Black Pill STM32H523

Overview

The WeAct STM32H523CE Core Board is a low-cost and bare-bone development board made in the famous “blackpill” package. It features the STM32H523CE, a high-performance microcontroller based on an Arm Cortex-M33 processor.

Hardware

The STM32H523CE-based Black Pill board provides the following hardware components:

  • STM32H523CE in 48-pin package

  • ARM 32-bit Cortex-M33 CPU with FPU

  • 250 MHz max CPU frequency

  • VDD from 1.7 V to 3.6 V

  • 512 KB Flash

  • 274 KB SRAM

  • TIM

  • ADC

  • USART

  • I2C

  • SPI

  • USB FS

  • FDCAN

  • RTC

Supported Features

The blackpill_h523ce board supports the hardware features listed below.

on-chip / on-board
Feature integrated in the SoC / present on the board.
2 / 2
Number of instances that are enabled / disabled.
Click on the label to see the first instance of this feature in the board/SoC DTS files.
vnd,foo
Compatible string for the Devicetree binding matching the feature.
Click on the link to view the binding documentation.

Connections and IOs

Default Zephyr Peripheral Mapping:

  • UART_1 TX/RX : PA9 / PA10

  • I2C1 SCL/SDA : PB6 / PB7

  • SPI1 CS/SCK/MISO/MOSI : PA4 / PA5 / PA6 / PA7 (routed to footprint for external flash)

  • PWM_3_CH3 : PB0

  • PWM_3_CH4 : PB1

  • ADC_1 : PA1

  • USER_PB : PA0

  • USER_LED : PC13

Programming and Debugging

The blackpill_h523ce board supports the runners and associated west commands listed below.

flash debug

There are 2 main entry points for flashing STM32H5X SoCs: one using the ROM bootloader, and another by using the SWD debug port (which requires additional hardware). Flashing using the ROM bootloader requires a special activation pattern, which can be triggered by using the BOOT0 pin.

Flashing

Installing dfu-util

It is recommended to use at least v0.8 of dfu-util. The package available in Debian/Ubuntu can be quite old, so you might have to build dfu-util from source.

There is also a Windows version which works, but you may have to install the right USB drivers with a tool like Zadig.

Flashing an Application

Connect a USB-C cable and the board should power ON. Force the board into DFU mode by keeping the BOOT0 switch pressed while pressing and releasing the NRST switch.

The dfu-util runner is supported on this board and so a sample can be built and tested easily.

# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b blackpill_h523ce samples/basic/blinky -- -DCONFIG_BOOT_DELAY=5000
west flash

Debugging

The board can be debugged by installing the included 100 mil (0.1 inch) header, and attaching an SWD debugger to the 3V3 (3.3V), GND, SCK, and DIO pins on that header.

References