Mare & Gal Electronics

I am using U-Link from Keil for my debugging purposes. Sometimes it is quite bulky. I decided to design STLink V2 on a single-sided PCB in smallest possible size. Here is how it looks:

This is preliminary preview. I will post more details after first testing.

For start here’s Comparision from ST-LINK and ST-LINKv2 (check link for great source of STM32 info).

Producing this nice module starts with this template:

stlink V2 DIY PCB CLONE – PDF for toner transfer PCB production

apter transfering to FR4 and etching, the assembly process can start. First, take a look at the schematic diagram for components. I took what I have on stock. Alternatives are possible. The design is not critical.

The PCB assembly drawing:

Or, even better, here is stlink v2 minidongle USB module complete documentation in a single PDF file.

Now, the assembly can finally start.

First solder USB connector and LED with resistor to check if 5V is OK:

The LED should turn ON:

Place the 3V3 regulator and check the supply voltage:

Now is the critical moment. Pick the brain donor from your favorite discovery or nucleo family of boards. I took one old discovery F4, which lived in better times. I replaced the STLINK with 20 pin header to connect directly on U-Link. The Mini USB connector was missing and didn’t know if the STM32F103 was OK or not (it was).

Here’s the patient, the brain donor:

Now it’s time to heat up some air:

And remove the STM32F103 from the discovery board:

It took just few minutes and the microcontroller was removed:

After placing all components, the PCB looks great. It took me one evening from bare FR4 to complete assembled module:

And finally…… I started nice little application called USBDevView and crossed my fingers:

Yeeaaahhh, the brain surgery was success.

I can now start debugging wit my little old/new miniature STLINK V2 USB dongle.

Thank you for reading this post!

Marko

Altium files can be requested via  email.