I had also thought about this but my main concern is that mine CH341A is a genric Chinese one and it currently delivers 5V on some pins and 3.3V on some pins.You could swap out that AMS1117 linear regulator with a 1.8v version for not much money?
And this is not a big task for me I have replaced many eprom with just a soldering iron.But if you're looking at these kind of programmers then you probably do have the skills to change out the vreg, I think.
Now the question arises if I first convert it to a complete 3.3V one and then replace the 3.3V VREG with 1.8V VREG, will it work?
CH341A IC work between 3.3V and 5V according to datasheet so simply replacing the Vreg would not work.I've only done the 5v to 3v mod for a couple of EPS8266's. I've looked at it more closely and it looks like changing the vreg isn't going to work, you'll need the low voltage adapter.
I did the exact same mod to my CH341A but followed this post https://www.chucknemeth.com/usb-devices/ch341a/3v-ch341a-mod
Thank you!CH341A IC work between 3.3V and 5V according to datasheet so simply replacing the Vreg would not work.
I was successfully able to read, erase, write and verify a 1.8V BIOS chip without the 1.8V adapter.
The BIOS chip was MX25U12873F 1.8V 16Mb its from the MSI A320M Pro-VH Plus motherboard.
The trick was first convert the cheap CH341A to complete 3.3V (so its safe to use) like this thread https://www.chucknemeth.com/usb-devices/ch341a/3v-ch341a-mod
Then install the MX25U12873F on ch341a in 25XX slot, and it should be connected in a way that the PIN 8 (VCC pin) should be disconnected from CH341A, I just used some tape on PIN 8 to avoid connection.
I also checked via multi meter to make sure there was no connection between PIN 8 and CH341A.
View attachment 112869
I haven't tested the board yet as I don't have any am4 cpu or ddr4 ram to test.
But I am pretty confident that it will work as I was able to verify the dump with latest bios that I flashed.
I will update this thread whenever I test that board.