Perkins BMS

Hey guys,

I'm building the Peter Perkins BMS, i think i might have mentioned it earlier. But i have NO idea how to go about getting the code onto the chips. Does anyone have any experience with it? Peter has changed his design a few times, but i think the latest one uses bare pic chips instead of picaxe. Basically, i need to figure out how to take the code that's been uploaded (as a txt file,) change a few numbers (cell count and voltage ranges, because it's all programmed for A123 and i need to use it with LiPo,) compile it back into code, and then write it to the pic chips. the slave units use 12F683 pics, and the master unit uses a 16F886.

There was also a version a year or so back (which i think uses the same physical boards) that uses picaxe chips. it looks like it's a whole lot cheaper to get a compiler and programming interface for picaxe chips, and i'll just have to find the old picaxe code (it's on the batteryvehiclesociety.org forum somewhere i believe)

any recommendations? I'm at the point where i'm willing to pay a tutor to walk me through all this, because i'm still pretty lost but i really want to make it work....if that makes any sense

Well, I don't know enough to help, but you could probably ask the creator if he'd be your paid tutor:
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=6528

Thanks for the link! Peter is actually on my Gmail chat bar, and has been great at answering specific questions, but i get the feeling he has other more important things to do than walk a noob through simple stuff

on the other hand, i think i have the parts ordered that i need for getting started, and was able to download the trial version of picbasic pro. The problem is it says it's only good for 15 days, and in order to program both the slave units and the master unit, i need to have the experimenter version and the silver edition, or the gold version. unless someone knows where i can find pbpro for free (haven't had much luck finding it so far)

He is also an ES member; peterperkins
You could probably pm him.

I don't have a problem answering questions :? just post them on the bvs threads and both Greg and I will help.
I'm available to speak with via google talk if you want to install it.

Picaxe chips are cheaper to use from a software cost point of view but the pics cost more. It's swings and roundabouts really for the choices between pic/picaxe. Having said that picaxe simulator etc is very good and prop easier for the beginer.

thanks Peter! i didn't really want to burden you with tons of questions as i know you're busy. but, i've ordered the pic programmer you linked to on BVS, as well as both bare pics and picaxe chips for the master. I figure if i can't get one of them working, maybe i can get the other working i'm curious to see if the super cheap pic programmer i got off ebay will work for the 28 pin pic on the master. It's looking like probably the easiest thing to do is going to be using pics for the slaves and picaxe on the master. I believe the two can work together? Because i already have all of the bare pics for the slaves, and i know my programmer can at least interface with them. plus the code on the slaves only needs a few numbers changed, so i won't be needing pbpro to play with it all the time. For the master i think i can stick with the picaxe, as (at least for now) it's not critical that i get all the fancy features working As soon as the 28 pin picaxe's get here i'll try writing the code to them and see what all pops up