUI app to interface with the chip at least I can get some help with VB or .Net and also chip avalibility in NZ . And also a chip other guy use alot so there that support aspect.

There is a supplier in NZ called Volt Electronics and they have a picaxe-28 chip for about $25 , here you herd of this chip ?

 

[futz]

There is a supplier in NZ called Volt Electronics and they have a picaxe-28 chip for about $25 , here you heard of this chip ?

I have a PICaxe 18X. They're quite nice if your needs are reasonably modest and you don't want to learn the guts of the PIC. You write code in BASIC and upload it to the chip. Works pretty well. I found it boring though - too simple. I like to tinker with the hardware with my own code (in assembler or C) and learn how it works.

And you're still not really learning PICs. With PICaxe you learn their proprietary BASIC and you will learn the same hardware interfacing methods as with a real PIC (you'd learn them with the K8055 too). And that might be all you need to do the things you want to do.

With products like PICaxe, Basic Stamp, Kic Chip, Arduino and others you're insulated from the need (and the ability) to learn the underlying details of how things work. Some people love that. They just want to get things working quick and easy. Some don't. Maybe they need more performance, or need to do things that aren't possible with these type of chips/software systems.

If you really want to learn PICs, consider getting a decent programmer/debugger, like a PICkit 2 or a Junebug. The Junebug is PICkit 2 compatible and has a bonus 18F1320 experimenter onboard. Good stuff. Pair one of those with some cables, a breadboard or three, some electronics components and you're off. You're only limited by your imagination.

Any language you want is available. C, BASIC and others are available as free demos or for pay. The MPLAB IDE with debugger, and assembler are free.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Thanks Futz for your reply.
Well I start looking at PICAXE 8 pin chip and thought that was cool then research other bigger PIC chip , USB interface seemed the way I wanted to go , then i saw the Velleman demo board as a kit set from jaycat here in New Zealand and sort of assume the PIC was in the same family line . So $84 buck latter I have the kit only to realize the chip is a bit of a rare best , my option are to aleast give it a go or just dump it and start from scratch.

You still seem confused as to what you have?.

It's nothing to do with PIC's, it just happens to use a pre-programmed one to make it work. You can't programme the PIC, in fact you can't access it at all, and there's no point even knowing it's there.

 

[cormackp]

I see your point , I spent a couple of hour soldering it up yesterday , now I have actlly connected it to my PC , i see the limitations.
I see two things now and 1 is I'm going to find a virgin empty Picaxe chip with a serial interface and start from scratch.
Thank for the input , i'll check out PIC programmer software, and PIC Tutorials at:
WinPicProg Page ansd see where that points me.

 

[Lumpy2]

Hi, Nigel.
Been away for a while but now ready to start. I have Myke Predko's book on PIC controllers that comes with a PIC programming board and software to learn about PIC controllers and how to program them. I will continue with the K8055 if only to learn Basic and how to write a program to controll a PIC to monitor some engine inputs and give some readable outputs. Will also follow up on the links you give above. REgards, KH

 

[taneto]

Hi, This thread is a little old, I thought i would add some information for people struggling with the K8055. The Python Programming language offers a very easy and powerful way to control the K8055. This uses the Python Built in Ctypes Module.
## Python script
from ctypes import *
k8055 = windll.K8055D
k8055.OpenDevice(0)
print k8055.ReadDigitalChannel(2)
k8055.CloseDevice()
## end of python script

This simple script opens device 0, Prints the state of the secound digital input ( 1 or 0 ) and closes the device
The other DLL functions are accessable in the same fasion. I hope this helps people.

Python has many graphics libraries that can produce anything from the standard scrollbars / text boxes to, Opengl 3d models as required.

I hope this helps someone.

 

[rebew]

The Vellman K8055 is very quickly programmed with FreeBASIC for easy testing of my custom sensor circuits.

With the K8055D.DLL in the same folder as the FreeBASIC compiler enter, FBC test.bas, at the console.

Here is the code for test.bas:

DIM OpenDevice AS FUNCTION (BYVAL CardAddress AS LONG) AS LONG
DIM CloseDevice AS SUB
DIM SetDigitalChannel AS SUB (BYVAL AS INTEGER)
DIM ClearDigitalChannel AS SUB (BYVAL AS INTEGER)

DIM hndl AS ANY PTR

hndl = DyLibLoad("K8055D.DLL")

OpenDevice = DyLibSymbol(hndl, "OpenDevice")
CloseDevice = DyLibSymbol(hndl, "CloseDevice")
SetDigitalChannel = DyLibSymbol(hndl, "SetDigitalChannel")
ClearDigitalChannel = DyLibSymbol(hndl, "ClearDigitalChannel")

OpenDevice(0)
PRINT "USB Board is now connected."
SetDigitalChannel(1)
PRINT "Press any key to clear digital channel 1 and disconnect."
SLEEP
ClearDigitalChannel(1)
CloseDevice()
DyLibFree hndl

END

 

[Wp100]

Hi,

Was about to throw out a ready made 8055 board so if anyone in the uk/eu wants one for free just pm me

 

[large_ghostman]

I am resisting the urge to pm you. I need more will power