RISC-V CH32V003

Posted by: @mathpi

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Hi All,

I hope this is the right section to post this question in....

I am just catching up on the cheap CH32V003 IC. JLCPCBcm/Parts seems to have some in stock now. My question is whether anyone has tried to program the IC via the usual UART instead of what WCH is promoting via their 1-wire link stick (I forget the name they gave it)? Couldn't one set up a USB-C to UART (say the old CH340C also by WCH) and program via TX/RX? If so, any details I should know before trying to do so..?

Cheers,
MathPi

Someone else may have ideas, but for me too many acronyms and missing details. Can you tie this back to a video Bill made or somebody else's?

@zander my question is not based on any video Bill has made... at least I don't think he has made one on this topic.

The CH32V003 came out last year (I think?) and is super cheap microcontroller. The manufacturer WCH also makes the chip Ch340C/G, which you might have come across if you ever used an Arduino clone. My question relates to how to program the IC besides the 1-wire debugging interface that the manufacturer suggests. There are programing sticks out there for this. But I am interested in using UART TX/RX to program and I cannot find any resources online about this. This is likely as the IC is fairly new and the community hasn't produced many tutorials yet. ... maybe Bill can 😉

Cheers,

MathPi

Hi @mathpi,

   Haven't tried doing anything with this processor, but your strategy sounds plausible.

  I came across YouTube 

(I think there are others too that might give a useful clue or two.)

Only watched a couple of minutes, but it seems to be suggesting something similar ... Have a go and report what you find!

Good luck on your quest, Dave

@mathpi 

Acronyms aren't helpful unless the reader already knows what they stand for or it is given at the start of a text using the acronym.

Even a google to the manufacturers fails to spell out what JLC stands for!!!
PCB part is Printed Circuit Board.
UART is a protocol two wire connection for serial data.
Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter

WHC can be Womens and Children's Hospital or maybe White Coat Hypertension 🙂

But probably a UART replacement google is silent on the matter.

@mathpi Ok, that helps. Of course, I am familiar with the CH340, it is a fairly standard USB interface chip on many MCUs. I just did a Google search on ch340 and got a few interesting hits. Although the price is advertised as $0.10 on Tindie, it's $19.90 but on AliExpress it's 50 for $6.82. One immediate problem I see is it is a SMD and I like many of the members in my age category can't handle any chip that small BUT for 200X the cost of a single chip I can get a dev board. My question is, is this $20 MCU better than a $8 PICOW? I will bookmark it, and when I have a spare moment, have a closer look at the specs to see if it fits anything I am interested in but TBH, I rather doubt it.

@mathpi I see I missed the point of your query. As far as programming, the video @davee included gives a good bit of information, and the Tindie page has the dev board and programmer. The IDE can be downloaded on the WCH site. Good luck.

Hi, a note to anyone confused by @mathpi's original message:

I agree acronym soup can be hard to digest; perhaps this will help explain a little.

WCH and JLCPCB appear to be the respective manufacturer's and distributors's names .. not as obvious or wellknown as IBM or GM, but they seem to be the only references used on their websites.

https://jlcpcb.com/

https://wch-ic.com/

CH340C & CH340G are references to one family of chips commonly used to connect microcontrollers like the ESP32 & ESP8266 to a USB socket.

I assume UART TX/RX and IC, (plus USB) are familiar to most of you.

I hope that clarifies the situation a little.

Best wishes to all, Dave

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And as late postscript, whilst I it might be challenge to solder the CH32V003 chip, there are lots of boards appearing, some under £1 (UK) ... so I assume also under US$1, all on AliExpress. If you have a project that needs lots of small microcontrollers, or if you want a cheap RISC-V processor to poke, then maybe it is useful. Obviously, for a dollar or two more, you can get much more processing horsepower. The choice is yours!

It might mean using a different IDE from Arduino .. I haven't checked .. the YouTube I referred to above mentioned one originating from WCH themselves, albeit Eclipse based.

Posted by: @mathpi

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My question relates to how to program the IC besides the 1-wire debugging interface that the manufacturer suggests. There are programing sticks out there for this. But I am interested in using UART TX/RX to program and I cannot find any resources online about this. This is likely as the IC is fairly new and the community hasn't produced many tutorials yet. ... maybe Bill can 😉

It appears that Dave is using a garden variety USB converter. Check out Amazon and search for "USB to TTL 5PIN Serial Converter Adapter Module ".

@will Very confused. What are you referring to?

@will Here is the link to the Tindie complete kit. It is not like a normal FTDI or whatever.

https://www.tindie.com/products/adz1122/ch32v003-risc-v-mcu-development-board/

Posted by: @zander

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@will Here is the link to the Tindie complete kit. It is not like a normal FTDI or whatever.

https://www.tindie.com/products/adz1122/ch32v003-risc-v-mcu-development-board/

And, if you watch Dave (Jones') video, you'll see that stuck on the end of what looks like the kind of module from Amazon.

Ok thanks for pointing out how I could have improved my post. This was my first post on the DroneBot forum (besides the introduction post). Next time to save time and confusion I'll explain all of the abbreviations and provide more links.

My purpose in this exercise is to develop a development board based on this IC. It seems there are already a couple development boards out there, but I have several ideas for improvements. I've got most of it mapped out. I am struggling a bit, and hence my original post, with figuring out how to program the IC via UART (using the CH340C). The datasheet of the IC by WCH manufacturer (can be downloaded here https://www.wch-ic.com/downloads/CH32V003DS0_PDF.html) does mention that the IC is capable of UART, but it doesn't mention much beyond that.... I guess it's a matter of trial and error. Once I got it working I'll update here and maybe make a quick YouTube video.

@mathpi This is the devkit that I see, there is also a IDE.

@zander Yes I saw that one too. I ordered some.. will have them in a couple weeks. What I want to do is combine these into a single stand-alone development board. I'm not sure what UART IC is being used in this one... maybe CH340 or a version of it.