long countdown timer, how to save power?

[Darrel Taylor]

I think something like this would work. (untested)

<font color="#000000"><b>TMR1IF  </b><font color="#008000"><b>VAR </b></font><b>PIR1</b>.<font color="#800000"><b>0

</b></font><font color="#0000FF"><b><i>;Countdown from
</i></b></font><b>Years     </b><font color="#008000"><b>CON </b></font><font color="#800000"><b>0
</b></font><b>Days      </b><font color="#008000"><b>CON </b></font><font color="#800000"><b>30
</b></font><b>Hours     </b><font color="#008000"><b>CON </b></font><font color="#800000"><b>4
</b></font><b>Minutes   </b><font color="#008000"><b>CON </b></font><font color="#800000"><b>12

</b></font><b>TheCount  </b><font color="#008000"><b>VAR WORD</b></font>[<font color="#800000"><b>2</b></font>]

<font color="#008000"><b>ASM  
</b></font><font color="#000080">TotalSeconds = _Years*31536000 + _Days*86400 + _Hours*3600 + _Minutes*60
    MOVE?CW TotalSeconds &amp;&amp; 0xFFFF, _TheCount
    MOVE?CW TotalSeconds &gt;&gt; 16, _TheCount + 2
</font><font color="#008000"><b>ENDASM

</b></font><b>T1CON </b>= <font color="#800000"><b>%00001011                  </b></font><font color="#0000FF"><b><i>; T1 OSC ON, Timer ON

</i></b></font><b>Main</b>:
    <b>TMR1IF </b>= <font color="#800000"><b>0                     </b></font><font color="#0000FF"><b><i>; clear the Timers IF flag
    </i></b></font>@ <font color="#008000"><b>SLEEP
    </b></font>@ <b>NOP                        
    TheCount </b>= <b>TheCount </b>- <font color="#800000"><b>2        </b></font><font color="#0000FF"><b><i>; subtract 2 seconds
    </i></b></font><font color="#008000"><b>IF </b></font><b>TheCount </b>= <font color="#800000"><b>0 </b></font><font color="#008000"><b>THEN           </b></font><font color="#0000FF"><b><i>; if low Word is 0
        </i></b></font><font color="#008000"><b>IF </b></font><b>TheCount</b>(<font color="#800000"><b>1</b></font>) = <font color="#800000"><b>0 </b></font><font color="#008000"><b>THEN    </b></font><font color="#0000FF"><b><i>;   check high Word
            </i></b></font><font color="#008000"><b>HIGH </b></font><b>PORTB</b>.<font color="#800000"><b>0           </b></font><font color="#0000FF"><b><i>;   count complete, turn a pin on
            </i></b></font><font color="#008000"><b>STOP
        ENDIF  
        </b></font><b>TheCount</b>(<font color="#800000"><b>1</b></font>) = <b>TheCount</b>(<font color="#800000"><b>1</b></font>) - <font color="#800000"><b>1  </b></font><font color="#0000FF"><b><i>; not finished dec high Word
    </i></b></font><font color="#008000"><b>ENDIF
GOTO </b></font><b>Main
</b>

Make sure the WDT, VREF and anything that draws current is turned off.

HTH,
  DT

[Kamikaze47]

Thanks Darrel. Nice work as usual.

I assume that GIE and TMR1IE have to be set in order for this to work?

The only thing i might add is TMR1H.7=1 so that it will wake up every second instead of every 2 seconds.

*edit* Was just looking at the data sheet, and half answered my own question. So now i'm assuming that I need GIE clear and TMR1IE set.

[Darrel Taylor]

I assume that GIE and TMR1IE have to be set in order for this to work.

The only thing i might add is TMR1H.7=1 so that it will wake up every second instead of every 2 seconds.

You need to leave GIE OFF, since there's no Handler for it to jump to.
But I think you're right, you may have to turn TMR1IE on to get it to Wake-Up.

TMR1H.7=1 will work too. But it's waking up twice as often as needed, and will use twice the power.

And after a month, a 1 second difference is less than the error rate, so attempting to get 1 second accuracy is futile at best.

DT

[Kamikaze47]

True enough. The only reason i may want to do it is so that i can watch the seconds count down when the LCD is switched on (will have a pushbutton in series with the LCD power so its only on when u press the button). I guess its a weigh-up between battery life and pretty counting seconds

[skimask]

True enough. The only reason i may want to do it is so that i can watch the seconds count down when the LCD is switched on (will have a pushbutton in series with the LCD power so its only on when u press the button). I guess its a weigh-up between battery life and pretty counting seconds

Should be easy enough to change the counting rate/wake up rate dynamically if you end up using the TMR1 method as described above.

[Kamikaze47]

good idea... if i tie the lcd's power pin to an input pin i can tell if the button is pressed and switch to counting seconds.

Thanks guys, u've been a big help.

[Kamikaze47]

OK, the 32.768kHz crystals I ordered finally arrived, so i'm trying to get this working, but it looks like the timer is not waking up the PIC.

I tested the timer by itself and its happily overflowing every 2 seconds, but either its not running when in sleep mode, or it is and the overflow isnt waking up the PIC.

ADCON0=%00000000
ADCON1=%01111111
T1CON=%00001111

TMR1IE VAR PIE1.0
TMR1IF VAR PIR1.0

TMR1IE=1


'... main code here - calls countdown suburoutine ...'


countdown: 
LCDOUT $FE,1,$FE,2,"Starting"
TMR1IF=0
@ SLEEP
@ NOP      
LCDOUT $FE,1,$FE,2,"Time Remaining"
GOSUB update_lcd
GOSUB update_time_vars
IF timeup=1 then RETURN
GOTO countdown

I get "Starting" displayed on the LCD, but that's it, I never see "Time Remaining".

Any ideas?

edit: config, in case its relevant:

        __CONFIG    _CONFIG1H, _INTIO2_OSC_1H 
        __CONFIG    _CONFIG2H, _WDT_OFF_2H
        __CONFIG    _CONFIG3H, _MCLRE_ON_3H
        __CONFIG    _CONFIG4L, _DEBUG_OFF_4L & _LVP_OFF_4L