Welcome to the official page of the

Welcome to the unofficial page of the...

Mk I

What they're saying about the SMLI:

"Now you've all got me really frothing at the mouth" - GTAV6

"I don't want a crappy 8,000 rpm" - Owen "The Great"

"Kudos has been allocated... I'm almost dying of excitement!" - HCB

"OMG OMG OMG! FUCKING AWESOME! FUCKING FUCKING FUCKING awesome!" - HCB

"I thought my rheobus was pretty |33t but this makes it look like simple addition compared with calculus!" - Cyclonite

"What does crack me up is the excitement generated by an analogue gauge in a digital age.." - HCB

"I think you guys deserve a full 4 page article on atomic on the construction of this mod making appropriate mention of the thread, but highlighting that you people took up my quest out of sheer interest, and have practically built it from the ground up for me!" - HCB

"This one is VASTLY superior. I've had it running virtually non-stop. I've done every stupid thing i can think of to its settings, I've run as many other apps as i possibly can and I can't unsettle it. no crashes, no conflicts. So far, it's perfect." - GTAV6

"..Represents what Atomic is all about..." - Ben "Flouncy" Mansill, Editor of Atomic

DivX;) Tachometer movie at http://www.OwentheGreat.com, 1.03 Mb

The Atomic Tech thread for the mod: http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=9&t=2

Yarrago's SMLI Host Application 1.0

The host software which interfaces with the SMLI interface board

Note: Yarrago's Domain may be offline for up to a couple of weeks around the start of January 2002

Visual Basic 6 Runtimes @ Microsoft.com

Users who have not used a Visual Basic
application before will need to download and install this package.

SDK for the SMLI Host Program @ Yarrago's Domain

If you have artistic skills or programming knowledge you might want to download
the SDK so that you can get the most out of the SMLI host software.

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The source code files for the PIC Microcontroller are not online currently, as the micro-controller code is always being tweaked, or feature creeped. Contact Goth on the atomic forums if you are looking for the Hex or Assembler files.

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Bill of Materials and technical description based in part on the SMLI page @ OwenTheGreat.com, partially copyright Ó 2002 OwenTheGreat

Parts List - Serial Microcontroller LED Interface / CPU Utilisation Tachometer
Adapted from http://www.owenthegreat.com/computer/othermods/cpuloadledmeter/smli/, some revisions.
Name	Qty	DSE		Jaycar
PIC16F84 Micro controller	1	Z9175	$9.95	ZZ-8500	$11.95
18 pin DIL Socket	1	P4180	$0.41	PI-6503	$0.35
74LS138 3 of 8 Decoder	1	Z5284	$1.50	ZZ-5138	$1.50
16 pin DIL Socket	1	P4160	$0.37	PI-6502	$0.34
BC557 PNP Transistor	8	Z1340	$0.30	ZT-2164	$0.26
BC547 NPN Transistor	1	Z1300	$0.30	ZT-2152	$0.20
1N4148 diode	1	Z3120	$0.06	ZZ-1100 (5)	$0.32
4.7 k Ohm resistor	12	R1090	$0.04	RR-0588 (8)	$0.38
22 pF ceramic capacitor	2	R2243	$0.10	RC-5316 (2)	$0.28
4 MHz crystal	1	Z9900	$3.95	RQ-5274	$3.95
120 Ohm resistor	6	R1052	$0.04	RR-0550 (8)	$0.38
Proto-type board	1	H5603	$2.80	HP-9550	$3.70
Standard 3mm LED's	-	Z40--	$0.27	ZD-17--	$0.25
Standard 5mm LED's	-	Z40--	$0.32	ZD-17--	$0.33
D9 Female connector			$0.32	ZD-17--	$0.33
	1	P2685	$1.35
	1	P2685	$1.35	PS-0804	$1.20
	1	P2686	$2.20		$1.20
D9 plastic Backshell	1	P2686	$2.20	PM-0808	$1.80

PIC 16F84 Micro Controller

This is the little machine at the heart of the LED meter. It has a 4 MHz CPU with a maximum throughput of 1 million instructions per second. It has 68 bytes of RAM all accessible as registers, 1 Kb of program ROM and 1 Kb of EEPROM (Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) for non-volatile, temporary storage of data. The LED meter software does not use the EEPROM.

In the LED meter the PIC has the jobs of listening for incoming data from the host computer, multiplexing the LED's and providing the tacho's pulses. All of which keep it fairly busy. Originally an ATMEL micro controller was going to be used as it had onboard UART and data from the host computer would magically appear in the UART register without the micro controller having to do anything special.

The 16F84 does not have a UART to automatically receive serial data so its has to use software to receive it. Using software to perform the task is OK except when the micro controller has other stuff to be doing like multiplexing LED's. The software gets around this by cycling the LED's not only when there is no data being received but also when it's waiting between bits of the serial stream.

