CrossChasm C5 Interfaces

This page describes the CrossChasm C5 family of OBD interfaces, which includes the Bluetooth and Cellular devices. Most things are common between the different devices and are described on this page. For options specific to the Cellular device, see C5 Cellular Config

CrossChasm’s C5 OBD interface is compatible with the OpenXC VI firmware. To build for one of the C5s, compile with one of the flags: PLATFORM=CROSSCHASM_C5 or PLATFORM=CROSSCHASM_CELLULAR_C5.

Note

The old CROSSCHASM_C5 Platform has been renamed to CROSSCHASM_C5_BT and the fabric shortcut c5 has been updated to c5bt. Both old variables are aliased to the new BT forms.

CrossChasm has further information on the C5 available here. The devices will soon be available on the OpenXC Shop and come pre-loaded with the correct bootloader, so you don’t need any additional hardware to load the OpenXC firmware.

The C5 connects to the CAN1 bus pins on the OBD-II connector.

Flashing a Pre-compiled Firmware

Assuming your C5 has the bootloader already flashed, once you have the USB cable attached to your computer and to the C5, follow the same steps to upload as for the chipKIT Max32.

The OpenXC C5 units are pre-programmed with the bootloader.

Bootloader

The C5 can be flashed with the same PIC32 avrdude bootloader, as the chipKIT.

The OpenXC fork of the bootloader (the previous link) defines a CROSSCHASM_C5 configuration that exposes a CDC/ACM serial port function over USB. Once the bootloader is flashed, there is a 5 second window when the unit powers on when it will accept bootloader commands.

In Linux and OS X it will show up as something like /dev/ACM0, and you can treat this just as if it were a serial device.

In Windows, you will need to install the stk500v2.inf driver before the CDC/ACM modem will show up - download that file, right click and choose Install. The C5 should now show up as a COM port for for 5 seconds on bootup.

The OpenXC C5 units are pre-programmed with the bootloader.

If you need to reflash the bootloader yourself, a ready-to-go .hex file is available in the GitHub repository and you can flash it with MPLAB IDE/IPE and an ICSP programmer like the Microchip PICkit 3. You can also build it from source in MPLAB by using the CrossChasm C5 configuration.

Compiling

The instructions for compiling from source are identical to the chipKIT Max32 except that PLATFORM=CROSSCHASM_C5_BT or PLATFORM=CROSSCHASM_C5_CELLULAR instead of CHIPKIT.

If you will not be using the avrdude bootloader and will be flashing directly via ICSP, make sure to also compile with BOOTLOADER=0 to enable the program to run on bare metal.

USB

The micro-USB port on the board is used to send and receive OpenXC messages.

UART

On the C5, UART1A is used for OpenXC output at the 230000 baud rate. Hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) is enabled, so CTS must be pulled low by the receiving device before data will be sent.

TODO add pinout of expansion header, probably a picture

UART data is sent only if pin 0.58 (or PORTB BIT 4, RB4) is pulled high (to 5vv). If you are using a Bluetooth module like the BlueSMiRF from SparkFun, you need to hard-wire 5v into this pin to actually enabling UART. To disable UART, pull this pin low or leave it floating.

Debug Logging

In most cases the logging provided via USB is sufficient, but if you are doing low-level development and need the simpler UART interface, you can enable it with the DEFAULT_LOGGING_OUTPUT="UART" build option.

On the C5, logging is on UART3A at 115200 baud (if the firmware was compiled with DEBUG=1).

LED Lights

The C5 has 2 user controllable LEDs. When CAN activity is detected, the green LED will be enabled. When USB or Bluetooth is connected, the blue LED will be enabled.