SparkFun Forums

[Twingy]

I recently purchased a dozen of the TCM8230MD 640x480 camera modules. Using my circuit plotter I created a small surface mount board and soldered the module along with the 2.8V and 1.5V SOT-23 regulators along with outputs for each of the pins. The surface mount components were assembled using solder paste. I designed an EAGLE part for the camera. I have my Tektronix TDS2024B Oscilloscope connected to my prototyping board that has the 0.1" pitch header coming from the camera interfacing with my Atmel AT91SAM7S64 ARM development board. I am generating a 15MHz clock signal for the camera, reset is high (off), the regulators are outputing the correct voltage, and I have the I2C (TWI) lines pulled high with a 1k resistor. As of right now it looks like the I2C clock line is not sinking when interfaced with the module and I detect no shorts. After digging around it turns out this camera originally came with a socket to be used for the soldering process so that the camera does not get damaged. Has anyone had any success in communicating with this camera yet?

[Twingy]

The prototype board I made with this camera is now working. I will post my progress over the course of the following week.

[raven]

I'm really looking forward to seeing your results!

[Twingy]

I think I just about have it working, will post results as soon as I can.

[Twingy]

I've been posting mainly under the TCM8240MD discussion thread, but the camera works and keep you eyes on that thread for more info...

[huayuan]

Twingy
Now I am working on the TCM8230，but I do not kown how to set the internal register of TCM8230.The parameters of these internal register have puzzled me.For example, the parameter HPPH[7:0] in register 33. I have searched these parameters on the internet, finally I find nothing about them.So ask you for help.

[duncan]

I'm finally getting reasonable images out of it. If anyone else is still using it (specifically the 8230 and not the bigger 8240), I would love to compare notes on all the undocumented registers.

[mkmckenzie]

I'm just getting started with the 8230. Did you guys use 2.8V IOVDD or get brave and go 3.3v? I'm wondering if I really need to believe the datash**t when it claims 3v MAX on SDA/SCL, RESET, and EXTCLK. I'd love to avoid incorporating level shifts for those in order to interface with my 3.3v MCU... What did you guys do?

[KreAture]

I'm interfacing it with an avr32 running linux.
Finished the basic driver functions now and I am getting data.

I think my cheap resistor-level convertion is causing noise in the data but the cam is working and was much easier to handle than the tcm8240. It appears to select the right area of the ccd chip by itself for instance.

Piccy @ 640x480:


Wohooo!

[leon_heller]

I've got a couple of those cameras on order. I was thinking of using one with a new LPC1768 board I'm getting (100 MHz Cortex-M3).

[duncan]

These cameras can be very sensitive. I've never tried 3.3v, but if you're building a board for it anyway (and you almost have to) just stick some LDOs on it for the supplies.

[KreAture]

I have LDO's for 2.8v and 1.6v that is why I said it was 3.3 to 2.8...
But, I am just using resistors on the I/O between em. This is due to the stupid camera not accepting a VDDIO of more than 2.8v. If it did I'd keep PVDD at 2.8 so no recalibration would be needed, and set IOVDD to 3.3v for better communication.

As it is, I have used 2.8v for both PVDD and IOVDD without using seperate regulators. This, in combination with the 3.3v clocking in at between 13 and 27 MHz is probably what is causing the lines in my image. Will try changing the series-resistors to damoen the effect though.

Oh, and I don't have streaming video working quite right yet. Something with the ISI driver that Atmel never released properly.

[duncan]

That's weird - have you tried the test pictures? Might help to determine if it's the sensor or the logic.

There's no reason you should need resistors on the data lines, since that's camera -> mc. I'm not doing any level shifting but you should only need it on the mc -> camera lines (mck, i2c and reset).

[KreAture]

I think it's bad routing
My testpics are crystal clear so I know the logic is ok.

I based the tcm8230 driver on my old tcm8240 driver and it too transfers testpics perfectly. The issue with the tcm8240 is the datasheet is very poor and the config is complicated.

Maby I am using too slow voltage regulators?
I am using MIC5205BM5 adjustable LDO's. They don't hadle much current but are small and easy to work with.

[aeo087]

I just bought one of these cameras, could anyone share with me a schematic of the breakout board designed? I also keep hearing about undocumented registers, what should I know about those?
My plan is to create a PCB breakout board and then drive the RGB output of this camera through an FPGA that encodes the RGB to a motion JPEG or MPEG stream. From your experience, is this the right camera for this job? I haven't been able to find any other cameras that can output RGB or YUV directly and the JPEG cameras are way too slow for what I plan to do.