FirmwareUpdate

iCONVARIO2/4

Summary
WeexplainbelowhowtouseamicroSDcardtouploadanewfirmwareversionintothe iCONVARIO2oriCONVARIO4.Firmwareupgradesimprovetheperformancenotonlyofthestation itself,butalsooftoolssuchasiTOOLAIRS.Inordertoensureproblemfreeoperationofthestation,we advisethatyouregularlycheckthefirmwareversionyouarerunningandupgradeitasnecessary.The currentfirmwarecanbedownloadedatanytimefromhttp://www.ersa.de/vario.

Basicconcepts
TheiCONVARIO2isfittedwithan0ICV205controlboardand0ICV206powerboard. TheiCONVARIO4isfittedwithtwo0ICV205controlboardsandone0ICV206powerboard. Eachoftheseboardsrunsitsownfirmware.Inordertodeterminewhetherafirmwareupgradeis necessary,youmustfirstcheckwhichversionthestationisrunning.

Checkingthefirmwareversion
ThefirmwareversionrunningontheiCONVARIOstationisgiveninthe"Kontrast"(Contrast)menu.To accessthismenu,proceedasfollows: Assoonasyouswitchthestationon,turntheiOPtotheright.Thisopensthe"Kontrast"(Contrast) menu.

Figure1.Kontrast(Contrast)Menu

Thisdisplaysthecontrastsettingandthetools(inthiscase:CHIPTOOLVARIOandiTOOLAIRS). PressandholddowntheiOPuntilthedisplaychanges.Thedisplayshouldnowbesimilartothat showninfigure2.

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Note: Thisfunctionisnotyetimplementedonpreproductionmodels(firmwareversion1.04dated 04.05.2012).Ifyoufindthistobethecase,youshoulddotheupgradeanyway.

Figure2.FirmwareversionsintheKontrast(Contrast)menu

Thisdisplaysthefirmwareversionsofthevariouscomponents,theirdates,thehardwareversionsofthe boardsaswellasthoseofanyinstalledtools. "CB:1.0603.09.1217.0"means:ControlBoard,FirmwareVersion1.06dated03.09.12, HardwareVersion17.0. "PB:1.0209.08.121.1"means:PowerBoard,FirmwareVersion1.02dated09.08.12, HardwareVersion1.1. "A1:"and"A2:"givethefirmwareversions,datesandhardwareversionsofthecurrentlyinstalledtools. Note: ThisfunctioniscurrentlyavailableonlyforCHIPTOOLVARIOandiTOOLAIRS. Thefirmwareversionanddateofthecontrolboardarealsodisplayedwhentheunitisswitchedon.

Figure3.Firmwareversiondisplayatpoweron

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Firmwarefilenames
iCONVARIOfirmwarefilenameshavethesyntaxVARIO(ddd).BINandVARPB(ddd).BIN. VARIO(ddd).BIN:Thefilescontainthefirmwareforthecontrolboard VARPB(ddd).BIN:Thefilescontainthefirmwareforthepowerboard. AIRTS(ddd).BIN:iToolAIRSfirmwarefiles. VARIO(ddd).BIN:ChipToolVARIOfirmwarefiles (ddd)arethethreedigitsofthefirmwareversionnumber.ThefilenamescouldthusbeVARIO108.BIN andVARPB103.BIN. Note: Fromfirmwareversion1.13dated18.02.13(VARIO113.BIN),thepowerboardfirmware(inthiscase powerboardfirmwareversion1.05dated13.0213)isalreadyintegratedintotheiCONVARIO firmwarefile.Youthusonlyneedonefiletoupgradetheentirefirmware.

