Talk:EZ430-Chronos

Comments on EZ430-Chronos -

Smackpotato said ...
I would be interested in what external sensors i can use with this watch more specifically. what can I use to connect with a bicycle speed sensor ie a hall sensor

--Smackpotato 23:47, 23 November 2009 (CST)

Applebottom said ...
This is so exciting it makes my ***** hurt!

--Applebottom 00:44, 24 November 2009 (CST)

Robertjw said ...
This is an exciting product which will undoubtedly open up many new application spaces. I've put in an order for a development unit today and will look forward to trying out some of my ideas on this platform. Hopefully, a toolchain be available to run on an Ubuntu 9.10 or Fedora 12 environment. (I can't adequately explain how much I dislike being forced to work in a windows environment.) Good luck with this product!

--Robertjw 12:10, 24 November 2009 (CST)

Mooneyj said ...
What are the pros and cons of the various transmission frequencies. EU-868MHz, or Worldwide-433MHz. Im guessing you can get more bandwidth with 868, but is this really a significant factor? Can the device use the extra bandwidth? I also wish for linux compatability; please please please.

--Mooneyj 12:42, 24 November 2009 (CST)

Mhirst said ...
Very intriguing. Unfortunately most of the application that I have in mind would need to display short messages. Mostly short clues as to which mode I am in. But also lists of names or events kept in a database. I have developed various applications on the Timex USB Datalink. They have a nice LCD that is a combination of a couple of generic pixel grids as well as a display with 9-segment characters, as well as a few little icons. That would make a great development platform for this TI chip. I'd love to see how useful the accelerometers would be as a "tilt-sensor" to enable me to scroll around in my data. I'd want to experiment with shaking the watch to take splits using only one hand. And Time math calculations are important to me. I need to add, subtract, multiply, and divide to get average pace from a final time. Also to convert an estimated meter times from a given yards time to the nearest hundredth of a second.

--Mhirst 17:10, 24 November 2009 (CST)

TecDroiD said ...
hi, I'm very interested in using that watch (by the way: why doesn't it provide a micro sd slot and dot matrix display? ;) ) But I could not find any information on developing chronos under linux. So, is there a linux version of CCS?

--TecDroiD 01:28, 25 November 2009 (CST)

Voelker said ...
This is a very nice development platform !!! I see that the 433Mhz version is delayed to february, but it seems that radio transceiver frequency can be programmed. Does this mean that european and US version have the same hardware but different software ? Does the limitation for 433Mhz comes from a crystal or something else ? Thanks

--Voelker 09:09, 25 November 2009 (CST)

Mandor said ...
This could be a great product (It would allow for instance to build a basic but light alti-vario for paragliding pilot). However, I don't find how to program it under Linux; is it possible? (if so, I order now :) ).

--Mandor 11:21, 25 November 2009 (CST)

Oys said ...
Interesting product. Will order if development is possible under linux.

Someone please clarify pros/cons of 433 vs 868 versions.

Application ideas: Smart alarm clock that knows when you are in REM sleep.

--Oys 15:25, 25 November 2009 (CST)

Zany slo said ...
it will be nice, if it had a gps support

--Zany slo 02:33, 26 November 2009 (CST)

Amilodnanref said ...
Could post some information about battery? What kind of battery does the watch uses and the estimated duration.

thanks

--Amilodnanref 09:32, 26 November 2009 (CST)

Medicdave said ...
Add me to the list of developers who would love to be able to target this device from my Linux host PC!

--Medicdave 18:36, 30 November 2009 (CST)

Smiffy said ...
I will add my voice to those who would like to see native Linux development for this VERY exciting product. Shame that the heart-rate monitor is not available in a 433MHz version - that's the only band legal here in Australia. @Zany slo - but it doesn't need integrated GPS! I thought the same myself, initially, but all you need is to add a separate, wearable GPS to your Personal Area Network.

--Smiffy 20:53, 30 November 2009 (CST)

Tfcsd said ...
I would be interested if there was a calculator function. The casio CFX-400 scientific calculator watch had several useful functions. A touch screen would be nice.

--Tfcsd 23:58, 30 November 2009 (CST)

Abhinavbisen5 said ...
Hi,  I new to the CC development suite. Could you please let me know the Flash memory on the Chronos. I was plannig to use it as a wireless USB datastorage device.

--Abhinavbisen5 00:46, 1 December 2009 (CST)

Vin said ...
This looks like a great product with a lot of potential.

What would all of you consider the PRO’s and CON’s of getting a unit with 433MHz vs 868Mhz vs 915MHz??

ex. Battery life, bandwith, range, application compatibility, “hackability”, functionality, etc. etc.

I was doing some research on these freq’s and each one has it’s pros and cons. For example one does not have heart rate monitor support whereas it does have compatibility with other devices like xbee. Another frequency is also able to handle more bandwidth, but it may suffer in battery life as a result. Another freq has greater range but suffers in compatibility. Etc etc.

There are many trade-offs we should all consider before purchasing. I just wish there was a definitive list/table of pro’s and con’s of each freq. that addressed issues like battery life, bandwith, range, application compatibility, “hackability”, functionality, etc. etc.

--Vin 01:24, 4 December 2009 (CST)

Adrian said ...
Thanks for all the comments! I've tried to address many of the questions in the wiki itself so keep checking for updates.

