USB – Ballast Control Interface

Application Note
Version 1.2 P-VIP® Lamp Systems

Application Note
USB to Ballast Control Interface
PREAMBLE :
This application note describes the hardware and the usage of OSRAM’s novel USB to lamp driver
communication interface. The interface is used to enable communication between the ballast control
interface (UART) of the lamp driver and a standard USB Port of a PC. Furthermore this interface enables
engineering and maintenance matters, e.g. uploading lamp driver configuration, read out the lamp driver’s
status information, error codes and upload UNISHAPE sequence data (waveforms) from a PC to the
OSRAM lamp driver. This document however does neither describe the communication protocol,
synchronization modes nor the UART instructions, as for this purpose other application notes or
specifications already existing.
The latest version of this application note can be downloaded from www.osram.com/unishape.

Table of Contents

1 Ballast 5-Pin Control Interface .......................................................................................................... 2

1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 2
1.2 Connecting the ballast to the USB interface ........................................................................... 3
1.2.1 Previous Pin Assignment for FRONT Projection ................................................................ 4
1.2.2 Previous Pin Assignment for REAR Projection Applications.............................................. 5
1.2.3 Pin Assignment of the novel standardized Interface .......................................................... 6
2 Description of the USB – Interface.................................................................................................... 7
2.1 Driver Installation .................................................................................................................... 7
2.2 Connecting a projector / MDTV to the Interface...................................................................... 8
2.3 Status Indicator LED’s............................................................................................................. 9
3 Miscellaneous information............................................................................................................... 10
3.1 Schematic.............................................................................................................................. 10
3.2 Position Print ......................................................................................................................... 11
3.3 Bill of Material........................................................................................................................ 11
3.4 Ordering code ....................................................................................................................... 12
3.5 Packaging.............................................................................................................................. 13
3.6 Revision history..................................................................................................................... 13

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USB – Ballast Control Interface
Application Note
Version 1.2 P-VIP® Lamp Systems

1 Ballast 5-Pin Control Interface

1.1 Introduction
The 5-pin interface offers a smart way to control a OSRAM VIP lamp driver via the front end electronics in
a video projector or MDTV. Purpose of the interface is, beside switching on and off, lamp frequency
synchronization with a projector specific timing, to build up a serial communication between the OSRAM
lamp driver and the projector’s electronics for various beneficial purposes. The interface also enables
communication with the serial interface of the PC, which is necessary to upload firmware, read- out status
information and enable monitoring of the lamp driver. This interface is denominated with the acronym
“UART”, which stands for Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter. The UART timing is equal to
the RS232-C standard, but the voltage levels are different due to the simple photo coupler interface.
Basically, the implemented UART interface is a two wire asynchronous serial interface without any
handshake lines. It consists of a transmit data line (TxD, output to the projector) and a receive data line
(RxD, input for the lamp driver). The SCI signal is the third part of the interface. The host system
(projector electronic or external waveform generator) employs this signal to synchronize the lamp driver
output signal. All three interface lines are optically isolated from the mains via three optocouplers, which
provide a SELF ( Safety Extra Low Voltage) isolation according to VDE 0884 .

Lamp Drivers
Interface Cable
CN1/CN2 control input

PROJECTOR
ELECTRONIC

OR

USB
INTERFACE

Fig1 : Interface Schematic and Connection ( principle overview )

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Application Note
Version 1.2 P-VIP® Lamp Systems

Meanwhile the hardware of the 5 pin interface has become an international standard. All new OSRAM
lamp drivers will be constructed according to this standard. Further information to that can be downloaded
from: www.dlp.com/dlp_technology/dlp_technology_research.asp
For each of the both input signal lines (current though the optocoupler’s LED) the customer has to take
care that the current is limited to a proper value. For design in of the interface the user has to refer to the
ballast specification to design and build in the appropriate resistors in the optocoupler LED lines.
IMPORTANT: In the USB interface these resistor values are properly designed, hence the customer has
not to take care of it.

1.2 Connecting the ballast to the USB interface

The USB interface will be delivered with a appropriate cable ( 500mm / ~20 inch ) which fits to the 5-pin
connector and should be used to directly connect the USB interface with the ballast control interface.

