PIC16 10hz timer with timer1 and 1Mhz clock

Question

I need to increment a stopwatch at 10hz using timer1 on a PIC16F628. The external clock is 1Mhz, supplied by a packaged oscillator (EPSON sg8002db). With no prescaler, the value to set the timer to (I think) should be:

clock ticks in 1 second: 1000000

timer ticks in 1 second: 250000 (clock/4)

timer ticks in 1/10th of a second: 25000 (timer ticks/10)

So: 65536 - 25000 = 40536

but I need to consider the latency from timer overflow to when the clock value is reset - this is the number of cycles it takes from the overflow occurring to when I set the timer value.

The IRQ code is:

    irq             movwf   w_temp          ; save state
                    swapf   STATUS, w
                    clrf    STATUS
                    movwf   status_temp
                    movf    PCLATH, w
                    movwf   pclath_temp
                    clrf    PCLATH

                    btfss   PIR1,TMR1IF     ; timer1 IRQ?
                    goto    notimer1
                    bcf     PIR1,TMR1IF     ; yes, clear it

                    movLw   T1SPEED >> 8    ; reset timer1
                    movwf   TMR1H
                    movLw   T1SPEED & 0xff
                    movwf   TMR1L           ; timer1 is off and running again

                    call    timer           ; increment clock

    notimer1        btfss   INTCON, T0IF    ; timer0 IRQ?
                    goto    notimer0
                    bcf     INTCON, T0IF    ; yes, clear it

                    call    led_set         ; update display

                    btfss   PORTA,6         ; button pressed?
                    goto    nobut
                    clrf    digit0          ; yes, reset clock
                    clrf    digit1
                    clrf    digit2
                    clrf    digit3
    nobut
    notimer0        movf    pclath_temp, w  ; restore state
                    movwf   PCLATH
                    swapf   status_temp, w
                    movwf   STATUS
                    swapf   w_temp, f
                    swapf   w_temp, w
                    retfie

Which looks to me like somewhere in the region of about 14 cycles, so LATENCY = 14

65536 - (25000 - LATENCY) = 40550

but this gives a clock which is far too slow, losing multiple seconds per minute. If I change the LATENCY value to ~200 (eg set timer1 to 40736), it's close - within 1 second per minute, but still not accurate. In fact, with LATENCY = 199, it's too fast, and with LATENCY = 200, it's slow.

I can't see where these extra cycles are being spent - it sets the clock value first thing in the IRQ routine. I can't find anything in the datasheet about timer1 being stopped during an interrupt routine, but is it? If so, that would be a bummer, because the routine takes a variable number of cycles depending on which digits overflow.

Is it necessary to pick 2 different reload values and alternate between them in order to hit exactly 10hz?

Answer 1

Instead of using the 16-bit timer 1, which requires you to reload the value in code, use the 8-bit timer 2, which has a preset register PR2. Load PR2 with 250, with a prescaler value of 1:1. It will then interrupt every 1 ms and reload it self automatically so no latency problems.

The inside your interrupt, just increment a single byte counter. In your base routine, use a while loop and test whenever the counter is equal to 100 (i.e. 1/10 of a second has elapsed). Then reset the counter and do your clock/led updating and resetting there in the base level, not in your interrupt routine.

Answer 2

instead of resetting timer 1 just update the alarm to be 0.1s further in the future