Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[rae8836]

I have two CM15A computer interfaces:

     Date Code 08B09  Chip ID P107892M
     Date Code 10B09  Chip ID P107892M

Both interfaces seem to function the same.

General opinion seems to be that the last letter in the chip ID relates to the version of the firmware in the chip.  Has anyone seen a Chip ID ending with a letter higher than "M"?  Just wondering if  purchasing a CM15A with a later production date would get me updated firmware.

[Brian H]

The last letter seems to be a revision indicator.
From my CM15A Units.
04J41 P10792E
04J44 P10792F
05C10 P10792M In a DIP Socket
05D18 P10792M In a DIP Socket.
08B09 P10792M

I have no information on the revised CM15A. Where X10WTI went to easier to find parts.
Surface mounted parts. RF Transmitter and Receiver now part of the main board. No daughter boards.
I did see a top and bottom photo of a 13F24 June 2013 but part numbers but could not read numbers.

If you bought a new CM15A would the firmware be revised. May depend on if X10WTI had updated it. I believe the new owners just copied what X10WTI was using.

[rae8836]

Thanks Brian.  Your last thought was the reason for my query.  I'm looking at expanding my use of the CM15A and I was wondering if the purchase of a 'new' unit today would give me any improvements in firmware.  I guess I'll poke around a little more.

[Brian H]

Hard to say.
That information was not published by X10WTI.
I have not seen anything from Authinx either.

If they made any changes before Authinx. The new owners took over. They would be in the present units. As far as I have seen they have not done any thing new. Just produce what they got from X10WTI.

There is a chance when the went to one PCB and surface mounted parts. The BOM got new component part numbers and will not match the part numbers for the DIP through hole ones in the older units.

IMHO X10WTI stuck with the "M" suffix for so long. I doubt anything changed.

[dhouston]

...I was wondering if the purchase of a 'new' unit today would give me any improvements in firmware.

As I've never been a fan of X10 software, I can't speak to whether the newer 13F24 SMT version updated the firmware. The 13F24 SMT version uses the same microcontroller as previous versions (e.g. 12K48 and earlier) - it merely changed to the SMT version. Similarly, it uses more or less the same RF circuitry but, again, it's now using SMT chips mounted to the main PCB. I doubt there were any hardware changes that would dictate firmware changes.

Here's the microcontroller info...
http://www.cypress.com/part/cy7c63723c-sxc

[rae8836]

It then appears that, aside from the hypothesis that the last character of the ROM ID sticker indicates revision (or at least revision sequence), no way to determine if CM15A firmware has changed has been found.

I think I recall seeing that one of the 'other' X10 management programs did display a message during definition of the CM15A, something like 'Revision 2' or something similar.  Is there any known programmatic indication of firmware version in any application?

[Brian H]

I have not seen any program that can read a CM15A firmware revision.
I also have seen no indication it can even be interrogated and report its revision.

I do know the CM15A with the through hole DIP style PCB. Can be made much more stable. By adding four bypass capacitors to the board.  That most designers would have normally added. I can't say if the surface mount controller had them added.
The four capacitors in Red are the ones we have added. I can't find the how to article right now. Dave's schematic shows them.
https://www.laser.com/dhouston/CM15A.pdf

[dhouston]

Dave's schematic shows them.
https://www.laser.com/dhouston/CM15A.pdf

I also showed them in a picture on this page...
https://www.laser.com/dhouston/ImproveCM15A.html

For the SMT version I don't see any caps added in the power supply section but there may be caps added to the microcontroller and to the 24C54 memory chip. With lines running under SMT chips it's tough to trace them. And SMT caps lack any visible identification.