Procedure
Step1:Preparation
ThecurrentfirmwareupdatesfortheiCONVARIO,CHIPTOOLVARIOandiTOOLAIRSareavailablefor downloadfromhttp://www.ersa.de/vario. Note: TheiCONVARIOcanreadmicroSDandmicroSDHCcardsformattedfortheFAT12, FAT16andFAT32filesystems.MakesurethatthemicroSDcardsarecorrectlyformatted beforeusingthemforanupdate. Itisadvisabletoformatthecardsbeforeusingthemtoupdatethefirmware! Downloadthefirmwareupdatefiles. SavethefilestoamicroSDcard. Note: ThefilesmustbesavedinthemicroSDcard'stopleveldirectory. Donotchangethefilenames.

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Caution! Abuginthecontrolboardfirmwareuptoandincludingversion1.12dated24.01.13meansthatthe newfirmwarefilemaynotbereadcorrectly. ThisproblemariseswhenmanyfileshavepreviouslybeenwrittentothemicroSDcard'stoplevel directory,eveniftheyhavebeendeleted. ThisproblemoccursespeciallywithpowerboardfirmwarefileVARPB103.bin.Donotuploadthis file. Ifthefirmwareupdateprocedureaborts,freezes,orcontinuallyattemptstostartagain,youhaveto switchoffthestationtobreakofftheprocedure. NowrepeattheupdateprocedurewithanewornewlyformattedmicroSDcardonwhichnoother fileshavebeenstored. UsingamicroSDcardpreparedinthiswaypreventstheproblemarisinginthefirstplace. Ifthecontrolboardisalreadyrunningfirmwareversion1.13dated18.02.13orlater,theproblem doesnotarise. Note: Thefilenamesmustbeinthe8.3DOSformat. Tip: ThefewerotherfilesareinthemicroSDcard'stopleveldirectory,eveniftheyhavepreviously beendeleted,thefasterthesystemcanfindthedata.

Step2:InsertthemicroSDcard
TurntheiCONVARIOstationoffandremovealltoolswhicharenottohavetheirfirmwareupdated. InsertthemicroSDcardasshowninfigures4and5.

Figure4.InsertingthemicroSDcard,frontview

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Figure5.InsertingthemicroSDcard,sideview

Note: Oncethecardhasbeeninsertedhalfway,youshouldfeelaslightresistance.Thisindicatesthatthe cardhasbeeninsertedcorrectly.Ifyoudon'tfeelthisresistance,pullthecardoutandtryagain.

Step3:Uploadingtheformware
Caution! DonotswitchofftheiCONVARIOduringthefirmwareupdateprocedure.Powerfailuresshouldbe prevented,ifatallpossible.DonotremovethemicroSDcard. InsertthemicroSDcardandturnthestationon. The"microSDcard"messageshoulddisplay(exception:preproductionseriesversion1.04dated 04.05.12).

Thefirmwareupdatestartsautomatically,assoonasamorerecentversionisdetectedonthecard.Ifno suchversionisdetected,thenormalmenudisplaysafterafewseconds. Note: Iftheupdatedoesnotstartafter5seconds,ortheerrormessageErr1displays(seefigure6), themicroSDhasbeeninsertedeitherthewrongwayroundoratanangle.Turnthestationoff, insertthecardcorrectlyandturnthestationbackonagain.

Figure6.microSDcard,Err1

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Themessage"bootloader"displays.Theprogressoftheupdateisindicatedbyaprogressbar.

Figure7.Bootloadermode

Oncethisprocedurehasterminated,thesystemautomaticallylooksforfurtherupdatesonthecardand runstheprocedureagainforthepowerboardoranyconnectedtools,asappropriate.

Figure8.Powerboardfirmwareupdate

Step4:Endofupdate
Waituntiltheentireupdateprocedurehasterminatedandthenormalmenuisdisplayedoncemore. Turnthestationoff. RemovethemicroSDcard. Turnthestationonagain.Thestationisnowupdatedtothenewfirmwareversion. Note: Settingsmadebeforetheupdateareretained. Thepasswordisnotchanged,norisitrequiredtorunthefirmwareupdateprocedure. Caution IfyouriCONVARIO4isrunningfirmwareversion1.12dated24.01.13orearlier,thefirmware updatemustberunseparatelyforeachsideofthestation,i.e.forbothcontrolboards. Bothcontrolboardsmustalwaysberunningthesamefirmwareversion. RuntheupdateprocedureagainforthesecondsideoftheiCONVARIO4.Startwithstep2ofthe procedure.Oncetheprocedurehasterminated,checkthatbothcontrolboardsarerunningthe samefirmwareversion.