--Adrian 15:46, 7 December 2009 (CST)

Landor said ...
As far as I know...

there is no acceleration sensor in currently available chest straps: * BM-CS5 - Long Range (400m) * BM-CS5SR - Short Range (10m)

So the following information is not available with those:
 * 1)  Running speed
 * 2) Distance traveled

--Landor 03:59, 14 December 2009 (CST)

Tdomhan said ...
I would also appreciate if it was possible to develop under linux.

--Tdomhan 09:42, 15 December 2009 (CST)

Jaritter said ...
Which G range does the accelerometer support? 3G or 8G? Can it be switched by either a jumper or under MCU control?

--Jaritter 13:25, 15 December 2009 (CST)

Akashbaid said ...
Any idea on when we can get our hands on this. The website initially said Dec 15th, but its apparently delayed due to some reasons.

--Akashbaid 19:31, 20 December 2009 (CST)

Thaumatiger said ...
Water resistance rating, please? Left to the user as an exercise, like the lapidary work, settings and OS VM environment? If your chest strap acceleration is orthogonal to the worn watch, you either jog in groups or are too flexible to be monitoring your workout with under 64 bit computing....

--Thaumatiger 02:26, 22 December 2009 (CST)

Stadt001 said ...
If your like me, you have been waiting since November for your Chronos. My order states that it has already shipped, but talking to the support team sounds like "sometime" in January maybe...

Maybe TI can update this wiki with a reasonable timeframe for actually getting this thing out the door. Really want to get started on doing some work on the Chronos device, just need the hardware.

--Stadt001 16:58, 28 December 2009 (CST)

Sagacious said ...
I requested 100 Chronus on the Digi-Key website. It told me that they could ship 22 on Jan 4th and 78 on Feb 26th. Looks like they might be trickling out. I, too, have been waiting a while...

--Sagacious 15:57, 29 December 2009 (CST)

Old cow yellow said ...
What is the status of "RF BSL"? Any estimates?

If you need Beta Test, I will be interested.

--Old cow yellow 01:11, 31 December 2009 (CST)

Paserra said ...
Hi, I think EZ430-chronos is the best wireless invention in 2009!!! Great!

--Paserra 04:45, 31 December 2009 (CST)

Jackwburton said ...
Just received my ez430 unboxing on youtube search for "jwburton"

--Jackwburton 18:50, 4 January 2010 (CST)

Frankvh said ...
A question. How does the pressure sensor access the outside air if the watch is sealed up to 30 m water resistance?

--Frankvh 19:04, 5 January 2010 (CST)

Aenigma said ...
Now that the chronos is out, we need an eZ430-RF433/868/915 like the eZ430-RF2500 development tool. This watch works fine with the USB adapter to communicate back to a PC, but what if we want to have the watch communicate with embedded systems? Having a sub-1GHz target board like the eZ430-RF2500T (for the same price or less) would be awesome.

--Aenigma 10:21, 6 January 2010 (CST)

Lxxl said ...
Finally got it ... nice nice but after take out battery and put it back i can't setup proper temp and altitude .. if i make a tuneup over watch or PCsync its will go crazy, its mean temp will not works so good... after unboxing all works perfect ...

--Lxxl 04:03, 7 January 2010 (CST)

Wojc0008 said ...
Does anyone have any distance measurements for this watch? How far does the wireless work? 20 meters? 400 meters? Just looking for an estimate for indoors and outdoors.

--Wojc0008 15:15, 7 January 2010 (CST)

Terryp said ...
I got mine today too, and tried for over an hour to get it to install, both on a desktop and a laptop, without success. Looked like it should be an easy 3-step process, but I just get error messages. The software an drivers installed okay, but the PCs don't like the USB RF link dongle. After a half hour on the phone with customer support, I was told that they couldn't give me an RMA number because I had opened the box. After all the business I've given TI over the last three decades, this really turns me off. Has anyone gotten theirs to work yet?

--Terryp 16:15, 7 January 2010 (CST)

Lxxl said ...
Terryp, i do not have any problem with install this on 3 units: 1. Home PC Vista x64 2. Home NB W7 x64 3. Work PC XPP x32

only on last one i have a issue, with drivers because i don't catch the warning MSG with unsigned drivers ;), after next try all was ok and now its works perfect.

--Lxxl 06:35, 8 January 2010 (CST)

Proempiet said ...
Received mine in The Netherlands yesterday. What GPS (make or model) can I connect with the watch? I would like to display position and speed on the watch.

--Proempiet 08:18, 8 January 2010 (CST)

StrA said ...
Just received mine two days ago in France. The altimeter did not work at first and the watch showed "ERR" on top of the display in altimeter mode. Problem solved by reseting the watch by removing the battery.

--StrA 09:12, 8 January 2010 (CST)

Grandview said ...
Terryp:

Go look under the MSP430 EE Forums (TI Home page) and look under the subject heading "ez430-Chronos RF access point problem".

There are problems with their USB Drivers on some revs of Windows, so you have to uninstall the current USB Drivers, and install the new ones on the latest v 1.1 Chronos Software package (Dec 2 2009), downloadable from the TI Chronos page.

--Grandview 10:31, 8 January 2010 (CST)

Mooneyj said ...
Running CCC in XP via QEMU on an Ubuntu box. No complaints, a very impressive bit of kit.

--Mooneyj 10:59, 8 January 2010 (CST)

Ekuleshov said ...
Is it possible to get the source code for the Chronos Control Center and Chronos Data Logger applications for PC?

--Ekuleshov 09:48, 9 January 2010 (CST)

Thedude7053 said ...
Got Mine Yesterday, awesome little kit. my only beef is that the Phillips head that ships with the kit is too big, but i had a smaller on on hand though.

