STMicroelectronics L9963E User Manual

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User manual

L9963E evaluation graphical user interface

Introduction

This document describes the graphical user interface (GUI) that allows the initialization and control of the EVAL-L9963E-MCU
evaluation board by changing parameters through the SPI protocol. The STSW-L9963E GUI has been developed using Labview
and it uses, as microcontroller interface, the on board microcontroller SPC574S64E3 with preloaded FW.

Hardware connection

The STSW-L9963E GUI is intended to be used with the EVAL-L9963E-MCU for system with up to 14 Li-Ion cells. In case
more cells need to be controlled it’s necessary to add the EVAL-L9963E-NDS expansion board to control them. Up to 14
EVAL-L9963E-NDS, for a grand total of 15 boards with EVAL_L9963E-MCU, can be added to the system and controlled by the
STSW-L9963E GUI.

Figure 1. EVAL-L9963E-NDS connection schemes

Figure 2. PC connection to EVAL-L9963E-MCU

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For further information contact your local STMicroelectronics sales office.

www.st.com

1 Preliminary actions

Before running the STSW-L9963E GUI on your PC some third part SW packages has to be installed:

• NI Labview-runtime 2014

• NI VISA-RUNTIME

• FTDI driver

– Before using the UART/USB bridge FT2232H on the EVAL-L9963E-MCU, the Virtual Com Port (VCP)

driver needs to be installed. It can be downloaded by the FTDIChip website.

When all the above packages have been installed reboot your PC.

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Preliminary actions

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2 GUI description

When the setup has finished, the user needs to check whether all the hardware connections are correct (see the
EVAL-L9963E-MCU user manual for further information) and run GUI by clicking on: STSW-L9963E.exe

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GUI description

Figure 3. Main GUI interface

2.1

There are 4 areas in the GUI which are: battery and diagnostic information, configuration and diagnostics Tabs
and general operation buttons such as “COM selection”, “save”, “load” configurations, and “diagnostic” as well as
“data logger enable” etc.

Voltage, current and temperature indicators

Figure 4. Voltage, current and temperature indicators

With reference to Figure 4. Voltage, current and temperature indicators, in the main GUI interface we have the
following gauge indicators:

1. Cell voltage indicators

2. Temperature sensor indicators

3. Total battery voltage indicator

4. VTREF measurement indicator

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Voltage, current and temperature indicators

Each indicator has the following structure:

Figure 5. Gauge indicator structure

The indicator shows the voltage measured by ADC and converted in volt, the EN flag that allows the user to
enable the channel, a LED on the left indicating the under-voltage condition and a LED on the right indicating
the overvoltage condition. Under and overvoltage threshold can be configured in the “configuration tab” described
below in this manual.

Figure 6. Chart option

By selecting the check box “Chart” all the gauges will be converted into graphs with the history of the value over
the time.

2.1.1 IC temperature

The chip temperature is available in the indicator of Figure 7. IC temperature indicator:

The chip temperature and the possible overtemperature are calculated from the SPI register of L9963E.

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Figure 7. IC temperature indicator

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2.1.2 Configurable GPIO voltage values

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The Figure 8. GPIO voltage and under-voltage, over-voltage condition shows the GPIO configurations and the
selectable limits in "configuration tab". The indicators describe the voltage values, over-voltage and under-voltage
(LED) conditions.

Figure 8. GPIO voltage and under-voltage, over-voltage condition

2.1.3 Coulomb counter

The GUI allows to use the Coulomb counting capability of the L9963E. The Coulomb counter can be enabled in
the “configuration tab” described below in this manual.

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Voltage, current and temperature indicators

In the Coulomb counter section, the user can select the shunt resistor in mΩ and visualize the Instantaneous
current value synchronized with voltage measurements, the instantaneous current value calibrated, the time base,
the accumulator value (A) and the calculated accumulator capability in (Ah). Three LEDs represent the available
diagnostics: open of positive or negative sense resistor lead and the Coulomb counter accumulator overflow. With
the RST button the Coulomb counter accumulator can be reset.

2.1.4 Manual balancing

The GUI allows the user to select, using the checkbox, the cell to discharge using the manual balancing capability
of the L9963E. The discharge will be activated till the check box is selected or till the maximum balancing time
is reached (see the L9963E datasheet) or the undervoltage of the cell is reached. For further information please
check the L9963E datasheet.

Figure 9. Coulomb counter

Figure 10. Manual cell balancing checkbox

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2.2 Devices ID configuration

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The STSW-L9963E allows the use of a single EVAL-L9963E-MCU board or a chained system composed by an
EVAL-L9963E-MCU and up to 14 EVAL-L9963E-NDS connected using the vertical isolated interface (please see
the Figure 1. EVAL-L9963E-NDS connection schemes). For each device in the system it is necessary to define
a unique ID in order to be addressed and configured. The first operation to start working with the L9963E is
to configure the device ID. The section represented in Figure 11. ID configuration section allows the user to
configure the devices IDs.

