CH32V003 standalone programmer WCH-MCU-DL - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2024, 12:10:59 pm
content: So I saw thisstandalone programmer on AliexpressEdit - updated Aliexpress link to page with all 4 versions - suggest searching "WCH-MCU-DL" for latestthere is some English documentation here:https://www.wch.cn/bbs/thread-113213-1.htmlSo far I've got as far as creating a key file and downloading a file to the board, but haven't yet managed to get it to talk to the chip.Has anyone managed to get it to work ?

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2024, 02:29:42 pm
content: Some more playing...Screen colour shows status - green:ready, yellow:busy.red:error.Starting a program op by shorting J6 pin5/6 sets the BUSY pin of J6 while it's trying - the Busy pin does not assert if programming started using S3I'm seeing UART traffic on J5, suggesting it's trying to use UART comms not SWD. I'd expect to see an option in DlPubtool to select mode, but can't see anything obvious

author: HwAoRrDk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2024, 02:48:03 am
content: What version of the WCH-MCU-DL do you have? The forum posting seems to state that only the CH32V208-based programmer supports CH32V003 and its single-wire protocol.Or maybe the thing only supports programming CH32V003 via UART using the bootloader (i.e. like with WCHISPTool) because itdoesn'tsupport the single-wire protocol (only regular SWD).What version firmware is the programmer running? Maybe it needs an upgrade...

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2024, 09:34:49 am
content: Programmer is CH32F103, Firmware V2422VThe forum post is not entirely clearQuoteCan't see any mention that the 103 doesn't support SWD, and the 103 manual mentions SWD. Seems the 208 is a later version thoughI've ordered a V208 version

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2024, 09:53:52 am
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on January 24, 2024, 09:34:49 amThe SWD in the 003 is I seem to recall a different SWD from the bigger chips (and none of them are Arm SWD).

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2024, 09:33:03 am
content: Just had a reply confirming my suspicion from WCH :QuoteI'll report back when I get the 208 version.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2024, 01:53:35 pm
content: Received the 208 versionIt does appear to work, in that it completes without error - not checked the actual code yet.programs in under 2 secs even with a full chip.However this one only supports 5V.It does appear to work OK if the chip is powered from 3.3v - as the programmer will normally only be connected to the SWIO pin, this is probably not a big issue.Looking again at the Aliexpress listing, there appear to be 4 variants :CH32V208W-5VCH32F103R-5VCH32F103R-2.3VPWRCFG Generic.I think the last is a universal voltage version. Ordered one, but may be delayed by CNY

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2024, 07:01:16 pm
content: Quick video running through the use of this unit :https://youtu.be/Qnt_43PZcyo

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2024, 12:18:25 pm
content: Received the "PWRCFG Generic. " version.As expected, this supports 1.8, 3.3 and 5V, both for logic levels and the power output on the programming header.Voltage is set by the configuration in the .datakey file.

author: SteveyG
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 10, 2024, 09:11:35 pm
content: Just received my dev boards, MCUs and the PWRCFG Generic programmer. Looks ideal for some little LED projects I had planned - nearly had a heart attack when the PIC18F I had planned to use had increased in price to nearly £4.50

author: tinayetsina
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 29, 2024, 09:12:08 am
content: There is a video on their Youtube channel explaining how to operate and use this standalone programmerhttps://youtu.be/bxpzd_jhYTsYou can check it out if you have any other WCH-related questions you can contact me