GEN3
Front Projection

GEN3
Rear Projection
GEN4
GEN5

IMPORTANT: There are two different versions of the control interface connector’s pin assignment which
is located on the control board of the ballast. To make sure to connect to the right ordered assignment the
following pictures in Chapter 1.2.1 to 1.2.3 should help you which plug must be used. Never connect two
lamp drivers at the same time by using both connectors.
Please note!
In order to avoid damage of the USB interface by accidentally using the wrong connector, the
latest version of the USB Interface is no longer assembled with the connector . This connector
is only necessary for communication with old GEN3 Front Projection lamp drivers.
Please contact OSRAM in case you need an USB interface for communication with GEN3 lamp
drivers.
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Application Note
Version 1.2 P-VIP® Lamp Systems

1.2.1 Previous Pin Assignment for FRONT Projection

For this configuration the connector is situated on the “two photo couplers side” of the control board (see
photo below).

control board PIN 5 : Flag / TxD+ (Phototransistor Collector)

connector CN1 PIN 4 : Flag / TxD- (Phototransistor Emitter)
PIN 3 : Common LED+ (LED Anodes)
PIN 2 : SCI / Sync. (cathode LED)
PIN 1 : DIM / RxD (cathode LED)

Pin 5

IMPORTANT: Plug this into the slot on the USB interface.

Pin 1

Lamp drivers with Previous Pin Assignment for Front Projection

PT VIP 3AC/380 O3
PT VIP 4AC/380 O1
PT VIP 4AC/380 O3
PT VIP 5AC/380 O1
PT VIP 5AC/380 O4
PT VIP 150AC/100-240 Q
PT VIP 200AC/100-240 H

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Application Note
Version 1.2 P-VIP® Lamp Systems

1.2.2 Previous Pin Assignment for REAR Projection Applications

For this configuration the connector is situated on the “one photo coupler side” of the control board (see
photo below).

control board PIN 1 : Flag / TxD+ (Phototransistor Collector)

connector CN2 PIN 2 : Flag / TxD- (Phototransistor Emitter)
PIN 3 : Common LED+ (LED Anodes)
PIN 4 : SCI / Sync. (cathode LED)
PIN 5 : DIM / RxD (cathode LED)

PIN 1

IMPORTANT: Plug this into the slot on the

USB interface. PIN 5

Lamp drivers with Previous Pin Assignment for Rear Projection

PT VIP 2AC/380 O1
PT VIP 3AC/380 O1

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Application Note
Version 1.2 P-VIP® Lamp Systems

1.2.3 Pin Assignment of the novel standardized Interface

The picture below shows the location of the standardized interface connector. The pin assignment of the
standardized UART interface is equal to the description in 1.2.2. You will recognize the standardized
interface as follows: 5pin connector is located on the “three photo coupler side” of the control board.

Pin 5

IMPORTANT: Plug this into the slot on the

Pin 1 USB interface.

Lamp drivers with novel standardized Interface

PT VIP O6 MIC
PT VIP O3 MID
PT VIP O3 TOP
PT VIP O1 MEGA
PT VIP O4 MEGA
PT VIP 165 H4
PT VIP O1 RP
PT VIP O1 RP RES

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Application Note
Version 1.2 P-VIP® Lamp Systems

2 Description of the USB – Interface

For investigation and evaluation purposes as well as for updating the lamp driver’s firmware, OSRAM
provides a hardware interface board to enable a serial connection between lamp driver and a PC. With
the VIP USB - Interface the user can connect the 5-pin control interface to a standard USB Port of any
desktop PC or any laptop. The Interface is using an FT232BM which is the 2nd generation of FTDI’s
popular USB to UART Converter ASIC.

Fortunately, no external power supply

is necessary to operate the interface,
because it is supplied by the USB port.
An additional level shifting unit con-
verts the voltage levels of the FTDI
chip into a proper LED drive current for
the lamp driver’s control interface (5-
pin connector).

Enhanced debug capability is offered

by using the interface in a projector /
MDTV and communicate with the
ballast from the PC to check
parameters.