--Thedude7053 01:05, 10 January 2010 (CST)

Geekfest said ...
So I got mine Yesterday (1/9/10). Got to say it's neat but there are some real issues that I see.

- The Code Composer studio is a good tool but you definitely have a VERY limited version of the tool. One is unable to change any of the basic functionality since the only changeable module is "main.c". One can compile and link and download/debug, however the functionality is in the library that has been pre-compiled. This is linked in at link time.

So I'm pretty dissapointed that functionality cant be changed unless one forks out more $$$ for the full Code Composer Studio Software.

What I would like to see is Eclipse and the full GNU chain available, which would pretty much replace the TI software. I'm not sure about the debugger and the JTAG stub though. Would be nice if someone would comment about that if they know more.

As a concept, this is a great idea. However it's been packaged as a marketing tool to try and sell more software seats. C'mon TI, do you think that you can get a micro-controller onto the market by selling something without proper support ???

--Geekfest 19:27, 10 January 2010 (CST)

Chronos trier said ...
I managed to open the watch and pull the battery out but I must say I am having a hell of a time, trying to put the battery back in and get the clip to stick. It simply wont hold the battery in place..:(

--Chronos trier 01:18, 11 January 2010 (CST)

Polossatik said ...
just got it, first remark is that the little screwdriver provided with it doesn't fit the screws properly. Bit silly to included it.

Secondly the Code Composer Studio indeed seams to be quite limited version, and sorry I don't see why I need to shelf out more $$$ for exatc this tool. Is there any other env that is more "open" that will be supported?

--Polossatik 03:19, 11 January 2010 (CST)

Lxxl said ...
Polossatik, yeah this is epic fail ... we have nice tools but stuck with SW ...

--Lxxl 04:44, 11 January 2010 (CST)

Lxxl said ...
Special campaign offer

Want to get started with eZ430-Chronos right away? Don't miss our special TI MCU Days campaign! We offer a discount on IAR visualSTATE Baseline—the perfect tool for designing your Chronos watch. Full retail price: 3 300 Euro. TI MCU Days discount price: 1 500.*

To obtain this special discount on IAR visualSTATE, please contact a local IAR sales office.
 * This offer is valid until December 31, 2009. One license per customer site. IAR visualSTATE Baseline has a 250 STATE limitation

Page: http://www.iar.com/timcudays

--Lxxl 05:31, 11 January 2010 (CST)

Wauschi said ...
The Chronos features an built in accelerometer, great.

The manual states: "This mode requires a heart rate monitor (chest belt) which includes an accelerometer to determine running speed."

Why do I have to use the chest belt to get a speed reading?

What is the difference in those two accelerometers?

Cheers, Wauschi

--Wauschi 12:56, 11 January 2010 (CST)

Pklammer said ...
Did anyone notice that altitude calibration in Control Center cannot be entered, only "spun" -- at about 10ft/s spin, I have to hold the button 10 MINUTES (over a mile high here in Colorado)!

--Pklammer 22:47, 11 January 2010 (CST)

Lxxl said ...
Pklammer: yeah same issue on my side in Europe ;DD, after first set over SYNC with PC Temp and Altitude go crazy .... no way to sync it, also manual calibrate in watch do not solve it ..

--Lxxl 07:45, 12 January 2010 (CST)

Sirwilliamjr said ...
Same as Wauschi (and Landor, I think) - why not use the accelerometer in the watch? I know it's motion is more complicated, but it seems possible. And the chest strap/HR monitor manufacturer mentions nothing about an accelerometer in their product.

--Sirwilliamjr 09:45, 12 January 2010 (CST)

Zbigniew221 said ...
I have several smart sensor designs that will work with this platform as well as with any PC. The RF link is in the development and I am collecting new requirements. And our API will be Linux compatible. Contact: Zbigniew@proximitydata.com

--Zbigniew221 10:05, 12 January 2010 (CST)

Robertjw said ...
I was excited about this product and was looking forward to trying out some of my ideas on this platform. My eZ430-Chronos arrived yesterday and now I find out that an unrestricted toolchain for this product does not exist.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I can't adequately explain how much I dislike being forced to work in a windows environment. However, I dislike even more being given cripled and closed windows tools. Too bad, but this is beyond my patience limit, the product becomes shelfware for me, and TI no longer has my mindshare on this one.

In summary, great looking hardware idea, but without adequate software support.

Please consider offering an open Eclipse based toolchain (or at least command line tools) like you do for so many other fine TI products.

--Robertjw 16:03, 12 January 2010 (CST)

Ash said ...
Just trying to work my way through the supplied source code and was wondering if anyone has compiled and loaded the software on the watch, or reloaded the recovery file? It has been a while since I have done any work on embedded processors and I am not familiar with either IDE, so just looking for a bit of help the first time through.

--Ash 17:40, 12 January 2010 (CST)

Kleinc said ...
Since we can only use the "limited" version of the code; Does anyone know the difference between the "full" and "limited versions of the "Sports Watch" code?

I made a small change to the clock.c to verify that the software properly downloaded to the watch and I see no other differences to the original configuration (except my changes to clock.c of course). Thanks!

--Kleinc 21:22, 12 January 2010 (CST)

Bubnikv said ...
Many of us have obtained the Chronos just for the sake of tinkering with it. I understand the reasons for providing a limited toolchain. I suppose most of us tinkerers will not purchase the heart monitor or bicycle RF accessories. Providing a project with the Blue Robin stack eradicated would leave about 5k of FLASH to play with.

