CFW for KSGER/Quicko STM32 Soldering Stations

[DavidAlfa]

Nice!  I'm sure it wasn't that hard 

Wtf is this, you wrote "Error 404"

.ERROR_UNKNOWN = "ОШИБКА 404"

Before start working on it, be sure to download the latest code. I've been changing some things.
I don't think I'll change any more code related to the translations.
You don't need to delete the project and start again, just overwrite the project files.

[wickated]

i just didnt found any word short enough 
anyway its not final
no freeze now

[DavidAlfa]

You were right, the new Calibration big step value was too small. Increased it to 20, now it's much better.

[wickated]

You were right, the new Calibration big step value was too small. Increased it to 20, now it's much better.

Good. actually 2 clean setups before = 1 new encoder 
No freeze now, everything works good. Translation is ok, small "no iron" is not as cool as big NO IRON but is shown (maybe place picture like in bootscreen?), some text is used across different menu sections, so had to improve readability, no error404 now

so i finalized translation in gui_strings. only untranslated are time units like "ms" "min". how can i commit it?

[DavidAlfa]

As it's only a file and few lines, just send it to me or post here in .zip.

[wickated]

here

[DavidAlfa]

Nice! Added, made new builds.

Now you have more work: Readme and operation manual! 
Google always has a hard time at translating latin and slavic languages, you get all kind of no sense stuff.

(I'm watching your movements at radiokot)

[wickated]

Now you have more work: Readme and operation manual! 

ill make it on friday night :beer:

[wickated]

i never ever used boost, but ppl found it is calculated not from settemp, but from starttemp

[AndyC]

i never ever used boost, but ppl found it is calculated not from settemp, but from starttemp

That seems to be the case, yes. (I haven't used boost a lot either)

Got one of those ~€30 Handskit stations today. Well, the last part of the name literally means 'crap' in Swedish
Speaking of Swedish, I've forked the project and done some work on fonts and translation. Maybe, maybe, a pull request will show up one of these days

[DavidAlfa]

Nice catch, I neither use boost, you know for me it's just a dumb thing
I forgot to update it when modifying the setpoint code to make it volatile (Not saved on every change).
Fixed.

I also modified the readme, adding how to update preserving the settings, as it seems most people were wiping everything on every update, which is not always needed!

Edit2: I noticed the station was waking up when changing the tip profile in the main screen. I don't like neither I see any logic on that, so I disabled it.
Also disabled showing the setpoint when cancelling boost mode (Just like when waking up the station from low power modes).

Updated builds.

[ygi]

I also modified the readme, adding how to update preserving the settings, as it seems most people were wiping everything on every update, which is not always needed!

I tried that before but settings ended up being wiped anyway. If I remember correctly there's some check in the firmware that triggers a full reset if settings version doesn't match firmware version or something like that.

[DavidAlfa]

These programming steps will preserve your settings, but if the settings structure changed, or anything causes a CRC checksum mismatch, the firmware will erase them at boot time.
For example, the translations added a new variable (Language), so a previous version will be wipe, but usually they'll stay the same for a long time.

[DavidAlfa]

Speaking of Swedish, I've forked the project and done some work on fonts and translation. Maybe, maybe, a pull request will show up one of these days

Nice work! Programming seems hard as breathing for you .
I answered in the pull request. The code had already diverged and git was complaining.
So I manually patched the code with your changes.

Now, the only remaining thing is adding the extra Swedish characters to the default font building scripts:

- u8g2/tools/font/bdconv/make_font_menu.bat
- u8g2/tools/font/bdconv/make_font_no_iron_big.bat
- u8g2/tools/font/bdconv/make_font_small.bat

The characters (Unicode encoding) are defined with the -m option, ex. -m "32,33,45,46,48-57,65-90,176".
You can use decimal numbers(32,33...) or hex ($20,$21...)

[AndyC]

Speaking of Swedish, I've forked the project and done some work on fonts and translation. Maybe, maybe, a pull request will show up one of these days

Nice work! Programming seems hard as breathing for you .
I answered in the pull request. The code had already diverged and git was complaining.
So I manually patched the code with your changes.

