TOPWIN Universal Programmer

TOPWIN Universal Programmer is a cool Chinese product that helps you program a wide variety of Eproms,Microcontrollers,EEproms and GAL ICs.

I have tested Eproms 27c512, 27c4001 , Microcontrollers AT89s52,Philips 89V51RD2, AT89C2051,ATTiny2313,ATMega16L,EEprom 24c16, 93C46,PIC16F877A, PIC16F676 all devices are unbelievably working fine.All available flash ROMs of Microcontrollers were read, erased and written again with very little effort.

It has also a built in IC tester (TTL logic tester). Just plug standard logic chip (74xx, 40xx, 45xx), select chip type and press test. The working condition of the chip is reported. Also there is an interesting feature called logic searcher. Just insert unknown chip and press’ find’. All possible types of that device is listed.

The only drawback is the poor English of the instruction manual accompanying the product.

Here is the step by step guide of installing and using the TOPWIN Programmer.

First thing is to install the Universal programmer software Topwin.exe that is supplied with the programmer.The latest version6.3.1 installs fine on Windows 7 OS. After successful installation the Topwin icon appears on your desktop.

If the icon does not appear go to All programs ,right click on Topwin6 and click ‘send to’ and then select ‘Desktop(create shortcut)’.

Now connect the Topwin programmer to the USB port of your PC using the usb cable provided with the device.

The red led glows indicating power is ON to the programmer.Now double click the Topwin icon on your desktop to start the program.

Caution : First connect the device to the Usb port and after the power Led lights up then start the Topwin program.If you start the program and then  try to connect the device to the Usb port, the program will CRASH.

The main window appears like

Like any other software ,on the top appears the MENU bar with dropdown functions.

Below the menu bar you can see a strip of image icons forming the TOOL bar.

The icons from left to right enables following functions

Load file to buffer  ,  Save buffer to file  , Select Chip , Erase Chip , Check Blank Chip , Write code to chip , Compare chip with the file buffer , Write config. to chip , Read config. to chip , Lock chip , Read chip to buffer , Display Mfa & type , Change Language.

If you hover the mouse over any icon , the respective function is displayed as tooltip.

In the center you can see 3  tags Buffer,Config and Placement

When you click Buffer you can view the buffer memory of the programmer .This is the place where you ‘Read’ data of chip into.You can save this buffer data to a file and later reload the file so that you can copy the data on to another chip.

Config is the place where you define the Address space of Chip start ,Chip end,Buffer start location and delay time of buffer loading.

Placement  is another important tag where you can find the position of IC .According to this diagram , you have to the place the IC in the holder.Take note of  the tiny cut like notch in the IC and place the IC carefully into the holder as per the diagram shown.The position of placement changes for different ICs.Some ICs need to be placed in the center of the  holder.

To the left of the main window is the Operation window with 2 tags ,Run & Settings .At the bottom of the operation window  are two large buttons  GO & RUN

Now let me explain the operation of copying an EPROM 27c512 of ST make loaded with some program.

Step1:

To begin with connect the programmer to the USB port of your PC or Laptop and then start the Topwin program.

Step2:

Now select the chip you want to program, in this case Eprom 27c512 ST make, by clicking the third icon from left or  from menu Run –> Select chip tree

Select EPROM –> ST  -> 27c512 –> ok   i.e., Type of Device->Device Make->Device No.

The green LED glows indicating that the device is Ready.

Step3 :

Now click the placement tag to see how to place the IC in the holder.

It shows that 27c512 has to be placed with ‘cut’ side of IC downwards.Place the IC accordingly and lock the handle of the ZIF socket (Zero Insertion Force socket, it is called so ,as you are applying zero force to insert an IC).

If you place wrongly, then a dialog pops up informing that connections are wrong.

Step 4:

To Read the contents of Eprom into the buffer click Run –> Read or click the last but third icon in the tool bar.Now you can see the buffer window populated with data from your Master IC 27c512.

Remove the Master IC and then place an empty IC in the same position you placed the master.

Step 5:

Click  ‘Write code to chip’ icon ,sixth icon from left.The data in the buffer is written to your new chip.Now you have a copy of the Master Eprom .

You can click from the top menu Run – > Verify to verify the copy operation.

At the bottom right of the buffer window the SUM  of data of the master Eprom is displayed.This Checksum can be compared with that of copied ones to confirm whether the copied data is correct.

If you want to make a number of copies then click RUN button of operation window.The programmer will automatically copy and then informs you to place a new chip. In this case the operations like Blank,Write,Verify where you have placed tick marks in the operation window, takes place automatically.

Step 6:

If you want to save the buffer then click File –> Save Buffer and provide a name.The file will be stored as a binary file with  .bin extension.

To clear the buffer click Edit –> Fill Buffer  –  ok

Please note that an Eprom can be erased only under the exposure to Ultra Violet light for few minutes and you can’t erase it with this programmer.

Also note that,  Eprom ICs require around 12.5v to enable fusing.The programmer has a built in voltage Doubler and regulator to boost the USB 5v supply to meet the requirement of fusing Eprom.If the Eprom requires more than 500ma of current ,then that type of Eproms cannot be programmed with  Topwin.

Programming  ATMEL 89S52

To program the microcontroller AT89s52 you have to load the buffer with .hex file.The hex file is created through Microvision KEIL development software.Generally for ATMEL controllers coding is done in embedded C in KEIL IDE and finally it provides the Intel format .hex file (more on this in future posts).

Start the Topwin program.

File –> Open and then browse to the location where you have stored the .hex file and select it.

A file format dialog box opens with automatically showing the type of file you have selected (in this case  .hex file).Just click Ok.The Hex file is loaded to the buffer.

Before clicking the Run button check for the tick marks under Run tag.

By default all process like Erase,Blank,Write,Verify add Security are tick marked which will be executed one by one automatically.Security is  a LOCK to the code so that no body can make a copy of your master chip.

The process is similar to program a PIC microcontroller except that you will arrive at the .hex file through MPLAB IDE.

 

For availability of this programmer please contact

Saravana Electronics,

10,Edayar Street,Coimbatore – 641001

ph : 91422 2398827

alselectro@gmail.com