--Bubnikv 22:23, 12 January 2010 (CST)

Elwing said ...
Is there some news on the RF BSL? oppenning the watch seems a tricky buisness... doing it only once seems a good idea to me so i'm waiting for the RF BSL to start working on my watch... and it starts to get annoying...

by the way, if it were a "consumer product" this watch got some major drawbacks... - the watch accuracy is pretty bad... got a drift os several minutes a day... - not being able to hold up and down button to cycle through value is a pain (and maybe a threat to the watch lifetime?) - depending on the use its autonomy can drop to 2days... it seems to me that it should be rechargeable without openning the case...

now it's not a "consumer product"... I plan to correct the first two point fast, but the latest really bug me, it seems hard to build some heavy RF interface projects...

--Elwing 02:02, 13 January 2010 (CST)

Epall said ...
I've started a Librelist for eZ430-Chronos developers to discuss their projects, problems, and progress! Just send an email to chronos@librelist.com to get started.

--Epall 17:31, 13 January 2010 (CST)

Idle tom said ...
I keep hearing about lack of free tools for development. It looks like mspgcc should be able to support this kit (possibly after writing a linker script). Can one load Intel hex on the board? Our small company has a lot of software based on mspgcc so it would be silly of us to give it up ...

--Idle tom 13:23, 14 January 2010 (CST)

Carey said ...
Regards chronos@librelist.com there does not seem to be any way to browse archives, search etc. Please keep discussions public and accessible to web search.

--Carey 14:57, 14 January 2010 (CST)

Bbrother said ...
Hi Tom, yes mspgcc should support this with a linker script and header files, Last night I got a basic program compiled and running. And yes you can load intel hex files. Also for those complaining about lack of linux support mspgcc can solve the compiling in linux however the programming board seems to be incompatible at the moment (Travis Goodspeed seems to have done a lot of work in this arena http://travisgoodspeed.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html). If you get a different JTAG programmer you can do development in linux (it needs to support spi-by-wire). Right now my solution involves mspgcc and NoICE for programming running in a windows VM, not ideal but at least it gets you onto a free toolchain.

Once I get a better mspgcc example and do a little more testing I will post all files in a google code project (hopefully by tonight)

-Brett

--Bbrother 16:11, 14 January 2010 (CST)

Ee moss said ...
We're building an Open Source Home Area Network (OSHAN, pronounced 'Ocean'), and just released MSPGCC support for CC430 microcontrollers on the OSHAN SourceForge site. http://sourceforge.net/projects/oshan/.

--Ee moss 01:22, 15 January 2010 (CST)

Elwing said ...
hum, directly out of the Box my watch as a HUGE time drift... it takes 25min every day... I'm starting to wonder if it is a bug related to the fact that mine runs at 868Mhz rather than 915Mhz... can someone with a 868Mhz watch check if they also have MAJOR time accuracy problems?

--Elwing 04:33, 15 January 2010 (CST)

Wauschi said ...
@Elwing I also work with the 868Mhz version. After one week the watch is still perfectly in sync with the PC watch.

--Wauschi 11:33, 15 January 2010 (CST)

Adrian said ...
@Elwing if you're noticing that the time drifts, there's probably something wrong with your hardware. contact support.ti.com and they'll get you a new watch.

--Adrian 13:04, 15 January 2010 (CST)

Wauschi said ...
I just tried to get rid of the Bluerobin overhead and removed it from the project.

Now the IAR (Kickstart) linker tells me: "Fatal Error[e89]: Too much object code produced (more than 0x4000 bytes) for this package".

I actually expected the code to get smaller. Has anybody already successfully removed Bluerobin?

--Wauschi 07:38, 16 January 2010 (CST)

Old cow yellow said ...
@Wauschi: I think you are using the Limited Edition of IDE. If so you need to use the the project for limited edition. Otherwise the Linker in the IDE will refuse to cooperate.

I cannot get the IAR IDE to debug. Do you have any luck?

--Old cow yellow 10:51, 16 January 2010 (CST)

Wauschi said ...
@Old cow yellow: Yes I do use the limited version. For this reason I want to get rid of code I don't need, like Bluerobin. But removing the BR-stack means also removing the size optimized ez430_chronos_codesize_limit_drivers.r43, which is not a problem but you will end up with a larger project. A project that will again exceed the limits, even without BR.

For this reason I had a closer look at the sizes. Compiling the default project will result in something like: 30 092 bytes of CODE memory 963 bytes of DATA memory (+ 157 absolute ) 1 605 bytes of CONST memory

How come if the size limit is 16k? What am i missing?

My system debugs perfectly. Are you able to download the code? (If not, is the driver recognized...) After downloading and starting the debug session you have to press F5 to start the code.

Feel free to send me an email: wauschi@gmail.com

My feeling is it will be pretty hard to keep track of all the postings if the postings can't be grouped like in a forum.

Does anybody know a proper forum (like AVR-Freaks) to openly discuss issues (in a structured way)?

--Wauschi 11:37, 16 January 2010 (CST)

Salsanci said ...
Just got my shipment, modified the watch code an dgot it working. I am now looking for doc/tools for the USB RF access point so I can start writing the corresponding PC code. Can someone point to the right place.

