Experimental Tools

☀️ Light

Useful, stand-alone tools that complement the MPLAB Blockset but are not part of the shipped blockset itself. They are provided as-is, may evolve without notice, and often bundle embedded data snapshots that can become out-of-date between blockset releases.

⚠️ Experimental status — these pages are convenience utilities. Always cross-check the data against the authoritative source indicated on each tool’s page (datasheet, DIM Info Sheet on Confluence, etc.) before making design decisions.

Available Tools

🔌 Motor Control DIM Connection Viewer

Interactive browser of the 120-pin MCS DIM connector routing for every supported Motor Control DIM card (Sagitta, Andromeda, Andromeda+ Value Line, Perseus, Pegasus, Blue Ridge, Sagittarius, Centaurus, Pegasus+, Serpens) against both baseboards (MCLV-48V-300W and MCHV-230VAC-1.5kW).

What it shows

• DIM-pin → MCU-pin mapping with full pin-name signature (PPS numbers, alternate functions, analog inputs)
• Baseboard-signal assignment per DIM pin (PWM_AH / M1_IA / QEI_A / etc.) colour-coded by function
• Direct vs via-0Ω-resistor vs DNP (Do-Not-Populate) paths
• Per-chip DNP remarks sourced from MCS DIM Info Sheets on Confluence
• One-click link to the matching development kit product page on microchip.com

How to use

1. Pick a DIM in the top-left dropdown.
2. Pick a baseboard in the top-right dropdown.
3. Toggle Show alternates to see secondary pin options (through 0Ω resistors / DNP).
4. Toggle Highlight motor-control essentials to emphasize the pins that actually carry PWM / current / voltage / Hall / QEI / fault signals — useful when auditing a schematic.

Data source — extracted from Motor Control DIM-Pin Mapping.xlsx (the spreadsheet maintained by the MC applications team) cross-referenced with the MCS DIM Info Sheets on Confluence space MCU16APP and each chip’s datasheet. Snapshot date is shown in the page footer.

Adding a new tool to this section

1. Drop the standalone HTML (and any sibling assets) under static/tools/<tool_name>/index.html.
2. Create a thin wrapper page content/experimental/<tool_name>.md that <iframe>-embeds the tool and explains what it does, what data source feeds it, and when the snapshot was taken.
3. Add a link from this index page.

Keeping the HTML under static/ instead of inside a Markdown page preserves its own CSS / JS from collisions with the Hugo theme and avoids re-escaping issues with goldmark.