SMP01 Phoenix interface

[gw1]

One of these commercially-made units came across my desk for repair. It had a blown diode and a couple of other dodgy components suggesting prior DIY modification. I'd thought I'd share it with others interested in knowing what the commercial products are using.



The design is similar to others on the market, supporting 3.58 and 6MHz frequencies and Phoenix/SmartMouse reset modes. Like most Phoenix boards it has just two ICs. This one uses a 74HC00 in a dual-oscillator configuration similar to Jaycar Mk I card reader, but this time the clock selection link disables oscillation by clamping the inverting amplifier input to ground. The output is held high which allows the other oscillator's signal to pass through the NAND mixer. A small 4.7pF capacitor limits the slew rate of the clock signal and helps reduce ringing.



Like virtually all Phoenix interfaces the card power is permanently applied. This is naughty but fine for hobby applications. For safety there are 100R current limiting resistors on the card reset, clock and I/O lines to protect it from overvoltage during insertion/removal. The resistors also help protect the two ICs from static discharge.

You'll notice there's a basic RC filter on the card power supply. This is a bit questionable IMO since some cards have substantial current spikes during intensive operations, and a 50mA spike will induce 0.5V of supply noise thanks to the filter, undermining the work of the 78L05 regulator. In practice it's unlikely to be a problem though. I didn't bother measuring the sizes of the board's three decoupling capacitors (if you're copying the design I suggest using 0.1uF or 1uF multilayer ceramic).

There are a few other unusual features worth noting. The first is it uses a smartcard socket with normally closed switch: most use normally open switches. (The socket switch pins are at 90 degrees to the other pins and this is your clue to expect NC switch type.) This results in RS232 CD low, i.e. about -9V, when the card is inserted. That's consistent with the convention used by most software, and is the same polarity as Jaycar Mk II with inverter modification fitted.

Another unusual feature is the provision of a LED to indicate reset status. I can only assume the designer copied the idea off a SmartMouse circuit because when used in SmartMouse mode the Green LED will flash during card reset. In Phoenix mode however the Green LED is on most of the time and briefly flickers off during card reset. That's probably not what the designer originally intended - you can put it down to a design error I think. (If you're copying the design you can fix this problem by connecting the Green LED's 1K resistor to the centre pin of the Smartmouse/Phoenix selector link rather than to pin 8 of the IC.)

A further unorthodox feature is the placement of the Red LED directly onto the card I/O line. This means the card provides the LED's current sink. The 1K resistor limits the LED current to 3-4mA which is low enough not to be a major concern, but it's not good practice because the extra card load adds to its power dissipation. Most circuits use a buffer of some kind between the card signals and LEDs.

The circuit shown here uses a BAT85 and a 10K pullup on the I/O line. Those are what I fitted during repair; the board had previously contained a BZX558-13 (a 13V zener!) and 4K7 pullup but I assume they were the result of prior experimentation, not factory design. The zener would have probably worked but it's not what you want A 4K7 pullup also would usually work but may be too low for some cards; I think 10K is safer.

The board I received had a 1N4148 diode on the DC supply input. The diode had blown, presumably because of a short circuit. I replaced the diode with a 1N4001, checked that the 78L05 was still OK (it was - they're relatively indestructible), and fitted some rubber feet to prevent the damage from happening again.

If you own one of these boards but have problems with certain software you might like to try joining pins 4-6-8 of the DB9 connector. Most software shouldn't need it but if your software (or serial port settings) is configured for hardware handshake then that link may be necessary. It's also a good idea to link pin 9 to ground to prevent noise on the cable causing spurious RI modem events.

[weirdo]

Great review gw , thanks for taking the time to write/post this

[LeroyPatrol]

I hope it wasn't a paying job otherwise all that profit would of been eated up!!Thanks for taking the time with the cct and description.

Leroy

[fandtm666]

as always thanks mate , i like reading your posts

[Kavakid]

Another great tech post GW1.

KK

[xfiles_2007]

top stuff

[gw1]

While fixing a second SMP01 I noticed a mistake in my earlier schematic: the red LED is driven from TxD only, not RxD. That means you shouldn't expect a red ATR flash when inserting a card.

