Hello everyone, I am getting into electronics and starting a couple projects and need some help. I made a simple 3-mirror laser spirograph with some small DC motors and had a great time making it and creating endless designs with it. Now I am trying to create a 3x3x3 LED cube and need some help. I dont have any experience with microcontrollers but I am wanting to learn. I am wanting to create something like this.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DznDJryfFRQ ... I know how to muliplex the led diodes and solder everything up but coding the microcontroller is something i have zero experience with. My question is what all would i need to create this project. I want to use a pic16f84a controller. what type of programmer do i need along with what software. Also what all needs to be in the circuit to control the LED's with the microcontroller? any help is appreciated. Thanks and have a nice day

 

PIC16F84A is a very small mcu,with very limited I/O pins ,you will get 8 pins of PORTB and 4 pins of PORTA.When I first started learning about mcu I also started with PIC16F84A.The first thing you have to do is to get MPLAB from Microchip's website.Its the program where you can write programs for any PIC ,normally at first you will be learning PIC assembly language so you will not need any additional C compiler just MPLAB is enough it comes with MPASM (PIC assembler).Next you need a programmer to program the chip ,you have two choice .Built it your self, as I did for the first time ,when I was starting, second option buy one I brought ICD2 from Microchip ,as I need to debug too ,as you will do large project you will need to debug in real time. Their are more PIC programmer like PICSTART Plus,MPLAB PM3 and PICkit,but ICD will both program and debug ,its a bit costlier then others.

If you are planning to build your own programmer then I will prefer this...
http://www.oshonsoft.com/picprog.html
It comes with a programming software, download it too as by using this software you will transfer your program to your chip

Good Luck

 

Here's a kit from Velleman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu0OfNuzlzc

 

Thanks for the replies. Would something like this work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/280594802826?_trksid=p5197.c0.m619 I am trying to keep it low budget and buy parts off ebay. As for the kit mentioned, it is not for sale yet but good find! What type of harware would i need to complete the circuit built to control the LED's with the pic. I can get the I/O down to 3 anodes and 9 cathodes from multiplexing or vice versa.

 

Its a JDM programmer,the programmer use RS232 i.e... serial port of your PC to program and also to power the programmer,many times they don't work as they try to power the circuit from the serial port itself and in many PC the voltage level of this serial port is different and they dont work.

I already gave you a link to a cheap and good programmer and it have no problem like JDM programmers .

 

Its a JDM programmer,the programmer use RS232 i.e... serial port of your PC to program and also to power the programmer,many times they don't work as they try to power the circuit from the serial port itself and in many PC the voltage level of this serial port is different and they dont work.

I already gave you a link to a cheap and good programmer and it have no problem like JDM programmers .

I see. How much is the one you showed me? i can't seem to find the price on there or where to buy? thanks

 

I see. How much is the one you showed me? i can't seem to find the price on there or where to buy? thanks

I think you didn’t notice, or may be you are very new to electronic and don’t understand much, if you have not much experience on electronic then I will prefer you to buy any programmer which comes with its own and separate power supply not JDM types.

And about the link I posted...
Its free, you have to assemble it yourself, it have the circuit diagram on that page...

Good Luck

 

I think you didn’t notice, or may be you are very new to electronic and don’t understand much, if you have not much experience on electronic then I will prefer you to buy any programmer which comes with its own and separate power supply not JDM types.

And about the link I posted...
Its free, you have to assemble it yourself, it have the circuit diagram on that page...

Good Luck

That makes sense. That might be a little too complicated for me. I am looking for something already built and ready to program. would a USB type programmer work? such as this... http://www.ebay.com/itm/PIC-USB-Aut...044?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27c37066ec ... Also once i figure out the programming and get the chip ready to go, what are all of the components i would need for he circuit to run the cube. I'm not sure what the crystal/oscillator is. would i need that? probably a terrible question but I am completely new to this. If anyone has a link or something that explains how the pic works for a newbie would help. Thanks

 

Yes that USB programmer will do the job...

And for learning you can start with this as you said you want to work with PIC16F84A
http://www.mstracey.btinternet.co.uk/pictutorial/picmain.htm

Good Luck

 

Hello everyone. I received my programmer today and have MPlab installed. I am trying to set up the programmer and keep getting an error message when i click enable programmer ..."Cannot Transmit. Please verify connection and retry the previous operation." I am using this programmer .. http://www.ebay.com/itm/PIC-USB-Aut...044?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27c37066ec .. If anyone has a solution please let me know. Thanks!