Alfa Network Color Tester, Technical Manual

Page: 15 / 45

Technical Manual
– Color Tester
EN PROGRAMMING THE ELECTRONIC BOARDS
15
4. PROGRAMMING THE ELECTRONIC BOARDS
Depending on board version, programming can be carried out in either of two different methods:

Boards with no bootloader (programming via PICkit): see paragraph 4.1

Board with bootloader: see paragraph 4.2.
4.1. PROGRAMMING OF BOARDS WITH NO BOOTLOADER
4.1.1. PROGRAMMING DEVICES
Each SCCB board must have the dedicated firmware. For the SCCB boards, the firmware depends on the group to
control.
To programme the boards, use a suitable USB
programmer (1) and the MPLAB IDE programming
software.
If you do not have the suitable programmer, contact the
Alfa technical service.
The programmer uses a USB cable (2) for the connection
to the PC.
It could be useful to use an extension (3) to connect the
programmer to the boards positioned in points that are
hard to reach.
NOTE: The boards can be programmed both on the
machine and on the bench. To programme the boards they
must be powered by means of CN12 connector. If you use
the previously programmed boards for other functions it is
recommendable
to disconnect the RS-485 serial
connectors before powering the machine.
4.1.2. INSTALLING THE MPLAB IDE SOFTWARE
The MPLAB IDE programming software can be downloaded from the reserved area of the website
www.alfadispenser.com or from the download area of the website http://www.microchip.com. The software can be
installed on a Windows, Linux or Mac PC.
4.1.3. PROGRAMMING WORKSPACE
To write the firmware it is necessary have a programming workspace to upload in the MPLAB IDE software as better
described below.
The programming workspaces are different for the SCCB
(4) boards and the MAB (5) board.