--Salsanci 12:22, 16 January 2010 (CST)

Esrwingnut said ...
Great idea!! Lots of educational potential! Mine is working ok - needs advanced calibration on PC side to compensate for temp, baro and acc variation. Clock is spot on. 1. Is the code for the PC part of the app available? If not - why not? It would save a lot of time to have a working model on the PC side as well. 2. I second the notion that the wiki comments need to be organized into subject areas not authors. Alternately put them into the normal E2E area.

--Esrwingnut 01:48, 17 January 2010 (CST)

Wauschi said ...
Debugging (even) the original IAR project keeps returning: Sun Jan 17 22:43:14 2010: The stack 'Stack' is filled to 100% (256 bytes used out of 256). The warning threshold is set to 90.%

Changing the stack size does not help. When watching the stack one can see barely any stack is used.

Does anybody know how to fix it?

--Wauschi 15:47, 17 January 2010 (CST)

Old cow yellow said ...
@Wauschi

There are problems in MSP430.DLL and HIL.DLL when applied to F54xx chip. Read: MSP430_JTAG_Interface_USB_Driver

--OCY

--Old cow yellow 00:26, 22 January 2010 (CST)

Uguryildiz said ...
My findings about the protocol between AP and Control Center: eZ430-Chronos Simple Acceleration reading sequence from serial port (http://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/msp43016-bit_ultra-low_power_mcus/f/166/t/32714.aspx)

--Uguryildiz 03:38, 22 January 2010 (CST)

Saipan59 said ...
Can someone clarify (with an example perhaps) of what can be done with the included SW tools? Some earlier posts indicated that you had to buy a "real" version of the tools; but others seem to say that they successfully changed stuff. What are the limits with the free SW?

--Saipan59 12:10, 23 January 2010 (CST)

Mjcasti said ...
Hello TI. Are you out there? Seems like lots of questions here and no one from TI monitoring any of this. I will repeat the often asked question about getting the software for the control center and/or data logging applications that run on windows and talk to the watch. Anyone know how to get this?

--Mjcasti 15:27, 23 January 2010 (CST)

Seabre said ...
Hey everybody,

I wrote some Python code to get the acceleration data based on the link (http://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/msp43016-bit_ultra-low_power_mcus/f/166/t/32714.aspx) that Uguryildiz provided You can find my code here: http://pastebin.com/fde255fd

Now, the order of the bytes in acceleration data packet (at least the first three bytes) were a little different. The order of the x,y, and z data are probably correct since the datatype byte was in the place that the guy from the e2e forums said it was. Anyway, check it out.

--Seabre 18:53, 23 January 2010 (CST)

Seabre said ...
Hey everybody,

I figured out how the syncing works on the chronos and wrote a Python program to sync your chronos to your computer's date and time. You can also specify your altitude (in meters) and temperature (in celsius), but you have to change the values within the program since they are hardcoded for now. You get he Python program from here: http://pastebin.com/f67013702

--Seabre 01:22, 24 January 2010 (CST)

Sunsachs said ...
Great product so excited about starting my first wireless project with it. Can one use the USB transmitter on an embedded project instead of on the PC or should I try one of the RF Compatible Development Boards listed in the wiki. Very curious about the AMB8423 module. Basically looking for a compatible RF MCU module that is as small as possible. Any advice from the commentators or Adrian would be really great. Thanks

--Sunsachs 09:33, 24 January 2010 (CST)

Djregan said ...
Dear EZ430 chronos owners, Two questions... 1. Is the watch-band large enough to fit a man with a larger wrist? 2. Is the wrist strap replaceable with an off-the-shelf wrist strap (therefore can be updated to fit a person with larger wrist)? Thanks Much In Advance - DJ.

--Djregan 23:20, 24 January 2010 (CST)

Wauschi said ...
Has anybody tried to read the RSSI value? Can I use ReadSingleReg(unsigned char addr) to read it? I can't find the RSSI register address in the manual.

--Wauschi 16:41, 25 January 2010 (CST)

GeoNomad said ...
My watch arrived today so I can't answer any technical questions, but I can answer Djregan.

The strap is large enough for most men - maybe not Sumo wrestlers. My wrist uses hole 5 out of 11 available. Maximum size looks to be about 65mm in diameter.

The strap is integrated into the watch, so no optional changing without some hardware hacking - I will wait until mine breaks to to that.

--GeoNomad 18:45, 25 January 2010 (CST)

Venk7337 said ...
Hello Seabre, Thank you so much for the Acceleration code...I really need that, but I am not sure how exactly to capture acceleration data and save it to the computer..Please help me with this...I mean can you give me steps I need to go through. Waiting for the reply! Thanks!

--Venk7337 20:44, 28 January 2010 (CST)

Sirwilliamjr said ...
@Venk7337: I modified Seabre's code a bit to write to a .csv file. It was my first time ever with Python, so it may not be the best way to do it, but it seems to work. I didn't comment it out too well - you can change the number of readings with "num_readings".

--Sirwilliamjr 17:32, 29 January 2010 (CST)

Sirwilliamjr said ...
Oops! Here's the link: http://pastebin.com/f405adc02

--Sirwilliamjr 17:33, 29 January 2010 (CST)

Foks said ...
hi everyone! i just got my watches few days ago and im trying to figure out a way how to use those sensors inside and to use the great wireless technology to create my interactive object that could trigger stuff using MIDI protocol. just cannot figure out how, since its recognized as Serial COM device. Found this http://www.spikenzielabs.com/SpikenzieLabs/Serial_MIDI.html serial-midi converter written in Processing but i cannot start the sending in watches once it's already a midi devide. is there some way maybe in that python code what u guys linked before? send the incomming datas to MIDI???