Now, the only remaining thing is adding the extra Swedish characters to the default font building scripts:

- u8g2/tools/font/bdconv/make_font_menu.bat
- u8g2/tools/font/bdconv/make_font_no_iron_big.bat
- u8g2/tools/font/bdconv/make_font_small.bat

The characters (Unicode encoding) are defined with the -m option, ex. -m "32,33,45,46,48-57,65-90,176".
You can use decimal numbers(32,33...) or hex ($20,$21...)

Thanks, still a beginner though. New to C and new to Git.
I thought the building scripts were included in the PR, but maybe I made a mistake.
They are here: https://github.com/AndyC52/stm32_soldering_iron_controller/tree/swedish-testing/Drivers/graphics/u8g2/tools/font/bdfconv

[DavidAlfa]

My mistake, you did it right, I missed it.
It was at the bottom of your commit

[ygi]

By any chance, does the firmware display Vref when controller isn't powered by the main power supply? I kinda wonder why it displays ~2.1V when powered by stlink even though it should be ~3.3V. Then again, my board's been fried once, so weird behavior could definitely happen.

[DavidAlfa]

Because you're missing something... You aren't measuring the stm32 VDD, but the power supply output.
If the power supply is off and you power the stm32 with the stlink, it'll read a random value depending on the current that leaks from VDD to other unpowered parts on the board.
Where are your electronics skills?

Vref is never used  anywhere, not even sampled by the ADC.

[ygi]

"Electronics skills"? I've never studied electronics, I'm just a hobbyist with tons of things I don't understand or don't even know exist.

[DavidAlfa]

I was teasing you! (In a friendly way)

Good news, I was able to insert cyrillic symbols in the existing fonts, russian looks much better now.
Also the big "NO IRON" label is working now. Loooots of work!

Uploaded new builds.

[maciek012]

Hi, I finally been able to run calibration and thought it might be helpful if I share it with you.
HW: KSGER v3.1 T12 D24 heater. firmware from 01.09.2021

[DavidAlfa]

Nice! Every report is helpful! 

If you have free time, make some tip performance tests to compare their quality.
I enter the debug screen and set 350°C, then take something hard to solder, like a copper heatsink, heavy plane PCB, and try to solder over it, carefully watching the PWR reading. Water is not a valid test!

Most of my tips didn't go over 25%, the temperature was +-1°C around the setpoint.
Only a small one, D12, reached 34%, even better than the D32 being much larger.
The extra power was very noticeable, although pretty poor anyways.

[wickated]

see u talking about debug menu
what units are shown for pwm?
for power ? (i guess power has %)

[DavidAlfa]

Check your eyes! (Hot air is coming  )

The PWM timer uses 5us clock (each step is 5us). For example, for the default 200ms, the timer period would be 40.000 (40.000*5=200.000us=200ms)
PWM is the value compared against the timer counter that generates the duty cycle. So for 50% power, the PWM value would be 40.000/2.
The timer counts always up to 40.000, the pwm output is enabled as long as the counter is below the compare value.
So in this case (For 50% at 200ms), the pwm would be enabled until the counter reaches 20.000. In that moment the pwm is set low, and the timer keeps counting up until 40.000.
Then, it resets and a new cycle starts.

As you rise the PWM frequency this value will be lower, ex. 10ms would be 2.000, 50% would be 1.000.
You can esily see how the pwm loses precision as the frequency increases, although you have a broad adjustment range in any case, from 0.05% at 10ms,  to 0,0025% at 200ms.

[maciek012]

Nice! Every report is helpful! 

If you have free time, make some tip performance tests to compare their quality.
I enter the debug screen and set 350°C, then take something hard to solder, like a copper heatsink, heavy plane PCB, and try to solder over it, carefully watching the PWR reading. Water is not a valid test!

Most of my tips didn't go over 25%, the temperature was +-1°C around the setpoint.
Only a small one, D12, reached 34%, even better than the D32 being much larger.
The extra power was very noticeable, although pretty poor anyways.

D24 went up to around 34-36% with set temp +=1°C, ILS went up to 24%.