Beginner
10 min

Achieve precise timing and synchronization with DS1682 and PIC18F46K80

Countdown to excellence

TIMER Click with EasyPIC v8

Published Nov 01, 2023

Click board™

TIMER Click

Dev Board

EasyPIC v8

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

PIC18F46K80

Take control of your time with a powerful countdown timer

A

A

Hardware Overview

How does it work?

Timer Click is based on the DS1682, a total-elapsed-time recorder with an alarm from Analog Devices. This IC is an integrated ETC, factory-calibrated, and temperature-compensated RC time base, accurate to 2% (typical), eliminating the need for an external crystal. The DS1682 can detect and record the number of events and the total cumulative event time since the last reset to 0. After the Power-Up sequence, the data is transferred from the EEPROM into the counters and registers where data can be read and written. The data from the counters and registers are written to the EEPROM when the event occurs.

The Timer Click communicates with the host microcontroller using the standard I2C 2-Wire interface to read data and configure settings, supporting Standard mode (100KHz) and Fast mode (400KHz) operation. The event EVT pin is the input pin of the DS1682 and monitors when an event occurs. With logic HIGH on this pin, the contents from the EEPROM are transferred to the ETC, and the ETC counter starts to count in quarter-second increments. With logic LOW, event counter increments and the data are stored in the EEPROM array. When the EVT pin changes states, the I2C is unavailable for communications. The

ALM is an alarm output pin and is active LOW. When the ETC matches the alarm value, the alarm flag (AF) is set, and once set, it can not be reset. The alarm flag is one-time programmable. This Click board™ can operate with either 3.3V or 5V logic voltage levels selected via the PWR SEL jumper. This way, both 3.3V and 5V capable MCUs can use the communication lines properly. Also, this Click board™ comes equipped with a library containing easy-to-use functions and an example code that can be used as a reference for further development.

TIMER Click top side image
TIMER Click bottom side image

Features overview

Development board

EasyPIC v8 is a development board specially designed for the needs of rapid development of embedded applications. It supports many high pin count 8-bit PIC microcontrollers from Microchip, regardless of their number of pins, and a broad set of unique functions, such as the first-ever embedded debugger/programmer. The development board is well organized and designed so that the end-user has all the necessary elements, such as switches, buttons, indicators, connectors, and others, in one place. Thanks to innovative manufacturing technology, EasyPIC v8 provides a fluid and immersive working experience, allowing access anywhere and under any

circumstances at any time. Each part of the EasyPIC v8 development board contains the components necessary for the most efficient operation of the same board. In addition to the advanced integrated CODEGRIP programmer/debugger module, which offers many valuable programming/debugging options and seamless integration with the Mikroe software environment, the board also includes a clean and regulated power supply module for the development board. It can use a wide range of external power sources, including a battery, an external 12V power supply, and a power source via the USB Type-C (USB-C) connector.

Communication options such as USB-UART, USB DEVICE, and CAN are also included, including the well-established mikroBUS™ standard, two display options (graphical and character-based LCD), and several different DIP sockets. These sockets cover a wide range of 8-bit PIC MCUs, from the smallest PIC MCU devices with only eight up to forty pins. EasyPIC v8 is an integral part of the Mikroe ecosystem for rapid development. Natively supported by Mikroe software tools, it covers many aspects of prototyping and development thanks to a considerable number of different Click boards™ (over a thousand boards), the number of which is growing every day.

EasyPIC v8 horizontal image

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

default

Architecture

PIC

MCU Memory (KB)

64

Silicon Vendor

Microchip

Pin count

40

RAM (Bytes)

3648

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

NC
NC
AN
NC
NC
RST
Event Detection
RE0
CS
NC
NC
SCK
NC
NC
MISO
NC
NC
MOSI
Power Supply
3.3V
3.3V
Ground
GND
GND
NC
NC
PWM
Alarm Interrupt
RB0
INT
NC
NC
TX
NC
NC
RX
I2C Clock
RC3
SCL
I2C Data
RC4
SDA
Power Supply
5V
5V
Ground
GND
GND
1

Take a closer look

Schematic

TIMER Click Schematic schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

EasyPIC v8 front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the EasyPIC v8 as your development board.

EasyPIC v8 front image hardware assembly
Buck 22 Click front image hardware assembly
MCU DIP 40 hardware assembly
EasyPIC v8 DIP MB 1 - upright/background hardware assembly
Necto image step 2 hardware assembly
Necto image step 3 hardware assembly
Necto image step 4 hardware assembly
NECTO Compiler Selection Step Image hardware assembly
NECTO Output Selection Step Image hardware assembly
Necto image step 6 hardware assembly
Necto DIP image step 7 hardware assembly
Necto image step 8 hardware assembly
Necto image step 9 hardware assembly
Necto image step 10 hardware assembly
Necto PreFlash Image hardware assembly

Track your results in real time

Application Output

After pressing the "FLASH" button on the left-side panel, it is necessary to open the UART terminal to display the achieved results. By clicking on the Tools icon in the right-hand panel, multiple different functions are displayed, among which is the UART Terminal. Click on the offered "UART Terminal" icon.

