Tuesday, July 23, 2013

8 pin MSP430 microcontroller - MSP430G2230

In earlier posts I've covered some experiments with NFC and UV sensors. I'm keen to take both these projects a little further and develop them into wearable devices.  The Raspberry Pi and Ardunio are great for prototyping such things, but to make something the size of a button will require a surface mount microcontroller.  At the weekend I came across the TI MSP430G2230, like the other MSP430 "value line" range these are very cheap low power 16 bit microcontrollers. Unlike the 14 and 20 DIL devices that are supplied with TI's incredibly cheap Launchpad these can't be plugged straight in. You'll need to either connect the programming lines to the SOIC chip somehow, or as I've done, build a couple of adaptors.  The first adaptor makes the MSP430G2230 into an 8 pin DIL device, and the second makes the 8 pin devices match the pins of the typical 14 pin DIL MSP430.

In pictures -

As simple as that!
I've found that it can be programmed in CCS as either MSP430G2230 or MSP430G2231 - it's the same device, but with some of its pins not exposed to the outside world.  The internal temperature sensor works fine,  so I reckon my first project will be to use the I2C interface to log temperature measurements to an M24LR dual interface (NFC/I2C) EEPROM.

3 comments:

Bill said...

So, just so I'm sure. Is it just the spy bi wire and power and ground that matter.

Would be nice if you posted how you mapped 8 pin to DIL though just to help idiots like me.

Thanks for the post, hard to find info.

Unknown said...

Here's the mapping.
8 pin to 14 pin
1 -> 1
2 -> 4
3 -> 7
4 -> 8
5 -> 9
6 -> 10
7 -> 11
8 -> 14

If you just want to program/debug then you're right that GND,VCC,test and reset are all that's needed.


Matz said...

I was just searching around to see what surface mount options are available for the MSP430 and I came across your post. Great idea, thanks for sharing!