--Foks 13:47, 3 February 2010 (CST)

Thushianthan said ...
Is it possible to interface suitable external GPS ?

--Thushianthan 22:29, 4 February 2010 (CST)

Tobias said ...
Is there a tutorial or a guide how to compile and debug a programm for the Chronos with freeware tools?

--Tobias 10:57, 5 February 2010 (CST)

Deckatina said ...
Fall detection - has anyone tried to use the watch for fall detection? If so, your contribution would be greatly appreciated. I would like to use the watch for this, but don't really know how to start.

--Deckatina 08:29, 15 February 2010 (CST)

User.wiki.ti said ...
Hi All, I've created a Google group for "TI Chronos Development". All older comments from here were copied to there. I think it is much more friendly and easier to use, than "wiki comments". I hope all of you will join, so please don't post here any comments, and move the activity to the group. Thanks for your cooperation. The URL is:

http://groups.google.com/group/ti-chronos-development-/topics?hl=en

--User.wiki.ti 04:47, 23 February 2010 (CST)

Hmroczkowski said ...
I ordered this almost two months ago, was informed that it shipped and subsequently was informed that it was back ordered! How much longer will this take? Is this customer treatment typical of TI? I'm sorry I had any enthusiasm to work with TI.

--Hmroczkowski 14:54, 11 March 2010 (CST)

Eugene259 said ...
I am in the same situation as Hmroczkowski, ordered the watch, the order status page 'Ship Status' says it has shipped and right away below Qty Shipped is 0 and backorder is 1. Filled in a support form, it said I would get a response within 1 business day or so, all I got is an automated acknowledgement. It has been a week now and no proper response. A bit poor really.

--Eugene259 18:14, 11 March 2010 (CST)

Ngenius said ...
Hi,

I have bought the kit, installed everything, and would like to try something on my own. I am missing the source code for the USB RF transceiver (CC1111). Where can I find it?

thanks

--Ngenius 03:53, 15 March 2010 (CDT)

Sfseay said ...
I bought two of these and won't ever use the second one. It is factory sealed in box. You can PayPal me $50.00 and I will ship it free. I can also list it on eBay (over 200 feedback - 100% positive) with Buy it Now

sfseay(at)gmail.com

--Sfseay 16:16, 17 March 2010 (CDT)

Skimu said ...
Where I can find .hex file for CC1111 dongle? I do not have Windows or Linux. I can not run Chronos-Setup.

--Skimu 09:49, 2 April 2010 (CDT)

Tobster-de said ...
I wrote a basic .Net library based on the source code by TI. Have a look at SourceForge: http://ez430chronosnet.sourceforge.net/

--Tobster-de 18:01, 2 April 2010 (CDT)

Adrian said ...
@Tobster-de - that's pretty cool! I put your project in the wiki under PC/Chronos Communication. if you think it belongs in another section, feel free to move it.

--Adrian 11:28, 5 April 2010 (CDT)

DaveS said ...
Does the 'SmartRF flash programmer' remove the requirement to have the CC debugger to update the RF access point?

Which hex file should I use? Is the one supplied in 'Texas Instruments\eZ430-Chronos\Recovery\RF Access Point\eZ430-Chronos_AP_868MHz_1_2.hex' the correct one?

Which of the tabs in the flash programmer should I use?

Thanks!

--DaveS 05:44, 5 May 2010 (CDT)

Markus said ...
@DaveS The SmartRF Flash Programmer (use "System-On-Chip" tab) is a SW that required on your PC. In terms of HW, you still need the CC Debugger to reprogram the access point.

You are correct, the correct .hex file is: 'Texas Instruments\eZ430-Chronos\Recovery\RF Access Point\eZ430-Chronos_AP_xxxMHz_1_2.hex'

--Markus 03:47, 10 May 2010 (CDT)

Dman65 said ...
I have been looking for a while for a watch that could be used as a mini alarm calendar that I could synch with some type of calendar program on a PC. Can anyone tell me if this watch has sufficient resources to be able to store a short text message and play an audible tone for about 25 different events during a week? I am assuming if it can that I could use the wireless interface to upload new events when the wearer is within range of the PC.

--Dman65 17:09, 27 May 2010 (CDT)

Mabs said ...
I hope my comment doesn't get lost in the noise, could you also list technical details of the transmitter frequencies and power output in this page? In Australia we do have access to the 915MHz - 928MHz for powers of < 3mW. 433.05 - 434.79 is also available for up to 25mW but is a region of spectrum highly utilised by the Amateur Radio community as the input frequency of repeater stations, and low interference devices have been known to cause interference in the past; maybe 433.75 - 434.25 could be utilised since the device is still in development. LIPD (low interference potential devices) class license information: http://www.comlaw.gov.au/comlaw/Legislation/LegislativeInstrumentCompilation1.nsf/0/8A2D0C99F4853174CA2575ED0031F18C?OpenDocument Australian Amateur Radio band plans: http://www.wia.org.au/members/bandplans/data/ (I am happy to discuss details with people involved)

--Mabs 09:18, 6 June 2010 (CDT)

Rwt33 said ...
As people have said, removing the BlueRobin library doesn't necessarily help due to the inefficient compiling of the other files, so why doesn't someone get a 30-day license of CCS or IAR and generate new efficient individual libraries of each source file so that they can be individually included/removed for custom solutions

--Rwt33 23:12, 9 June 2010 (CDT)

Turtle said ...
So, when does the Blue-Tooth model ship???

