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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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14 years ago

Some questions about Terasic DE0-nano

Hi everyone :)

I bought development kit from Terasic - DE0-nano. It's my first FPGA device. At the beginning of using it I have some questions and doubts...

1. The Control Panel from CD doesn't work without manually downloading .sof file to FPGA. There's no mention about it in user manual... I downloaded it, control panel seems to work good but board gets warm. After about 1 hour board has about 45-50 degrees of Celsius. Is it normal? The greatest temperature I detected near the USB and regulators. I noticed also that when i plug the board into USB in my notebook (asus k50ij), external disk turns off because of power consumption. I know that FPGA needs much power but...

2. Can I connect 2 power supplies at once? I mean battery pack to 2 pin header and USB for programming?

I will be grateful for any answers...

10 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    14 years ago

    Hi,

    If you use external power connector and usb is also connected then external power voltage should be litle over USB 5V voltage.

    Other way is remove USB 5V diodes (D5 and D6) and use external connector to power card. I didn't see any jumper for disabling USB powering in schematics.

    Note:

    Schematics should be in application/demo DVD. Last page is Power schematics
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    14 years ago

    Thanks for Your reply.

    I don't want to modify hardware. Nano is portable solution. It's obvious that it should be powered by USB not an external sources. I don't want to damage my nano so i will stay at default powering : )

    There are also some problems which I can't solve - board temperature while using control panel and incorrect acting Breathing LEDs Demo. On YT i saw that blinking speed can be change by dipswitches. In my board this function doesn't work...
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    14 years ago

    Yes. I'm using the newest version of System CD and Control Panel. At startup Control Panel shows error "Please make sure Quartus is installed".

    Could You say something about my other doubts? I mean about temperature and 2 power supplies at once?
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    14 years ago

    Hi Jar0, yes you can attach two power supplies at once. If you take a look at the picture I have attached (schematics on the DE0-nano CD), there are diodes connecting from the power supply, meaning that only one supply will source at a given time depending on the voltage value, if both USB and pins are connected to a power source.

    Regarding the power consumption, do you have any external devices connected to your IO pins? You might want to contact our support at support@terasic.com if it is proving to be a problem.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    14 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    On YT i saw that blinking speed can be change by dipswitches. In my board this function doesn't work...

    --- Quote End ---

    BTW I made this modification myself in the demo, which isn't included in the shipped source code :p

    You can modify the code yourself by adjusting the clock speed along with switches. Good luck!
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    14 years ago

    All i did after i received my board was downloading control panel .sof file. I didn't connected something instead of USB ;) When i turn on nano with any demos (e.x. breathing leds), board doesn't get warm. The highest temperature i riched when i used Control Panel.

    I know that power consumption depends on IO configuration. Maybe .sof with control panel has bugs? ;) Maybe powering all components needs a lots of power.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    10 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    Yes. I'm using the newest version of System CD and Control Panel. At startup Control Panel shows error "Please make sure Quartus is installed".

    Could You say something about my other doubts? I mean about temperature and 2 power supplies at once?

    --- Quote End ---

    Hi there,

    Please visit de0-nano.terasic.com and download the latest DE0-Nano control panel. This version should be able to get rid of the error message.

    As for connecting two power sources, you can definitely do that, but the external 5V power supply will "take over" the powering role even if the other one is connected to the USB port on the host PC.

    Thanks,

    David from Terasic
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    10 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    Just a curiosity, why there are two schottky diodes in parallel?

    --- Quote End ---

    Hi there,

    The idea is to double the current supply from 1A to 2A.

    David from Terasic