Once again the trouble was a destroyed HC00 (pin 9 was shorted to ground). Though I can't rule out static electricity, I've seen this failure often enough now to make me suspect card insertion/removal short circuits are the cause.

So in revising the schematic I'm recommending several changes.

• Reduce card Vcc resistor to around 1-3R (even a wire link is preferable to 10R)
• Increase CLK and RST limiting resistors to 560R
• Increase I/O pullup resistor to 10K (previous 4K7 value is a tad low and some cards may not like it)
• Replace the 1N964 zener diode with a schottky such as BAT85 (who knows why a zener had been used? it's inappropriate)
• Replace the 1N914 input rectifier with something beefier like a 1N4001 (a small signal diode is insufficient and prone to burn out)
• Link DB9 pin 9 to pin 5 to prevent spurious interrupts upsetting some applications
• Connect DB9 pins 4,6,8 together as precaution in case some applications require it

I tested the modified design with Fun, Silver and Irdeto Delta 4.1 and it works well.

Beware if servicing one yourself that the IC sockets may not be inserted the right way around. Both ICs should face the same way, with pin 1 away from the red LED.

[fox2006eng]

Thanks alot for ur Hard work gw1

i need the layout for this SMP01 Phoenix interface circuit if possible (Print Layout)

thanks in advance

best regards

fox2006eng

[gw1]

It's a commercially produced design, I'm not sure who makes it.

I don't have CAD files for it. You could draw it up in a CAD program (free ones such as and are sufficient). It'd be a fun project and you'd learn a lot. If however you just want one with minimum time and cost then just buy one. Perhaps other members here can advise on where they can be obtained.

[fox2006eng]

It's a commercially produced design, I'm not sure who makes it.

I don't have CAD files for it. You could draw it up in a CAD program (free ones such as and are sufficient). It'd be a fun project and you'd learn a lot. If however you just want one with minimum time and cost then just buy one. Perhaps other members here can advise on where they can be obtained.

thanks alot mate for ur help

i'll try to draw it with of these programs, u mintion above

thanks again mate

Best Reegards

fox2006eng

[raas]

Hi,

I just purchased this smartcardreader as I want to use it with my original Sattv-card provided by the Sat-operator.

I want to use it with DvbDream, because this program doesn't recognise the CAM/CI solution built-in into the card (twinhan 1041a -clone).

What have I done?
-connected the reader to serial port COM1. (Phx and 3.57mhz, haven't done the suggested modifications.)
-connected 5v input to a supply which supplies 5v regulated.
-booted the pc (yellow and green leds light up and stay on, red blinks a few times)
-put PMCam into the plugins directory
-launched DD and selected the plugin

Somehow PMCam doesn't see the cardreader.
I haven't installed any extra drivers. (do I need any)

I'm quite new to this programmer/serial thing, but not new to computers or SatTV. I've the feeling I'm missing something.
-are there any drivers I need?
-are there any procedures which I can take to test? (putty?)

thinking all sorts of things, but I don't know where to start.

Any help is appreciated!

TIA.

raas

[mr.natrix]

My only reason to register in this forum is to say " Thank you "
you've done a great work . again "Thank you very much"

[michalisnik]

Hello,

As I understand this is the sole information on the internet for this dodgy piece of hardware.

GW1: You deserve more than Kudos

I'd like to ask for some kind of help, I'm stuck with one of those readers and I can't seem to be able to read ANY card (that means my regular subscription card, and both my phone sim cards). I'm presented all the time with errors from the program readers. Some claim to be able to see a Phoenix reader but none of them is able to carry on communication with the actual card.

I tried various clock rates/Smartmouse-phoenix/Voltage configurations with no success. The two little leds light up all the time (Green and Yellow in phoenix mode, Only Yellow in SmarMouse until card inserted) The serial port actually works as I synced a old WinCE palm device for testing purposes.

I applied the bridges to the serial connector as a last hope effort to see if I can get it working but still can't operate ANY card... is this defective hardware or just me? Any hint?

[snakie]

Better get a new good quality reader like infinity usb phoenix.

(afto to reader einai gia ta mpaza)