--Turtle 19:07, 30 June 2010 (CDT)

Behest said ...
There will be no Bluetooth model, this is a sub 1Ghz radio. Bluetooth runs on 2.4Ghz.

--Behest 08:21, 1 July 2010 (CDT)

Sebr said ...
Yesterday i ordered a EZ430-Chronos (868 MHz) in the eStore to try this MCU family. At that time it was listed as "In stock". Now when i look in my order status its listed as backordered. Wiki says more available in late June. When will the 868 MHz Version i ordered ship? Im confused...

--Sebr 09:01, 5 July 2010 (CDT)

Benny said ...
Hello!

Is there a simple way to request the temperature data from the EZ430 like Saebre did with the acceleration data? I mean is there a command I can send to the serial port and i will get a reply with the desired data? If there is such a command, is there a list where i can find all available commands, so I can read out every integrated sensor's data?

I could not find any in the documentation.

Sincerely Benny

--Benny 09:49, 5 July 2010 (CDT)

Jimmy said ...
How can I switch the radio frequency? The FAQ says it's software selectable. I wanna use my 915MHz version on 868MHz. Do anybody know how to figure it out? Thanks

--Jimmy 06:34, 15 July 2010 (CDT)

Markus said ...
@Jimmy - actually there is a hardware difference on the Access Point. The 868MHz version contains a 0Ohm resistor on the antenna trace. You need to remove it if you want to use it for 915MHz (see user's guide & FAQ). Else, you just need to select 915MHz in the IDE projects. Please also note that you need to reprogram all three: access point, Chronos RF BSL and Chronos firmware.

--Markus 09:54, 2 August 2010 (CDT)

Zigzag said ...
I'd like to have *two* chronos sending accelerometer data to one pc. One 868 and one 433 Mhz,,,, Will it work? Do you think they will interfere? thanks!

--Zigzag 04:07, 5 August 2010 (CDT)

Kiz said ...
I'm trying to program code for the cc1110 that was originally programed for the cc11111, should I be able to just compile and download using IAR or will this require some modification? Specifically the Secure Wireless Door Lock code for the cc1111. The cc1111 is not available currently.

--Kiz 09:32, 8 August 2010 (CDT)

Newuser said ...
How to create txt files for wireless upload to the watch. I am using IAR kickstart with FETPro-lite, but when I downloaded my program to the watch, it went blank (power save mode). I was able to download the same program by actually connecting the watch to the USB (thru the emulator) and everything is fine, but I dont want to dissemble the watch every time. FETPro has a bunch of options to create the txt file, anyone knows the correct options to use. In particular I am not sure what starting memory address to use for the flash.

Any reliable way to wireless download of my own programs to to the watch will be great

Thanks

--Newuser 00:31, 10 August 2010 (CDT)

Markus said ...
@Newuser - the right way would be to generate a TXT file directly from IAR or CCS when you compile the project. Please check the IDE user's guides - SLAU157 for CCS and SLAU138 for IAR.

Regards, Markus

--Markus 11:34, 12 August 2010 (CDT)

Ngml73 said ...
Can TI provide the company name of the plastic and rubber supplier of the watch Chronos ?

--Ngml73 11:05, 1 October 2010 (CDT)

Adrian said ...
@Ngml73 - BM Innovations can give you info on the watch plastics. They're mentioned on the wiki page under partners.

--Adrian 14:50, 28 October 2010 (CDT)

Ruditronics said ...
Hi all, I modified the sample code to enable logging the x-y-z accelerations data. I also created a simple .net application to download the stored data (temp, alt, and acc). Visit my blog: http://ruditronics.wordpress.com/

Cheers!

--Ruditronics 04:16, 30 November 2010 (CST)

Lthaler said ...
Hi, a little addon to display text on the watch http://lthaler.blogspot.com/2010/12/ez340-chrono-banner-display.html

--Lthaler 15:36, 5 December 2010 (CST)

SauliusD said ...
In case of erasing Information Memory, this code helps to restore configuration, but for best results, write down information memory backup upon first jtag connection: //****************************************************************************** // CC430x613x Demo - Single-Byte Flash In-System Programming, to SegD // // Description: This program first erases seg D, then copies values from config[] to seg D. //  Starting address of segment D: 0x1800. // ACLK = REFO = 32kHz, MCLK = SMCLK = default DCO 1048576Hz // //******************************************************************************


 * 1) include "cc430x613x.h"
 * 2) include "intrinsics.h"


 * 1) define count 16

void main(void) { WDTCTL = WDTPW+WDTHOLD;                   // Stop WDT unsigned int i;

unsigned char config[] ={0x00, 0x05, 0xff, 0x82, 0x00, 0x02, 0x1F, 0x5f, 0xf0, 0x90, 0x01, 0xc2, 0x15, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff}; char * Flash_ptr;                        // Initialize Flash pointer Flash_ptr = (char *) 0x1800; __disable_interrupt;                   // 5xx Workaround: Disable global // interrupt while erasing. Re-Enable // GIE if needed FCTL3 = FWKEY;                           // Clear Lock bit FCTL1 = FWKEY+ERASE;                     // Set Erase bit *Flash_ptr = 0;                          // Dummy write to erase Flash seg FCTL1 = FWKEY+WRT;                       // Set WRT bit for write operation

__no_operation; for (i = 0; i < count; i++) {   *Flash_ptr++ = config[i];                 // Write value to flash } FCTL1 = FWKEY;                            // Clear WRT bit FCTL3 = FWKEY+LOCK;                      // Set LOCK bit while(1); }

--SauliusD 03:58, 9 February 2011 (CST)

Cc said ...
Now there is also an ezChronos project for 'accuracy freaks' - will probably be called HEQ-Chronos and the initial tests can be followed in this thread (from the High End Quartz forum):

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f9/ezchronos-headcount-first-2011-project-start-498121.html

And here is a quick look at how the quartz accuracy probably looks in a random watch - on the X-axis you have the temperature (Celsius) and on the Y-axis you have the accuracy error in seconds/year (divide by 365 to get the error for a single day):

http://caranfil.org/ez430/watch5.png

Note that uncorrected a typical ezChronos will have about 2-4 seconds of drift in a single day!