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Fromfirmwareversion1.13dated18.02.13onwards,bothsidesofthestationareautomaticallyupdated together,evenifanolderversionisinstalled.

Durationoftheupdateprocedure
Updatingthecontrolboardtakesaround30seconds. ForiCONVARIO4'swithfirmware1.13dated18.02.13orlater,thesecondcontrolboardupdatetakes around2minutes. Thepowerboardupdateterminatesafteraround30seconds.

Troubleshooting
Thefirmwareupdateprocedurehasstillnotterminatedafter5minutes. FormatthemicroSDcardoruseanewone. Savethefirmwaretothecardandrepeattheprocedure. Theupdateprocedurehasbeeninterrupted(e.g.powerfailure,switchingoff,orremovalofthe microSDcard).Turnthestationoffandrepeattheprocedurefromstep3.

Versionhistory iCONVARIOcontrolboardfirmware
Thecurrentversionis1.13dated18.02.13.

Version1.13dated18/02/2013.
Collectsallcurrentboardfirmwareversionsintoasinglefile. Theprogressbarnowrunsthroughonlyonceforeachupdates. Bugfix:apasswordsettingdoesnotblockinthefirst30secondsafterpoweron,version1.12dated 24.01.13. Bugfix:incorrectreadingofmicroSDcardswhenmanyotherfileshavebeenwrittentothecard's topleveldirectory. Bugfix:controlboardfirmwareupdateproblematicwithpowerboardorUSBinterface.

Version1.12dated24/01/2013.
Newlanguageversionscompletedandavailable. AutomaticVACpumprecognition. VACPenmodealsooniCONVARIO2,whenVACpumpsarepresent. Bugfix:"Defaultsetting"doesnotworkoniCONVARIO2withallparameters. ChipToolVARIOregulationredone.50%outputlevellimitingremoved. BootloaderPatchforiToolAIRSversion1.02.

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Version1.08dated05.10.12
iToolAIRSsettablefrom50C. SoftwareversionsdisplayinKontrast(Contrast)menuwith"longpush". "INCORRECTTOOLARRANGEMENT"errorwhentoolswithgroundedthermoelementsare combined. "Defaultsetting"option(stillnotworkingproperlywithiCONVARIO2) iToolAIRSregulationredone. SeveralfirmwareupdatescanbedonewithasinglemicroSDcard(powerboardandcontrolboard atthesametime). "on2x"messagedisplaysforiToolAIRSIRsensoroperation. Improvederrordetection(especiallyChipToolVARIO)

Version1.04dated04/09/2012.
Alsooperateswith60Hz(230V). NewError6"UndefinedTool"forfuture,notyetdefinedtools. FirmwareupdatespossiblewithmicroSDcard.

Version1.00dated04.05.12
Firstofficialversion.

iCONVARIOpowerboardfirmware
Thecurrentversionis1.05dated13/02/2013.

Version1.05dated13/02/2013.
BugFix:incorrectVACpumprecognitionwhenanXToolisconnectedduringthe"Defaultsetting" procedure.

Version1.04dated31/01/2013.
USBconnectionoperational. AutomaticVACpumprecognition.

Version1.03dated01/10/2012.
XToolVACleakagetimeoutincreasedfrom20secondsto60seconds. Communicationsbetweencontrolandpowerboardsimproved. AdditionalUSAversionwith115V60Hz.

Version1.02dated09/08/2012.
FirmwareupdatespossiblewithmicroSDcard. VACpumpprogramsectionredone. VACpenmodedisabledbydefault.

Version1.00dated04/05/2012.
Firstofficialversion.
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