This can be done for instance by using

OSRAM’s DOS-shell program called
“OSRAMflash”. Thus it is possible to evaluate the potentialities of the UART communication during
runtime of the application. Detailed information concerning the summery of commands, lamp driver
settings and the readout of the lamp driver status parameter you will find in the application note
( “Firmware update -- OSRAMflash Tool”).

Furthermore, the interface can be used to update the lamp driver’s configuration data which is stored in
the EEPROM area of the lamp drivers microprocessor. The USB connector has to be connected to a
PC’s spare USB port. Using the appropriate software driver, this creates a virtual COM port on the PC, so
that the known OSRAM tools can communicate with the lamp ballast ( OSRAMflash is only supporting the
Com ports 1 to 8, for details refer to the next section).

2.1 Driver Installation

In order to use the USB – Interface for communication between a PC and the ballast, you must install the
FTDI’s Virtual COM Port Driver that supports the FT232BM. The appropriate drivers are provided along
with the other tools installed with OSRAMinstall from the OSRAM Unishape Homepage
www.osram.com/unishape.
Nevertheless, the latest drivers are also available from the FTDI Homepage
(http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm). Please refer to that site also if you are using other operating
systems than 32bit Windows XP.

Download the suitable driver for your operating system and extract the content of the package to any
location on your hard drive. Before connecting the USB – Interface to a spare USB-Port on your PC make

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Application Note
Version 1.2 P-VIP® Lamp Systems

sure that ther are no old FTDI Drivers installed on your PC. By plugging in, the Hardware Installation
Wizard should pop up. By following the instructions, the driver installation should be completed
succesfully (If the hardware Installation Wizard pops up a second time, just follow the steps once again).

Open the Device Manager (located in "Control Panel\System" then select the "Hardware" tab and click
"Device Manger") and select "View > Devices by Connection", the device appears as a "USB Serial
Converter" with an additional COM port with the label "USB Serial Port".

If the USB – Interface uses a COM Port that is not between 1 and 8, rightclick on the “USB Serial Port”
and select “Properties/Port Settings/Advanced”. Now you can choose a different Port number, that lies
within the supported range (COM1-COM8).

For a more detailed Driver Installation Guide or Troubleshooting, please visit

http://www.ftdichip.com/Documents/InstallGuides.htm.
IMPORTANT: If you connect the USB Interface to different USB ports of your PC, this will result in the
creation of different virtual COM ports.

2.2 Connecting a projector / MDTV to the Interface

The USB Interface can also be used not only to upload configuration data to the ballast but also for debug
purposes. First possibility is to switch the ballast/lamp on and off and to supply an synchronization signal
to the ballast. To use external synchronisation or to switch on a lamp driver via SCI line of the ballast,
you can connect a square wave signal generator to the Synchronization Input connections J3 on the
PCB or use a steady state +5V signal. The signal levels should be TTL level (low 0V, high 5V). Make
sure the polarity matches to the description.

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USB – Ballast Control Interface
Application Note
Version 1.2 P-VIP® Lamp Systems

Projector Ballast
connection connection
J2 J5 J4

Synchronization +5V
Input GND
J3

USB
connector

With help of the projector connection it is possible to communicate with the ballast while running an
application which has no UART communication available. This could be either done in a projector or in a
MDTV system and is very useful method do debug the whole setup or investigate problems with the
lamp-ballast system by using UART communication. The customer has just to plug the control interface
cable which comes from the projector electronics to the projector connector of the USB interface and
connect the USB to ballast interface cable as described in chapter 1.2

2.3 Status Indicator LED’s

The Interface board is equipped with 3 indicator LED’s for debug purpose:

USB
connector

• Yellow LED: shows the state of the PC’s TxD line. It flickers while transmitting data via USB ( D1;
Pin12 of FTDI chip ) to the lamp driver.
• Red LED: shows the state of the SCI (Synchronization signal). If an external SCI is applied the
LED lit up (D3).
• Orange LED: shows the state of the PC’s RxD line. It flickers when receiving Data via USB ( D2;
Pin 11 of FTDI chip ) from the lamp driver.