UART Application Output Step 1

Once the UART terminal is opened, the window takes on a new form. At the top of the tab are two buttons, one for adjusting the parameters of the UART terminal and the other for connecting the UART terminal. The tab's lower part is reserved for displaying the achieved results. Before connecting, the terminal has a Disconnected status, indicating that the terminal is not yet active. Before connecting, it is necessary to check the set parameters of the UART terminal. Click on the "OPTIONS" button.

UART Application Output Step 2

In the newly opened UART Terminal Options field, we check if the terminal settings are correct, such as the set port and the Baud rate of UART communication. If the data is not displayed properly, it is possible that the Baud rate value is not set correctly and needs to be adjusted to 115200. If all the parameters are set correctly, click on "CONFIGURE".

UART Application Output Step 3

The next step is to click on the "CONNECT" button, after which the terminal status changes from Disconnected to Connected in green, and the data is displayed in the Received data field.

UART Application Output Step 4

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for TIMER Click driver.

Key functions:

  • timer_get_etc_data - Get elapsed time counter (ETC) data function

  • timer_get_etc_seconds - Get elapsed time counter (ETC) seconds function

  • timer_get_time - Set elapsed time counter (ETC) time function

Open Source

Code example

This example can be found in NECTO Studio. Feel free to download the code, or you can copy the code below.

/*!
 * \file 
 * \brief Timer Click example
 * 
 * # Description
 * This application is multifunctional 3-axis digital accelerometer that can also be configured as a 45-degree Tilt sensor.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 * 
 * ## Application Init 
 * Initialization driver enable's - I2C,
 * soft reset, sets ETC and EC start ( seconds ), hardwere reset and start write log.
 * 
 * ## Application Task  
 * This is a example which demonstrates the use of Timer Click board.
 * Timer Click communicates with register via I2C by write to register and read from register,
 * display time ( days, hours, minutes and seconds ) which we received reading from the target register address of DS1682 total elapsed time recorder.
 * Results are being sent to the Usart Terminal where you can track their changes.
 * All data logs write on usb uart changes for every 1 sec.
 * 
 * \author MikroE Team
 *
 */
// ------------------------------------------------------------------- INCLUDES

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "timer.h"

// ------------------------------------------------------------------ VARIABLES

static timer_t timer;
static log_t logger;
static uint8_t time_seconds_new;

// ------------------------------------------------------ APPLICATION FUNCTIONS

void application_init ( void )
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;
    timer_cfg_t cfg;

    /** 
     * Logger initialization.
     * Default baud rate: 115200
     * Default log level: LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG
     * @note If USB_UART_RX and USB_UART_TX 
     * are defined as HAL_PIN_NC, you will 
     * need to define them manually for log to work. 
     * See @b LOG_MAP_USB_UART macro definition for detailed explanation.
     */
    LOG_MAP_USB_UART( log_cfg );
    log_init( &logger, &log_cfg );
    log_info( &logger, "---- Application Init ----" );

    //  Click initialization.

    timer_cfg_setup( &cfg );
    TIMER_MAP_MIKROBUS( cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    timer_init( &timer, &cfg );
    Delay_ms( 200 );

    log_printf( &logger, "   Driver  Init   \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, "------------------\r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, "    Soft Reset    \r\n" );
    
    timer_soft_reset( &timer );
    Delay_ms( 500 );
    
    log_printf( &logger, "------------------\r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, "  Set ETC and EC  \r\n" );
    
    timer_set_etc_seconds( &timer, 86390 );
    timer_set_ec_seconds( &timer, 0 );
    
    log_printf( &logger, "------------------\r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, "  Hardwere Reset  \r\n" );
    
    timer_hw_reset( &timer );
    Delay_ms( 500 );
    
    log_printf( &logger, "------------------\r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, "        ETC       \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, "------------------\r\n" );
    
    time_seconds_new = 0xFF;
}

void application_task ( )
{
    uint8_t time_hours;
    uint8_t time_minutes;
    uint8_t time_seconds;
    uint16_t time_days;

    timer_get_time( &timer, &time_days, &time_hours, &time_minutes, &time_seconds );
   
    if ( time_seconds_new != time_seconds )
    {
        log_printf
        ( 
            &logger, " %d days    %d:%d:%d \r\n", 
            (uint16_t)time_days, 
            (uint16_t)time_hours, 
            (uint16_t)time_minutes, 
            (uint16_t)time_seconds
        );
        log_printf( &logger, "------------------\r\n" );
        time_seconds_new = time_seconds;
    }
    Delay_ms( 1 );
}

void main ( void )
{
    application_init( );

    for ( ; ; )
    {
        application_task( );
    }
}


// ------------------------------------------------------------------------ END

Additional Support

Resources