Project Peta-pico-Voltron

High Voltage Power Supplies

HVPS drivers

The release of hvps-x means the end of development and support for the original SHVPS described on this page. The files and instructions remain accessible, but we won’t provide upgrades or support. The reason for stopping support is that we don’t have any SHVPS left to work on, nor any LabVIEW license to work on the user interface. If you want to assemble a high voltage power supply, we recommend our new hvps-x.

1 Users: Drivers only

If you are a user of an already assembled HVPS unit, you need to install drivers to be able to communicate with it. The brain of the HVPS is an Arduino Micro. You can install the complete IDE available on the Arduino website, but if you don’t need to program the board, this is not necessary. The following instructions describe how to install the drivers without installing the Arduino IDE:

1.1 Windows

  1. Download the drivers using this from the Download page (board_drivers.zip in Software section)
  2. Unplug HVPS from the computer.
  3. Unzip the folder.
  4. Launch the file dpinst-amd64.exe (64 bits) or dpinst-x86.exe (32 bits) and accept the installation of drivers.
  5. Connect the HVPS to the USB port of your computer. If the drivers have been correctly installed, a COM port should appear in your device manager.
    device_manager_arduino_micro

1.2 OSX:

No driver are needed, but the first time you plug a HVPS, a Keyboard Setup Assistant dialog box will be displayed. You should simply close it using the red button at the top left of the window.

2 Developers: Install the Arduino IDE

If you want to assemble, test and calibrate a new HVPS, you will need to download and install the Arduino IDE. The installation includes the required drivers.

  1. Go to the download page of the Arduino website
  2. Download and install the version corresponding to your system. Accept the proposition of the installer to also install the required drivers.

2.1 Configuration of the Arduino IDE

arduino_ide_board_and_port

In the Tools menu, you must select Arduino/Genuino Micro as target platform. You must also choose the correct COM port to which your board is connected. If you have connected an Arduino Micro to your computer, but none are showing in the list, then the drivers are not correctly installed. Refer to the documentation on the Arduino website, or the instructions given above to install the drivers.

Refer to the Arduino documentation on the arduino website for more information on how to program the microcontroller. Basically, once you have installed the drivers, and selected the correct board and port as described on the image, you can simply open a sketch and press on the “upload” button to compile the sketch and send it to the Arduino. If you do that on a micro-controller which is installed on the SHVPS board, be sure that the High Voltage enable switch (S2) is on the 0 (off) position!

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