In the ID text box, the user has to write the ID of the devices present in the system, up to 15 devices can
be configured (1x EVAL-L9963E-MCU and up to 31x EVAL-L9963E-NDS). In case of a single device (only
EVAL-L9963E-MCU) only “1” has to be written in the box Figure 12. Single board configuration.

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Devices ID configuration

Figure 11. ID configuration section

2.3

Figure 12. Single board configuration

Once the ID has been correctly written in the box, the user has to press “Configure IDs” button in order to
configure the devices it with the procedure described in the L9963E DS. If the connection is correct the ACK LED
will be green, otherwise will turn red. The user can clear all the IDs pressing on the “Clear IDs” button, if the IDs
are correctly cleared the ACK LED will be green, otherwise it will turn red.

GUI communication time interval configuration

STSW-L9963E allows to configure the time interval communication with the onboard microcontroller:

There are 6 options:

80 ms, 100 ms, 200 ms, 300 ms, 400 ms, 500 ms.

Figure 13. Communication time interval configuration

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When the desired time interval has been chosen, to be activated the user must click on “Time interval button”.

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If the operation has been correctly accomplished the ACK LED will be green, otherwise it will turn red. The time
interval will impact on the refresh rate of the whole GUI and on the time scale of voltage charts.

2.4 Automatic device configuration

With the automatic device configuration feature, the user can configure multiple devices.

Figure 14. Automatic configuration

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Automatic device configuration

The user can try different device configurations, when he has found the preferred one, he can save it using the
“Save configuration” button. If in a second time he wants to reuse the same configuration, he can reload it using
the “Load configuration” button and apply it to the device selected by the “Dev ID display” dropdown menu and
pressing the “Configure device” button; if the operation has been correctly accomplished the ACK LED will be
green, otherwise it will turn red. It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the configuration will be applied
only to the selected device.

2.5 Firmware version

The EVAL-L9963E-MCU board comes with a preloaded FW in the microcontroller flash memory. Using the button
in Figure 15. Firmware version check, the user is informed on which version is loaded on the microcontroller.
This feature helps to debug the correct communication between PC and microcontroller and allows to check the
correct FW download on the EVAL-L9963E-MCU.

Clicking on the “Get Firmware version” if the board is correctly connected via USB cable to the PC, the whole
driver has been correctly installed, and the microcontroller is correctly working, the user can get the preloaded
firmware version. The correct value is version 1.5 as in Figure 15. Firmware version check.

Figure 15. Firmware version check

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2.6 Data logger

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The STSW-L9963E GUI allows to log the measurement on a text file in order to be post-elaborated.

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Data logger

Figure 16. Data logging procedure

In order to enable the datalogging feature, the following procedure has to be followed:

• Configure the device ID

• Configure the device register as described below in this manual

• Enable the cell voltage to be logged clicking on the EN box of the gauges

• Click on the “Single write/read” button to send the configuration to the L9963E

• Select the “Data logger” check box and finally select the “Diagnostic” check box in order to enable the cyclic
measurement in the GUI.

When the user decides to stop the data logging, the “Diagnostic” check box has to be unselected. A text file
will be generated in the data directory where the GUI is located. The file will be named with date and time of
acquisition.

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Figure 17. Data logging file location and name

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Data logger

The generated file is a text file with equally spaced values that can be easily imported in Excel or other data
analysis tools.

The file structure is described in Figure 18. Data log file organization. Each line is acquired with the timing
defined in the GUI communication time interval configuration (Section 2.3 GUI communication time interval

configuration).

Figure 18. Data log file organization

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2.7 Transceiver selection

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On the EVAL-L9963E-MCU two transceivers L9963T are present. In Figure 19. EVAL-L9963E-MCU transceiver

schematization there is a schematization of the transceiver connection.

Figure 19. EVAL-L9963E-MCU transceiver schematization

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Transceiver selection

2.8

Under normal functioning condition, the microcontroller communicates with the onboard L9963E thanks to the
L9963T marked as U16. By checking the “SWAP” checkbox (see the Figure 20. Transceiver SWAP checkbox) the
communication is swapped from U16 to U18 allowing the microcontroller to communicate with a remote L9963E
(i.e. an EVAL-L9963E-NDS) connected on ISOPORT2.

Figure 20. Transceiver SWAP checkbox

By checking the box if the operation has been correctly accomplished the ACK LED it will be green, otherwise it
will turn red.

COM port communication

The STSW-L9963E GUI communicates with the onboard microcontroller on the EVAL-L9963E-MCU through a
virtual COM port over USB. In order to correctly establish the communication between GUI and EVAL-L9963E­MCU it’s necessary to correctly select the COM port where the board is connected.

Figure 21. COM port selection

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Using the I/O dropdown menu the user can select the COM port where the board is connected. If the
communication is correctly established the COM LED and the ACK LED will be green, if something goes wrong,
they will turn red. With the “Reset COM port” button it’s possible to reset the COM port and reinitialize the
microcontroller.

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