HMLiberator Assembled
First HMLiberator Assembly with Honda Music LinkWell, there’s an assembled version of the first HMLiberator, strapped to the top of a Honda Music Link. This is very similar to what the final assembly will look like, except the ISCP connector will not be soldered on, the part will be encased in shrink tubing, and there will likely be slightly different cable / connectors used.
I still have a good ways to go on the software. If connected it’s possible to use all controls on the iPod to play music and hear it through the stereo (the initial goal), but I still have to address the following things:
· iPod does not pause / power off when vehicle is powered off.
· HML continues charging iPod while vehicle is powered off. (HML’s software is hanging and not cutting power to the iPod.)
· Attempting to change track on the head unit hangs the HML. (I think it’s not getting the response it desires.)
I think most of these are just a matter of getting the false polling mode, track change responses, and things like that working. After I get back from up north (and get the serial level converter prototype made) I’ll put together another serial sniffer and get back to work on the software.
Just out of interest, how will you be programming PICs in production without ICSP? Have you found somewhere to buy them preprogrammed, or are you just going to drop them in a socketed programmer before soldering?
Neither. ICSP only requires the pins, a 10K resistor, 470 resistor, and .1uF cap. So I put all that on the board, leave off the pin header but with the holes there, and I’ll just hand-hold the pins in the holes while programming it. I think you can actually do ICSP without that extra circuitry, but it’s in the reference designs, so I put it in there.
On here it is R1, R2, C4, and the header, all coming off the right side of the part labeled Core / ICSP.
Ah right, cool. I did wonder if you were going to just do that..
I must admit, I usually ICSP with just the VPP pull-up and it works fine (tho I wouldn’t do it in production).
The board was already small enough that I didn’t have to worry about it. Hell, if I had used a resistor array and stuck components on the other side it could have been smaller than my thumbnail.
Are you sure that the first two items are worth the headache?
It’s not like the ipod will drain your car’s battery…. the worst that’ll happen is that you’ll lose your place in a long track, like an hour-long podcast.