Version 1.0.0, 2017-06-05
The PD Buddy Sink can be put into setup mode by holding the Setup button while plugging it into a computer. In this mode, the device does not perform any USB Power Delivery communications, instead running a configuration console over a USB CDC-ACM virtual serial port. This allows the user to change the voltage and current the Sink requests, as well as other settings related to the device’s operation.
Connect to the PD Buddy Sink with your favorite serial console program, such as
GNU Screen, Minicom, or PuTTY. On Linux, the device file will
probably be something like /dev/ttyACM0
. Any baud rate will work, as USB
CDC-ACM doesn’t care what it’s set to. After connecting, press Enter and you
should be greeted with a PDBS)
prompt.
To see the configuration the device already has, run get_cfg
:
PDBS) get_cfg
status: valid
flags: (none)
v: 9.00 V
i: 3.00 A
If the Sink has no configuration, this will simply print No configuration
.
The set_v
and set_i
commands allow you to set the voltage and current the
Sink will request. The units used are millivolts and milliamperes. For
example, to configure the device to request 2.25 A at 20 V, run the following
commands:
PDBS) set_v 20000
PDBS) set_i 2250
The changes made so far are held temporarily in RAM. To review the temporary
configuration buffer, run get_tmpcfg
:
PDBS) get_tmpcfg
status: valid
flags: (none)
v: 20.00 V
i: 2.25 A
The configuration buffer must be written to flash for the device to actually request the selected voltage and current. To do this, run:
PDBS) write
As soon as the prompt reappears after running write
, the changes have been
stored to flash, which can be verified with get_cfg
. The Sink may be safely
unplugged at any time.
Commands are echoed on the terminal as characters are received. Lines are
separated by \r\n
and a command’s output ends with the PDBS)
prompt.
The command buffer can be cleared by sending ^D (a \x04
character). It is
recommended to do this at the start of programmatic communications to ensure
that the first command sent will be correctly processed.
Usage: help
Prints short help messages about all available commands.
Usage: license
Prints licensing information for the firmware.
Usage: erase
Synchronously erases all stored configuration from flash. This can be used to restore a device to its default state.
Note: The erase
command is mainly intended for development and testing.
Stored configuration is automatically erased if necessary when write
is run,
and wear leveling is performed as well. Unless you really know what you’re
doing, there should be no reason to ever run erase
.
Usage: write
Synchronously writes the contents of the configuration buffer to flash. Wear leveling is done to ensure long flash life, and the flash sector is automatically erased if necessary.
Usage: load
Loads the current configuration from flash into the buffer. Useful if you want
to change some settings while leaving others alone. If there is no
configuration, No configuration
is printed instead.
Usage: get_cfg [index]
If no index is provided, prints the current configuration from flash. If there
is no configuration, No configuration
is printed instead.
For developers: if an index is provided, prints a particular location in the
configuration flash sector. If the index lies outside the configuration flash
sector, Invalid index
is printed instead.
Usage: get_tmpcfg
Prints the contents of the configuration buffer.
Usage: clear_flags
Clears all the flags in the configuration buffer.
Usage: toggle_giveback
Toggles the GiveBack flag in the configuration buffer. GiveBack allows the power supply to temporarily remove power from the Sink’s output if another device needs more power. Recommended if the Sink is being used to charge a battery.
Usage: set_v voltage_in_mV
Sets the voltage of the configuration buffer, in millivolts.
Note: values are rounded down to the nearest Power Delivery voltage unit (50 mV).
Usage: set_i current_in_mA
Sets the current of the configuration buffer, in milliamperes.
Note: values are rounded down to the nearest Power Delivery current unit (10 mA).
Usage: identify
Blinks the LED quickly. Useful for identifying which device you’re connected to if several are plugged in to your computer at once.
Wherever a configuration object is printed, the following format is used.
The configuration consists of a number of fields, one per line. Each field is of the format:
name: value
Only the status
field is mandatory. Any or all other fields may be absent if
their values are not valid or relevant.
The status
field holds the name of the status of the printed configuration
object. The possible names are:
empty
: A configuration object left empty after the last erase.valid
: The configuration object that holds the current device settings.invalid
: A configuration object that once held settings, but has been
superseded.The flags
field holds zero or more flags. If no flags are enabled, the
field’s value is (none)
. Otherwise, the field’s value is some combination of
the following words, separated by spaces, representing the flags enabled in
this configuration object:
GiveBack
: allows the power supply to temporarily reduce power to the device
if necessary.The v
field holds the fixed voltage of the configuration object, in volts.
The field’s value is a floating-point decimal number, followed by a space and a
capital V. For example: 20.00 V
The i
field holds the fixed current of the configuration object, in amperes.
The field’s value is a floating-point decimal number, followed by a space and a
capital A. For example: 2.25 A
The PD Buddy Sink can be identified by the following USB device descriptors:
The device’s firmware version number is given in the iSerial descriptor. The version number follows Semantic Versioning. The serial console configuration interface is the API that the version number describes.