X8-Update

X8 Update procedure

This page describes how to update the firwmare of a Barix X8 module

prerequisites

You need to have the following available:

• PC with a serial port and a terminal program such as hyperterm
• Serial cross cable (DB9 femaleto DB9 female)
• Barionet with recent software version (min. 2.13 recommended)
• mbt_vxx application (currently available on the Barionet yahoo group in the files section), loaded in WEB4
• Power supply (min. 9V, max. 30V, to supply both Barionet and X8, min. 300mA)
• necessary wires to connect X8

hardware setup

• Connect the PC to the serial port of the Barionet with the cross cable

• Wire the X8 with the Barionet and power supply as following:

Signal	Barionet	X8
RS485 B	J7 pin 5	J3 pin 3
RS485 A	J7 pin 4	J3 pin 2
Power +	J6 pin 15	J3 pin 1*
Power -	J6 pin 16	J3 pin 2*

(*) the X8 has a built in bridge rectifier, so polarity of the power connection is unimportant.

procedure

1) Reset the Barionet. You should see the prompt of the MBT application. If you select "2" - service, you get into the modbus testing/exercising menu. note that the software will automatically set the serial parameters to 19200,e,8,1 and if a change is needed, it will automatically reboot/restart.

2) check if the connected X8 is working, for example, with a "read command": R0,256,4<CR>

Answer (example): READ: 00B2 0005 0005 0001

this shows 8 bytes from the eeprom of the X8, being type, firmware version (5) , serial number 1 (5) & 2 (1). The device will respond independent of its modbus address as this is a read to the "broadcast" address. ** note ** the numbers displayed are in hexadecimal notation. A serial number of an X8 such as 10-31 would be displayed as 000A 001F !

3) send the "firmware erase" command to the X8 - it needs the serial number of the X8 as two decimal numbers as parameter as a security feature. For example, X8 with serial number 5-001 needs the following command F5,1<CR>

4) the X8 will turn three of the four visible LEDs on, and after about 6 seconds 2 will stay iluminated.

...you can repeat this now for as many X8 as you wish. The X8 devices will be "erased" after this procedure. And new software will be loaded in the next step.

5) enter "X" command to leave the service mode, then select "3" for the firmware loader

6) the barionet will reconfigure the serial port, restart. Select "3" again for the load app (or wait it will be entered automatically).

7) if the X8 is still connected (and erased), press "S" to send the firmware to the X8. Otherwise, any X8 connected will start loading automatically after approx. 6 seconds.

8) after about 20 seconds, the firmware load is complete and the X8 will start blinking with one LED. power off/on the X8, it may still blink with the middle LED, repower again. The X8 now will blink only with one corner LED, all others will be off. The device has been loaded with the firmware and is operative.

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