VP-30 programmer
The VP-30 programmer: (Category Universal Programmers)
The VP-30, or VP-30 ATHall Burner, as it's officially called, is a versatile programmer that maybe doesn't look as impressive as its nicely encased competitors, but it does deliver the same performance. And it does so, at a very friendly price.
It's obvious that, in designing and producing the cheapest universal programmer, sacrifices have to be made. Most notible sacrifice being the lack of an enclosure of course. But there are other, more subtle signs that this programmer was built with more emphasis on economics than on looks. For instance, the lack of any protection at the under side of the programmer. Not even a few rubber feet to keep the soldered contacts clear from your table top surface. Take my advice and glue a few rubber feet under the PCB or make sure you always place the programmer on a mouse mat.
The design and the "traditional" assembly with "Hole Mouted" instead of "Surface Mounted" components, are signs of cost effective thinking. Although maybe not that nice to look at, it is a blessing for the real hobbyist as it is very easy to repair or modify this programmer if required. There are no unnecessary extra's on this programmer. No power switch, nor any extra logic for off line card duplication purposes. Just plain and simple programming of all popular cards.
There is a bonus to the simple design too though. Switching between the different programming modes is much quicker and easier than with most of the other manualy switchable programmers. Before you start programming a card, you select the card type you are going to program. Then during the programming process, all you have to do is switch between processor mode and eeprom mode. So only one switch to care about. You either set the switch to the left or to the right.
The photo down here shows the 3 switches with an explanation of their function.
Attention : insert the cards with the contacts facing down.
I have tested the VP-30 with MasterBurner and with MKFind. Both these packages work without problems on the VP-30. Just note that in order to work with MKFind, you need to set the programmer in 3,58 MHz mode and in Eeprom mode. The card type switch is of no importance for MKFind.
When working with MasterBurner, you need to set the programmer to 6 MHz mode. Then you set the card type switch according to the card type you are going to program. So for a Fun card or ATMega card, you set the swith to Atmel Card. For a Gold card or Silver card, you set the switch to PIC Card. After that you only need to use the Processor/Eeprom switch.
There is one last detail you need to be aware of. You need a power supply with a large enough capacity. Minimum requirement is 14 Volt. From my own experience, I can say that a proper stabilized power supply of 15 Volts is sufficient. I did try a few unstabilized 12 Volt power supplies, but they did not all work well. The result being verify errors during programming.
The pros- and cons:
Advantages:
- will work with almost all popular programmer software
- can handle all popular card types
- mode switching during programming is easy, reliable and very fast
- the price
Disadvantages:
- basic programmer settings require getting used to, because there is no indication on the programmer
- no enclosure, nor any protection of the under side, which makes it vulnerable
For the real hobbyist it is good to know that this programmer can be bought as a complete kit to build yourself. A nice project and a very cheap solution indeed.