LED Microcontroller Debug Module

When it comes to debugging a microcontroller circuit, there aren't a lot of simple options. Since a microcontroller circuit might have multiple things going on at the same time, measuring voltages with a DMM isn't an option. Using an computerized In-Circuit-Debugger solution is expensive and elaborate, and time-consuming to set up.   People often resort to connecting banks of LEDs to the circuit, but this also takes time and if wired incorrectly, might mislead you about the issues you are trying to solve.

Enter the Microcontroller Debug Module (MDM). It is a device which simply transplants the microcontroller (MCU) to a separate unit, away from the breadboard. It is connected by a 40-pin ribbon cable to a small PCB which takes the place of the MCU on the breadboard, transposing each pin directly. No circuit modifications are required for the operation of the MDM. On the module are 74LS541 8-bit Line Driver ICs which drives indicator LEDs for each of the 8 bits on each of the data ports on the MCU. This chip delivers current for the LEDs without affecting the pin of the MCU itself. The pin and the breadboard circuit have no idea the chip is there.

My microcontrollers of choice are PIC18 family 28 and 40 pin PICs which I have designed this unit to be pin-compatible for. Your unit can be designed for Arduino Atmel chips or any MCU you wish to use.

This Instructable is mostly intended to inspire ideas and some circuit pieces to help you develop a MDM for your own favorite family of MCU.

Also Please note the schematic and board layout are regarding Revision 0.3, it is far more advanced and has numerous corrections/features added to it, compared to Rev 0.1, which is photographed.

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Step 1: Schematic Design

The schematic is large but fairly simple and can be broken down into some smaller parts.

J2 is the 40-pin PIC socket, which connects pin-for-pin to the 40-pin IDE connector
J8 is the 28-pin PIC socket, which will rest in between the 40-pin socket
J3-J6 are arranged to form a 20x2 IDE cable connection for connecting the MDM to the PIC substitute board
J7 is a header for running the MDM in a stand-alone configuration without power from the breadboard circuit

Each port has a 74LS541 connected to it which buffers and supplies current for 16 LEDs. A red LED has its cathode connected to the output pin and its anode ultimately connected to a +5V rail, and a green LED has its anode connected to the same output pin with its cathode connected to ground. The result is that when the PIC pin goes high, the corresponding 74LS541 pin does the same. When the pin is high the red LED has +5V on both sides of it, and thus will not light, but the green LED has +5V of potential on it now, and will light. When the pin is low then the red LED now has +5V of potential across it, and the green LED has GND on both sides of it and will not light. If the pin is rapidly switching from high to low, it will appear as if both LEDs are illuminated. Both LEDs would appear lit only in the event that the MCU pin is rapidly changing states, or if the 74LM541 has been disabled.

DSW1 is a DIP switch bank that allows the user to disable or enable the LED output ports if they so wish to. It will reduce the brightness of the port LEDs if you are not using that port for anything, or if the port is being used as an analog input port. When the pin is Tri-state then both LEDs will light up at 50% brightness. Due to limitations of the 74LS541, when the MCU pin is displaying tri-state, it will display as high. The only time that the output of the 74LS541 will go tri-state is when the enable/disable switch for that chip is enabled.

An oscillator is included on the board, and I recommend it be used because the crystal should be as close to the MCU as possible, and it is not a good idea for it to have to go through a ribbon cable to get there. It might also cause unwanted noise in the rest of the circuit and could affect ADC readings.

an ICSP header is included on the board, and can be enabled/disabled from the MCU pins with SW1.

Please press the "i" symbol at the top corner of each image to view it in full, readable resolution. Thank you.

klee27x says: Aug 27, 2011. 2:14 AM

"I am always open to suggestions about how to make this better, or what other features it could benefit from."

I could suggest a few from my DIY 8 channel logic probes:
http://www.instructables.com/id/8-channel-logic-probe/

Some of the features that you might want to consider adding:
1.True logic probe - high Z = both LEDs off, for differentiating between high impedance input and rapid switching outputs
2. individually selectable pullup/down resistors. Handy for quickly differentiating between an input with pullup enabled and an output high. Also takes the place of a dev board in some cases.
3. Input capability: tactile switch on each line that is individually selectable to short to either the ground or the power rail
4. One one of them I've added a li ion battery with 5V DC step up converter for powering the probe and/or the target circuit
5. integrated 9 pin port for plugging an 8 channel logic analyzer.

Oh, and you got it backwards. Red = high, green = low, dude. :) Think traffic signal. Think ground wires are green. Think red/black wires, where red = positive. :)

mattthegamer463 (author) in reply to klee27xAug 27, 2011. 10:36 AM

I was more thinking Green = good, Red = bad.

You've made some nice suggestions but unfortunately they're sort of "pie in the sky" ideas. I hunted high and low for an IC that would do the tri-state outputting like you say for #1, but I couldn't find any. This is the best I got. I'd need a different LED hookup scheme too, since a high-Z pin would result in both LEDs turning on anyway.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean about #2. That is to say I don't understand the value. If you've got a pulled-up input, you should be pulling it up somewhere in your circuit. This device is not to be replacing a circuit, just the PIC, also you wouldn't want to forget a key component in your design and have it fail after you make a PCB without all your pull-up resistors :(. That wouldn't be fun.

Same for #3 as #2.

However now a battery is a great idea. I will look into how cheaply I can achieve that, however powering by the circuit itself is almost always available.

Logic analyzer ports could be interesting. I imagine it is something that could be at least available on the board, even if there weren't soldered pins for it. I'll take a look into that.

Thanks for the ideas. Glad you liked my work.