Bug in SparkFun VS1053 Breakout Board

Designing hardware that uses VLSI Solution's devices as slave codecs such as an external MP3 decoder chip for a host microcontroller.
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Panu
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Joined: Tue 2010-06-22 13:43

Bug in SparkFun VS1053 Breakout Board

Post by Panu »

Hi!

We have found out that some versions of the VS1053 Breakout Board from SparkFun contain an error. The TEST pin should be pulled high, but is not. In the schematic the TEST pin is connected to non-existing net "DVDD" and is in fact floating. So the device can change between normal and test mode at random. This results in random problems, such as inconsistent DREQ and/or GBUF signals, but the devices pass sine and memory test. We have been in contact with SparkFun about the problem and it should be fixed in new boards. According to SparkFun, the "MP3 Trigger" board is OK and does not have this problem.

If you suspect that you may be having this problem, we recommend that you contact SparkFun about it. If you are proficient with SMD soldering, you can fix the problem by connecting the TEST pin to a nearby IOVDD pin.

Also note that to successfully use these SparkFun VS1053 breakout boards, you need to provide pull-up for the XRESET pin, pull-down for GPIO0 pin and pull-down for GPIO1 pin (pull-up if you want to use the VS1053 as a MIDI synthesizer).

Sincerely,
Panu

P.S. Big thanks to you, our Forum members, who have brought the problem to our attention and helped to measure and fix it! We hear that some have solved it quite easily by soldering the test pin to a nearby CVDD pin. But, looking at the numbers, it's so and so if CVDD voltage is in actuality enough to reliably pull the pin high. It might not be.
sparkfun_vs1053.jpg
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jc000
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Joined: Sun 2011-02-13 20:15

Re: Bug in SparkFun VS1053 Breakout Board

Post by jc000 »

Unfortunately, contacting Sparkfun didn't do much good. The guy in tech support couldn't do anything. Taking the product back was the best he could do. I tried asking him to do the repair described in this topic and send it back, but he wouldn't. So unfortunately, customer satisfaction doesn't seem to be a big priority for Sparkfun. :(
Jeremyvnc
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Posts: 20
Joined: Thu 2011-02-24 5:32

Re: Bug in SparkFun VS1053 Breakout Board

Post by Jeremyvnc »

CVDD is at around 1.8V but I just can't reliably solder to the XTEST pin without soldering to the one next to it. Is it possible to bring XTest and CVDD to 3.3? I'm also in the process of writing an email to sparkfun about it...

On another note, even with the XTest pin floating, I still cannot hear the sine test. I hooked it up exactly as this: http://www.dannyboy.se/blog/?p=244 Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Jeremy
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Panu
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Re: Bug in SparkFun VS1053 Breakout Board

Post by Panu »

Not as such... please tell us if you get it working...

-Panu
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