Thanks - that worked, in so far as stepping down to the STEPDOWN_MINIMUM value.
However, it continues to give the 3 periodic warning flashes, until the voltage gets down to around the 2.6 mark, where it seems to eventually peter-out.
It does not appear to be getting to the Critical routine (10 flashes & power down).
As it is now, I'm happy with the operation. I ended up increasing the time between warning flashes, as they were annoyingly frequent.
For educational purposes, I'm still interested as to why it's not getting to the Critical/Shutdown routine.
#ifdef VOLTAGE_MON if (low_voltage(ADC_LOW)) { // We need to go to a lower level if (mode_idx == 0 && PWM_LVL <= STEPDOWN_MINIMUM) { // Can't go any lower than the lowest mode // Wait until we hit the critical level before flashing 10 times and turning off while (!low_voltage(ADC_CRIT)); i = 0; while (i++<10) { PWM_LVL = 0; _delay_ms(250); PWM_LVL = modes[0]; _delay_ms(500); } // Turn off the light PWM_LVL = 0; // Disable WDT so it doesn't wake us up WDT_off(); // Power down as many components as possible set_sleep_mode(SLEEP_MODE_PWR_DOWN); sleep_mode(); } else { // Flash 3 times before lowering hold_pwm = PWM_LVL; i = 0; while (i++<3) { PWM_LVL = 0; _delay_ms(250); PWM_LVL = hold_pwm; _delay_ms(500); } // Lower the mode by half, but don't go below lowest level if ((PWM_LVL >> 1) < STEPDOWN_MINIMUM) { PWM_LVL = modes[0]; mode_idx = 0; } else { PWM_LVL = (PWM_LVL >> 1); } // See if we should change the current mode level if we've gone under the current mode. if (PWM_LVL < modes[mode_idx]) { // Lower our recorded mode mode_idx--; } } // Wait 10 seconds before lowering the level again _delay_ms(10000); } #endif
Probably due to an additional oversight on my part. Let’s see where I went wrong.
Hmm. Are you _certain_ that it's stepping down? To me it [now] looks pretty clear that the stepdown process is broken by the changes I suggested. It seems that I missed was this line that will continue to reset the driver to modes[0] (100% duty cycle, 255/255):
// Lower the mode by half, but don't go below lowest level if ((PWM_LVL >> 1) < STEPDOWN_MINIMUM) { PWM_LVL = modes[0]; mode_idx = 0; } else { PWM_LVL = (PWM_LVL >> 1); }
As you can see, the line highlighted in red above should continue to reset the mode to mode zero every time we get PWM_LVL down to the point where halving it will take it below STEPDOWN_MINIMUM. Instead we should set it to STEPDOWN_MINIMUM there! Otherwise this conditional never becomes true: "if (mode_idx == 0 && PWM_LVL <= STEPDOWN_MINIMUM)" because we keep stepping down from modes[0] towards STEPDOWN_MINIMUM over and over without ever actually reaching <= STEPDOWN_MINIMUM.
Depending on what you set STEPDOWN_MINIMUM to we should be stepping down several times and then going back up, then doing it again - over and over. At least that's what I see at the moment...
I've spent a few hours with this today, but I'm not quite there yet....
I was certain it was stepping down visually, but to be sure, I charged my test cell back up to about 3.4v & hooked up an ammeter in series;
Starts out at 0.6A, ---> 3*flash/stepdown to 0.3A, then ~6 mins later, at 0.12A, another 3*flash/stepdown to 0.05A, then a few seconds later, another 3*flashes, & back up to 0.14A, then 3*flash & down to 0.02A ......./end of test...
Yep, just like you described above.
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I replaced PWM_LVL = modes[0]; with PWM_LVL =STEPDOWN_MINIMUM , but we still don't see the Critical routine.
It now steps down as before, but doesn't jump back up & start over, just continues with the 3 flashes, maintaining the lowest current, in a loop.
Without a Babel fish, I'm still unable to properly follow what's happening to some of the variables :(
I took a couple of wild stabs ; PWM_LVL = STEPDOWN_MINIMUM -1 which done nothing, & also tried removing the line under that mode_idx = 0; which again achieved nothing.
Hmm. Please go ahead and post up your full code in some unmolested way (upload a TXT file some where or use Pastbin or a similar website). Some sites like pastebin also have a highlighter, which is nice.
It appears that our current problem is "wrapping" the unsigned variable 'modes_idx' from zero up to it's maximum value. With what I think we have currently I guess the problem manifests immediately after the first stepdown. Here is the problem section:
// See if we should change the current mode level if we've gone under the current mode. if (PWM_LVL < modes[mode_idx]) { // Lower our recorded mode mode_idx--; }
Do you see the problem? Of course the conditional is true, PWM_LVL is now below modes[0]. So we subtract 1 from mode_idx. Since it's already zero and it's unsigned (can't be negative), the value wraps to the maximum value, I guess that's 255? After that we probably subtract one from that value every 3 seconds or so... so eventually maybe "if (mode_idx == 0 && PWM_LVL <= modes[mode_idx])" will be true, but not any time soon (13 minutes maybe?).
That's the problem on my end; I don't know enough/forgotten too much to follow what's going on.
I taught myself Basic on a CPC464 by reading through the user manual - even got to the stage where I was able to write up some games to give to friends to try out..... but that was over 30 years ago now....
...back to now, & I've re-flashed with the updated code, so far, so good - just waiting for the battery to run down....
Come to think of it, I saw the same behavior recently in what I think was an unmodified firmware. I actually just assumed I’d made a mistake in my observing my test. I’m not sure what the problem is.
I have finally updated the feature lists of the different firmwares and changed it so that it now resides on my GitHub page...
I'll message Richard to update the link in the OP.
Sorry that version numbering is off, and that I did a horrible job of managing my Git repository so it makes downloading previous versions more difficult. However, I believe that all of my feature changes so far have been additive, and each feature (for the most part) can be commented out. Don't want dual-PWM? Just comment it out at the top. No need to find a previous version of the code.
Hey guys, need some help here. Yesterday i successfully flashed my 1st nanjg driver with the standard STAR On-time memory v1.1 for clicky switch but my mode cycle is a bit weird. it goes like L-M-T-off-L-M-T-off…how do i remove the ‘off’ from the cycle to just L-M-T-L-M-T? i have test the turbo stepdown and it works accordingly. Thanks
There should be no off in the cycle. My guess is that you just have a mode defined that is too low for the light to turn on. Could you please share your C file with us?
