Support Miniware MHP50?

[SimGas]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Recently, the MHP50 Hotplate was released as a successor to the MHP30. It is available for about 110€ on Aliexpress and supports 100 or 150W heating, together with a new mode for reflow soldering. Little can be found on the web for this hotplate yet, but I actually expect it to get more popular than the MHP30 very soon (much larger solder plate (50x50mm instead of 30x30mm).

However, This plate is more complex (e.g. multicolor display) than its predecessor and I am not sure if it could be covered within this project. But I just wanted to ask if you guys see any possibility supporting this plate anytime in future.

A few things I've already noted:

• It seems the MCU is connected to a SMD antenna, so maybe this thing theoretically has bluetooth (but currently not enabled in any part of the firmware)
• The display seems to technically have a touch interface, but this is not connected.
• The PCB says V0.7A, so I am not sure if the unit I've bought was actually designed for being sold. So maybe there could be changes in future versions.

The discussion is hereby opened :)

If anyone is curious what's inside, I've taken a few pictures:

CONFIG.TXT

[ius]

MCU marking reads CH32F208WBU6 - a STM32 clone by Nanjing Qinheng Microelectronics (WCH). Vendor website has CH32F208WBU6 which does have BLE.

I don't see any obvious debug headers (other than UART?) - so maybe it supports SWD via USB D+/D- like the MHP30?

[Ralim]

Honestly this looks like a better design than the MHP 30.
Makes me less inclined to finish my designs for a competitor.

Same rules would apply to this being supported as anything else really:

1. Need to get Freertos running on it
2. Need docs on how to connect a debugger
3. Need a full pinout of the mcu

[orzel]

For the record, there's a thread about it at eevblog: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/miniware-mhp50/

[TowerDefender007]

@SimGas Short question dio you also have the problem that the temperature isnt correctly displayed? So it should heat up to 300°C but only displays around 150°C? ALso did it run for longer and ever encountered the problem that the controler says "over temperature"?

[SimGas]

@TowerDefender007 I have not yet observed any problems with my MHP50. I've used it in reflow mode around 5-10 times with temperatures up to 260 degrees. Everything was displayed properly. Right now, I tried heating in "heat" mode and this also seems to show the correct temperature.

Which power supply do you use? If you use one with a low voltage, that could maybe overheat it? I use a 65w lenovo laptop power supply right now.

I never had the over temperature error, but longest I used it was maybe 25 minutes or so.

[TowerDefender007]

@SimGas I am using an Anker PowerPort Speed 5 with USB-C with PD but I also tried using my Shargeek battery bank that is capable of outputting 100W on the USB-C (20V at 5A) also I can see that the MHP 50 is using around 82W from the powerbank. But the biggest problem isnt that the temperature isnt accurate (or at least it would take 10min to read the right temperature) because it turns off at some point and says that the controller overheated.
Does your fan turn on at some point or is he also never active?

[SimGas]

Just tried it with 250 degrees for 8 minutes. Afterwards the fan speed was 4400r/min and mcu temperature was 41 degrees. Maybe your fan is not connected? Does it show anything in the info menu?

[TowerDefender007]

@SimGas The info menu only says 0 r/min but the funny thing is after I let it heat up and the error occured I unplugged it and plugged it back in again the fan started for a short time and then turned off again. Do you know how I can open it up to take a look at the fan because I thing the fan is the problem here?

[TowerDefender007]

[SimGas]

Well, there are four screws under the rubber pads on the underside. Losen those and wiggle the plate slightly. When it comes off you should be left with what you can see in photo 7.
However, if the fan comes on eventually, I think it is not broken.

[TowerDefender007]

I opened it and the fan is working but there is something odd happening after rebulding it the MHP 50 turns on the fan at the start and says there is no fan connected. Then I dissambled it again and rebuild it again and now it works again.

[SimGas]

Maybe the pin for reading back the fan speed has a slack joint?

[TowerDefender007]

I didnt checked that. I only checked the cable because it looked a little bit crushed.

[ius]

Just adding a note to document that I've tested SWD via the USB C connector on MHP50, but it doesn't work for me.

• I used a Raspberry Pi Pico with CMSIS-DAP debugger firmware and butchered a USB A <-> C cable
• MHP50 powers on just fine on 5V from the Pico, but SWD fails (at least, DPIDR read fails). Even tried booting into DFU (by holding down one of the buttons when powering on).

I'm fairly confident about the electrical part and am familiar with OpenOCD (although not with Pico).

So either this particular device doesn't do SWD via USB C (seems ubiquitous on Miniware products though) or I've messed up.

Anyone else feel like giving it a go? Or perhaps someone who has torn down the device is able to tell whether the SWD pins are in fact connected to USB D+/D- on this device?

EDIT: This in fact worked on a second attempt, not sure why it failed initially.

[orzel]

Honestly this looks like a better design than the MHP 30. Makes me less inclined to finish my designs for a competitor.

Exactly my thoughts.... And i'm (or I was?) also designing something.

[StevenSeifried]

Hey there,
any news about IronOS support for the MHP50? Mine has arrived today, maybe I can help

[ius]

EDIT: This comment contained a question about whether 28V DC input is supported on the barrel jack (rated 19-24V) while we wait for Miniware to release their firmware supporting the PD3.1 28V profile via usb. In the meantime I've received an answer from Miniware support: yes it does!

.. which is another thing IronOS on MHP50 would be great for (28V PD support) - but it seems we lack traction. Other than my (failed) SWD experiment I'm not to keen on tearing it down as the rubber feet seem glued on...

[MurdoMcLeod]

Hi Folks,
I'm new here so forgive me in case I sin against the Git-Gods.

I got one of these MHP50-B5 hot plates a few days ago, and tried it on Friday. I spent 2 hours trying to get it to work properly. I could not get it to go above ~80'c no matter what I tweaked in the menus, and no matter the different power supplies I used (USB-C PD and DC-5255 at 24V/10A).

It turns out (after much wrangling with customer support) that Miniware have a batch of these things with trapped (or easily trapped) fan cables. Mine was one of them. See attached pictures. Turns out that any shorting from the fan wires causes the hot plate to not heat up properly.




After I un-trapped the wires and repaired them with insulating tape, and reassembled it to make sure nothing was trapped, the unit worked properly.

Like night and day - the heating with 24V input was blisteringly fast. It melted all the SMD components off a small DCDC board in 1 minute.

Hope it helps - if you have one and it is playing up, dismantle and free/repair the fan wires.
Murdo.

PS Yes the feet are well stuck down but if you're careful you can re-attach the sticky feet afterwards. Just be gentle.