CH32V003 standalone programmer WCH-MCU-DL

[mikeselectricstuff]

So I saw this  standalone programmer on Aliexpress


Edit - updated Aliexpress link to page with all 4 versions - suggest searching "WCH-MCU-DL" for latest

there is some English documentation here: https://www.wch.cn/bbs/thread-113213-1.html


So far I've got as far as creating a key file and downloading a file to the board, but haven't yet managed to get it to talk to the chip.
Has anyone managed to get it to work ?

[mikeselectricstuff]

Some more playing...

Screen colour shows status - green:ready, yellow:busy.red:error.
Starting a program op by shorting J6 pin5/6 sets the BUSY pin of J6 while it's trying - the Busy pin does not assert if programming started using S3

I'm seeing UART traffic on J5, suggesting it's trying to use UART comms not SWD. I'd expect to see an option in DlPubtool to select mode, but can't see anything obvious

[HwAoRrDk]

What version of the WCH-MCU-DL do you have? The forum posting seems to state that only the CH32V208-based programmer supports CH32V003 and its single-wire protocol.

Or maybe the thing only supports programming CH32V003 via UART using the bootloader (i.e. like with WCHISPTool) because it doesn't support the single-wire protocol (only regular SWD).

What version firmware is the programmer running? Maybe it needs an upgrade...

[mikeselectricstuff]

Programmer is CH32F103, Firmware V2422V
The forum post is not entirely clear

The current factory programmer version (3.3V/5V) only support CH32Vxxx series chips(v2420v).If you need to use a programmer to program ch32Fxxx series chip,you need to upgrade the programmer firmware(V2420F)

The WCH-MCU-DL be designed of CH32V208 support V003 series chip programing.And the programmer support all series chip.

Can't see any mention that the 103 doesn't support SWD, and the 103 manual mentions SWD. Seems the 208 is a later version though

I've ordered a V208 version

[brucehoult]

Can't see any mention that the 103 doesn't support SWD, and the 103 manual mentions SWD. Seems the 208 is a later version though

The SWD in the 003 is I seem to recall a different SWD from the bigger chips (and none of them are Arm SWD).

[mikeselectricstuff]

Just had a reply confirming my suspicion from  WCH :

The WCH-MCU-DL of CH32F103 do not support CH32V003.

I'll report back when I get the 208 version.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Received the 208 version
It does appear to work, in that it completes without error - not checked the actual code yet.
programs in under 2 secs even with a full chip.

However this one only supports 5V.
It does appear to work OK if the chip is powered from 3.3v - as the programmer will normally only be connected to the SWIO pin, this is probably not a big issue.

Looking again at the Aliexpress listing, there appear to be 4 variants :

CH32V208W-5V
CH32F103R-5V
CH32F103R-2.3V
PWRCFG Generic.

I think the last is a universal voltage version. Ordered one, but may be delayed by CNY

[mikeselectricstuff]

Quick video running through the use of this unit :
https://youtu.be/Qnt_43PZcyo

[mikeselectricstuff]

Received the "PWRCFG Generic. " version.
As expected, this supports 1.8, 3.3 and 5V, both for logic levels and the power output on the programming header.
Voltage is set by the configuration in the .datakey file.

[SteveyG]

Just received my dev boards, MCUs and the PWRCFG Generic programmer. Looks ideal for some little LED projects I had planned - nearly had a heart attack when the PIC18F I had planned to use had increased in price to nearly £4.50 

[tinayetsina]

There is a video on their Youtube channel explaining how to operate and use this standalone programmer

https://youtu.be/bxpzd_jhYTs

You can check it out if you have any other WCH-related questions you can contact me