RL78 Series 8 and 16-bit MCUs

This page is for the Renesas RL78 family of MCUs. The main goal is to make the information about RL78 MCUs friendly, easy to access for embedded developers.

The links below can be used to get familiar with Renesas RL78 MCUs. 

• RL78 Low Power 8 & 16-Bit MCUs

Getting Started with RL78

Here are the resources for RL78 MCUs on Renesas Website.

• RL78 Family Development Environment — Software
• Code Generator Plug-in
• RL78 Smart Configurator (for newer MCUs)

Sample code for RL78 can be found here.  

Other resources on Renesas Website.  Links below are pre-configured searches.  You can modify them as needed.  

• User Manuals
• Boards & Kits (general purpose boards) 
• Boards & Kits Automotive (automotive boards)
• Tools
• IBIS Models

e2studio and CS+ are the Renesas supported IDEs.  Note that in Americas region, only e2studio is supported. You can also use Embedded Workbench for RL78. 

Supported toolchains are Renesas CC-RL, IAR C/C++ Compiler for RL78, and LLVM for Renesas RL78.  3rd party IDEs and toolchains are supported by respective partner companies. 

Boards

Official Renesas RL78 series boards are available here. There are several types of boards are available:

• Renesas Starter Kits (RSK)
• Fast Prototyping Boards (FPB)
• Target Boards (CPU Boards)
• Evaluation Boards for Specific Field 

Your First RL78 Project

The following webpage describes the procedure for creating a C project using the Smart Configurator in e2studio IDE or in CS+. ​

Your First RL78 Blinky Project

Tips and Tricks

RL78 Tips and Tricks page contains many useful information and how to notes on everything RL78.  We update the page regularly so come and check it often.   

Known Issues and Workarounds

RL78 Specific Topics

This section is to discuss specific topics for RL78.  Each topic discussed here can be detailed and lengthy.  Therefore, RL78 Specific Topics page serves as a table of contents with a short description of the topics followed by a dedicated page for that subject.