--Cc 01:48, 15 March 2011 (CDT)

Bruce said ...
Can the the USB Chronos Access Point be used as a Capture device with SmartRF Protocol Packet Sniffer?

After all CC1111EMK868-915 is similar to the USB Chronos Access Point.

--Bruce 14:04, 6 April 2011 (CDT)

Monterosa said ...
I noticed two different accuracy issues: One seems to be the above-mentioned 2-4 seconds of drift in a single day! My watch is fast, about 16 seconds a week, but this projects solutions solves the problem (less than 4 seconds a month now). The second problem seems to be a little bit harder. I assume an ESD (Electro-Static Discharge) caused my watch to run very fast: More than 1 minute an hour! Only a reset (performed by a RFBSL download of the same firmware) helped. It seems that both are hardware issues.

--Monterosa 12:07, 9 April 2011 (CDT)

Ixify said ...
Hi Guys,

Does factory settings include measuring distance without a compatible strap?

It says up in factory settings that is required for fitness options but because accelerometer is included in the watch it self I don't know why the heart monitor strap will be required ?

Thanks.

--Ixify 19:07, 22 April 2011 (CDT)

PLEASE READ BEFORE LEAVING A COMMENT
Reminder: Consider using the Google group for your posts\questions:

http://groups.google.com/group/ti-chronos-development-/topics?hl=en

--User.wiki.ti2 06:52, 12 May 2011 (CDT)

Speculatrix said ...
I am interested in watch-to-watch communication, you could ping a message to someone else's watch like a phone number?

--Speculatrix 07:05, 2 September 2011 (CDT)

Jolab said ...
I would like to transmit data from a dotnet program (VB,C#) to the watch and use the BlueRobin function to display it instead of the heart rate. I have been trying to imort the ez430_Chronos_CC.dll into Visual STudio but I can't register it. Is there a DLL which will register and have the same functions ?

--Jolab 05:06, 8 December 2011 (CST)

Jackokring said ...
https://github.com/jackokring/miChronos is some edited source based on the limited CCS profile. It has day of week, a slide rule, hidden ACC/SYNC/RFBSL, C/F temperature switch, ft/m altitude switch, a 5 minute alarm on the stopwatch, none of the bluerobin (not needed), ppt/xyz on watch modes removed, optimization of some of the code, 3821 bytes left in version 3. Feature stripped version of CC tcl app too with set system time from watch added.

--Jackokring 13:51, 20 October 2012 (CDT)

Estratos said ...
CC1101 compatible arduino modules: http://www.panstamp.com panStamps share the same protocol used by OpenChronos-NG

--Estratos 16:47, 21 November 2012 (CST)

Bigtexun said ...
I just got my eZ430-Chronos development kit a couple days ago... I work on a team of embedded system engineers, and I was able to see who the /real/ nerds were from the reactions I got when I was showing it off.

My first application is to use it as a portable display for my smoker. My smoker (bbq pit) has a linux based temperature controller I made using a Beaglebone SBC. My plan is to send the temerature to my watch for display, so that I can keep an eye on the pit while I've got my hands busy.

The next application will be to add some menues and modes for various telemetry and remote control applications.

It has a standard watch-type numeric display, so text is very limited, but possible.

Mine is the 915mhz version. The only disappointment is the range on the access point is really low, so I've got some work ahead of me if I'm going to try to get enough range to cover my house and yard. Right now it has a range of around 20 feet.

According to my spectrum analyzer, there is not much nearby that shares the same frequency center point, but there are plenty of things with stronger signals packed into the band. The most disturbing thing about my spectrum analyzer measurements is that with the watch and access point within a centimeter of my spectrum analyzer antenna, my measurements of the signals are only about twice the power than the signal levels on nearby channels. At one cm in distance, it should be blasting compared to the ambient interference from distant radios.

So the power is really weak compared to the signal level of things much farther away. That is not good, it means the signals are /really/ weak, probably too weak to use around the house and yard. I haven't tried to calibrate the signal levels of the analyzer with the antenna that is on it, so I can't really estimate the output power. The power level seems much lower than I would have expected, even for a low power device. So if the power level is configurable, I halfway expect to find out it is configured for the lowest possible level.

But I have a lot of amplifiers and such, and I know how to make antennas, so I should be able to find a way to boost the range. I would concentrate on boosting the AP, and letting a high gain antenna make up for the weak signals from the watch.

Of course I'm not expecting high power rf from a device running on a watch battery.

It might be possible to imbed an antenna in the watch band, but at the risk of making it look like a hack job.

I haven't looked at the software development enviroment yes, so I can't comment on that yet.

--Bigtexun 23:51, 23 April 2013 (CDT)