A datasheet for this device can be found on the Microchip Technology website here:

74LS138 3 of 8 Decoder

This handy little package saves 5 of the IO pins of the micro controller, If the micro controller was to drive the sources directly it would require the use of 8 IO pins rather that the 3 that are used now and also without it there would be no pins leftover for the serial input or tacho output.

A datasheet for this device can be downloaded from the Fairchild Semiconductor website here:

The serial input

Rather than using a UART and a suitable transceiver like a MAX-232, the reading of the serial data is accomplished with 1 diode and 2 resistors. The diode protects the PIC from feeling the -12 volts of the "1" level of serial port but passes the +12 volts onto the voltage divider and then the RB0 pin of the micro controller that has the external interrupt enabled. Once the RB0 goes high which is actually on the start bit "0" the micro controller executes the interrupt code and receives that data.

The format is 9600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 start bit, 1 stop bit, no parity and no handshaking. Also in cases where the serial Tx line is soldered to the motherboard (aka permanent installation) the LED meter should not effect the operation of the port when using other devices. The port should be wired in a 'null modem' configuration, with pins 7 and 8 connected for a 9 pin port, as well as pins 4,6 and 1.

The LED array

The LED's aren't driven continuously, each column of LED's are lit in turn to provide the illusion that all the LED's that are required appear lit.

This approach allows us to get away with using less IO pins and thus a cheaper micro controller. Using just 8 pins of the 16F84 together with the 3 of 8 decoder the meter can drive 40 LED's in a 5 x 8 matrix. The matrix could have been 8 x 8 but that would have required the PORTB of the PIC to sink the rows and the serial pin to move to one of PORT A's pin, but the serial pin uses the external interrupt pin (RB0) for telling when the data in be transmitted. Using pins for the sinks form both port would have required more effort, but when you can drive 40 LED's easily why bother?

And you don't have to use all 40 LED's, You can use as many as you wish but the maximum is 40. Simply leave out the LED's from the top down to the number you want on the on schematic.

LED selection is up the you, but using your more exotic LED's such as White, Blue and UV will require you to change the current limiting resistors on the row sinks. Keep in mind that the maximum current that the pins of the micro controller are rated to sink is 25 mA, which is plenty for most LED's.

LED Type	Resistor Value
Regular Red	120 W
Regular Orange	120 W
Hi-Intensity Red	120 W
High-Intensity waterclear green	120 W
Jaycar ZD-1778 waterclear yellow or similar	120 W
Infra-Red (Just the thing for those of us with Predator vision)	120 W
Jaycar ZD-1795 waterclear yellow or similar	100 W
Regular Green	100 W
Regular Yellow	100 W
High-Intensity Blue	68 or 56 W
High-Intensity White	68 or 56 W
Ultra High-Intensity green eg. Jaycar ZD-1779, 7Cd or greater	68 or 56 W
Waterclear Ultra-Violet	47 W

PCB's and Schematics

SMLI Main LED Array Tachometer Drive

(Note that Demo Mode is disabled by pulling pin 10 on the PIC to ground, this is shown on the PCB

below but not implemented on the schematic)

Original PCB layout by OwenTheGreat

PCB component side layout PCB Tracks (Positive suitable for etching)

Original Schematics and PCB @ Owenthegreat.com, Copyright Ó 2002 OwenTheGreat

40-LED Array Board by G0th

31 * 3.6 cm

The second version has the LED's right up against each other, with only 1 row of holes between each set of leads, when built on protoboard. You need to partially file off the small flange at the base of the LED's to make them fit together like this, but it uses less board area than the above design

A new 40-LED driver board with ICSP support (Theoretically.... If you build it, Email me!)

A Demo Mode jumper is between the IC's, and the jumper below the PIC is for in-circuit programming, leave it out normally.

The extra transistor is an NPN device, and the diode under the chip is a 1N4148, see the ICSP schematic for more info.

Off-Board connections from L to R, with column connections at the top:

These connections are 0.2'' apart to accommodate PCB mount terminal blocks

1. 12v (Use a passthrough Molex connector for the power rails!)

2. Gnd

3. Gnd.

4. 5v

5. Tacho Gnd.

6. Tacho 12v

7. Tacho Backlight (12v)

8. Tacho Signal

9-11: Serial port pins 3,4,5 (Pin numbering for 9-pin RS-232 port)

12-13 Serial port pins 7,8

And 40 LED's, with the drive hardware on the same board - These LED's have plenty of space in between, as with my first LED board

And a version with the LED's close together

USB 1.1 version (Uses FTDI FT232BM USB UART IC) by CrazyOldGuy

JPG format Protel Schematic file

FTDI chip Datasheet @ Future Technology Devices International Website

In-Circuit Serial Programmer Schematic (UNTESTED) by g0th.

As it turns out, it is not necessary, as previously believed, to wire the port in an 'always ready' configuration, similar to a null modem.

This should allow us to use some of these pins to program the micro in circuit, with any JDM-Programmer compatible software.

Fine Print 1.0

Original schematics and source code copyright (2002) Owen Hedger aka OwenTheGreat.

SMLI Host Application by Yarrago, don't pinch it.

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