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Application Note
Version 1.2 P-VIP® Lamp Systems

3 Miscellaneous information

3.1 Schematic

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3.2 Position Print

3.3 Bill of Material

Item number Object description
C001 CAP-TAN-SMD 10U-10-10-1412
C002 CAP-CER-SMD 22P-5-25-0603-NPO
C003 CAP-CER-SMD 22P-5-25-0603-NPO
C004 CAP-CER-SMD 22P-5-25-0603-NPO
C005 CAP-CER-SMD 100N-10-25-0603-X7R
C006 CAP-CER-SMD 100N-10-25-0603-X7R
C007 CAP-CER-SMD 100N-10-25-0603-X7R
C008 CAP-CER-SMD 100N-10-25-0603-X7R
C009 CAP-CER-SMD 100N-10-25-0603-X7R
D001 OPT-LED-YELLOW-SMD 2.5V-25mA-0805
D002 OPT-LED-ORANGE-SMD 2.5V-25mA-0805
D003 OPT-LED-RED-SMD 2.5V-25mA-0805
IC01 IC-ASIC-SMD USB INTERFACE-FT232BL-LQFP32
IC02 IC-D-SMD EEPROM-M93C56-SO8
IC03 IC-A-SMD TIMER-SO8
IC04 IC-A-SMD OPTOCOUPLER-MFSOP4
IC05 IC-A-SMD OPTOCOUPLER-MFSOP4
IC06 IC-A-SMD OPTOCOUPLER-MFSOP4
IC07 IC-A-SMD OPTOCOUPLER-MFSOP4
J001 IN-USB-CONNECTOR-RAD-PLUG-SIDE-4
J002 IN-TERMINAL-BLOCK-SMD-PLUG-SIDE-1MM-5
J003 not assembled
J004 IN-TERMINAL-BLOCK-SMD-PLUG-SIDE-1MM-5
J005 IN-TERMINAL-BLOCK-SMD-PLUG-SIDE-1MM-5
J007 not assembled

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Application Note
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Item number Object description

Q001 EM-QUARTZ-SMD-6MHz
R001 RES-MET-SMD 47K0-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R002 RES-SMD 4K7-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R003 RES-SMD 1K0-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R004 RES-SMD 220R-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R005 RES-SMD 220R-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R006 RES-SMD 220R-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R007 RES-SMD 1K5-1-0603-100MW-TC100
R008 RES-MET-SMD 1R0-1-0805-125mW-TC100
R009 RES-SMD 1K0-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R010 RES-MET-SMD 10K0-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R012 RES-SMD 2K2-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R013 RES-MET-SMD 27R0-1-100mW-TC100-0603
R014 RES-MET-SMD 10K0-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R015 RES-MET-SMD 27R0-1-100mW-TC100-0603
R016 MAG-EMI-FERRITE-SMD 3A-50R0-1206
R017 RES-MET-SMD 10K0-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R018 RES-SMD 1K0-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R019 RES-SMD 1K0-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R020 RES-SMD 1K0-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R021 RES-SMD 1K0-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R022 RES-SMD 1K0-1-0603-100mW-TC100
R023 RES-SMD 220R-1-0603-100mW-TC100
T001 SEM-TRANS-SMD 40V-0.2A-SOT23-PNP
T002 SEM-TRANS-SMD 40V-0.2A-SOT23-PNP
T003 SEM-TRANS-SMD 40V-0.2A-SOT23-NPN
T004 SEM-TRANS-SMD 40V-0.2A-SOT23-NPN

3.4 Ordering code

Object name : PT VIP USB Interface

Order Code : A 505 77E 00 27

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USB – Ballast Control Interface
Application Note
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3.5 Packaging

th
5 pieces in one layer will be placed. Cables for the 5 pieces will be placed on 6 position.
Box size: 294x230x40 mm

3.6 Revision history

Revision Date Change
V1.0 Æ V1.1 06-09-22 Correction of false symbol notification in some drawings for J4 and J5
V1.1 Æ V1.2 09-01-21 1.2 Additional information concerning connection of the lamp driver
1.21 - 1.23 Additional information concerning related types of lamp drivers

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