WCT-15W1CFFPD cannot connect with Freemaster

[Dabestasian8099]

Hi all, 

I'm currently working on a project with the WCT-15W1CFFPD wireless charger and the FreeMaster software to be able to control the rail voltage output of the board, so I can control the power output. However, every time I try to connect the wireless charger to my laptop using a USB-UART board, I always get an error: "Can not detect the board information! The communication will be paused. Error code 0x80000101 (Response timeout.)"

Furthermore, using the wizard to probe the UART fails to detect the board, too. I have double-checked all the possible fail points, but both the board, the wire and the USB-UART converter all seem to be working. If anyone can give me some tips or solutions, that would be great. 

Thanks, 

Lucas

[MichalH]

Hello,

before reaching out to WCT team, let's first make sure to rule out issues with settings and connectivity. I understand you tried to use the connection wizard to probe all ports without success. The timeout error means the board simply does not respond - either because it does not receive any commands or because the responses do not reach the PC. I have some more tips for you. 

1. As usual, reading the documentation is the good start. 
2. Can you try the same on a different computer?
3. When you open Device Manager in Windows, you should be able to see the COM port to appear when you connect the board and the port shall disappear when disconnected. If yes, this is the port you should try to probe with the FreeMASTER Connection Wizard.
4. Did you make any modification of WCT firmware which could affect its communication processing?
5. Is there any other WCT or different application where you can use FreeMASTER without issues?
6. An ultimate way to find out if communication reaches the WCT device is to use an oscilloscope or logic analyzer to monitor the SCI RXD and TXD pins at the WCT device side. Leave the communication port open to "keep trying" to connect and observe the pins if you could see any signal activity.

I will also involve the WCT team to see if there are any other recommended steps.

Regards,
Michal

[Dabestasian8099]

Hi Michal, 

Thank you for your response. So I have read the documentation on the wireless charger and the troubleshooting guide on it as well. My supervisor and I have tried it both on his laptop, which is an older ThinkPad, and mine, which is a newer Asus laptop. In both cases, the error code was the same. We haven't tried accessing any other device with freemaster yet, and I am sure that the com port I am accessing is the correct one for the UART to USB converter. 

The other thing that I suspect to be the cause of the issue is exactly what you said, which was the firmware changes. There is a possibility that the person working on the device before me might have changed the communication port from UART to the JTAG port, but when I try to change it back using CodeWarrior, it is not working as well. 

If you can, could you direct me to another webpage for me to get the WCT team involved and maybe even the codewarrior side of things as well? 

Thank you very much, 

Lucas 

[MichalH]

Dear Lucas,

I got an early response from WCT team. One of the possible issues is that the FreeMASTER communication is switched from SCI serial to JTAG/EOnCE port. Please check the freemaster_cfg.h file for settings.

It seems that in WCT1012 package, the JTAG was set as default:

While in WCT1013 package, the SCI was selected:

So as the first experiment, try to use JTAG/EOnCE port in FreeMASTER. Make sure to disconnect the CW debugger session first. Then run the FreeMASTER, go to project options and select this plug-in: 

Press the Configure Button and see if you can get anything else than "Unknown" as in my case (I don't have any board connected). You should see the on-board debugger probe detected.

You can press Test Connection to see if the board replies.

The second experiment could be to change the freemaster_cfg.h configuration: set the FMSTR_USE_SCI to 1 instead of FMSTR_USE_JTAG. 

Regards,
Michal

[Dabestasian8099]

Hello Michal, 

Sorry for the late reply, I was away from work for the past 2 weeks. Thank you very much for this. I will go ahead and give it a try now with our wireless charger. In the case that it doesn't work, is it possible to send the wireless charger back to you guys to take a look at it? 

Thank you very much, 

Lucas