Greetings, just getting serious about Electronics right now. I have played around with it for years but right now there is a project I would like to do at work and need some Electronics to do it. So off to self educate myself. I have a list of items looking to purchase and want to know if they all will work together, so here they are.

I currently have a PICKit 2
http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?SKU=3830183

Now I have played around with it for a bit and got a few things to work. However I am looking to expand on it. So was looking at
http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1406&dDocName=en010072


Yes I know could just expand on the PicKit board and go from there. If I buy something that it has it all together with no chance of me screwing up. Trying to learn one step at a time.

So the issue I am having is if I purchase the PicDem 2 Plus, what type of programer will I need?? The PicKIT 2 starter board does not support 18 pin chips. I am probley missing something simple so any help would be appricated.

Timothy

 

Your thread will likely get moved to the "Embedded Systems and Microcontrollers" forum.

Your question is rather broad, yet at the same time somewhat ambiguous. Are the 18-pin uC's what you are mostly looking at?

I was under the impression that the PICkit2 could be used to program most Microchip Flash PICs that were capable of ICSP.

 

Now I think about it should of been in the Embedded System part of the Forum. Will await the move. In the mean time I will try to clarify the issue I am having.

Clip from the info about what I have now.

PICkit™ 2 Starter Kit is a low-cost development kit with an easy to use interface for programming many of Microchip's Baseline, Mid-Range and PIC18F families of Flash memory microcontrollers.
Features:

Low Pin Count Demo Board Supporting 8/14/20-Pin Mid-Range PICmicro Microcontrollers
8/14/20 pin Microcontrollers

Now the item I am looking to purchase:
The PICDEM 2 Plus is a simple board that demonstrates the capabilities of many of the 18-, 28- and 40-pin PIC16XXXX and PIC18XXXX devices.

So the issue is the Pin count on the programmer board. I did see this and thought it was a option but do not want to purchase something that was worthless.

http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?SKU=3830127

Timothy

 

OK, it's just the limitations of the Demo Board itself, not the programmer.

You should be able to program the majority of Flash PICs using an ICSP header and a board you design. Just include the header in your board design. Make sure that you use a 10k resistor between Vdd and the MCLR input, or you risk damaging the PICKit2 progammer and you won't be able to program the uC.

 

Then I grew from the 16f690 demo board. I created my own demo board with units I wanted to have. Like a LCD display, PC rs232 interface some LEDs and push buttons. Of course programmed with my PICKIT 2. If you are familiar with soldering and and using vero board: this is not hard. And you can learn much of it. It is just a tip. So what do you want to have on your "personal trainer"?

 

Well it comes down to the fact I have more money than time currently. Soooo trying to knock out a quick project before the expense account goes away. In about 8 months that will change to more time than money. Already thinking about plans for the ultimate lab set up. Ordering parts for that soon as well.

Timothy

 

Well it comes down to the fact I have more money than time currently. Soooo trying to knock out a quick project before the expense account goes away. In about 8 months that will change to more time than money. Already thinking about plans for the ultimate lab set up. Ordering parts for that soon as well.

Timothy

My advice had nothing to do with money It is just that I am that kind of person who like to build small applications. I have no use for big trainer. But well we are all different. So I suggest you go for a this http://www.mikroe.com/en/tools/easypic6/ It should be all you want. I have not used it my self but it looks cool. And I have not heard anything bad about it in this forum.

 

You could PM this member http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/member.php?u=68613 and ask him what he thinks about the easypic6 unit.

 

And I would reply that I think nothing but great things about it.

For the money (you said its a non-issue) it is a great tool. You have so much of the "little stuff" done for you that speeds development. There is an LED for every output pin so you can see what is going on and when, and use the on board leds for development purposes.

Also, the on-board COG and QVGA touchscreen, PICKIT like in-circuit programmer Debugger, on-board power supply, usb, rj-45, rs-232, ps2 A DIP switch for pull-up/down resistors for EVERY pin.

58 push buttons to set up a keyboard, or up/down/left/right/select keypad Onboard ADC for PICS that have none. eeprom onboard. Temperature sensor, and port expanders to add a about anything you could want.

If you wanted to build a datalogger and store the data on a memory card, you could start with the easypic6, add the memory-card add-on and do your development. When done, you can take the memory card add-on and use it DIRECTLY in your new product. It allows for such simple interfacing to anything. Id say go for it.

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Sorry, I had to take a deep-breath.....whoooosh.. I really like this tool.

The only down-side, is the size. It is about 1 foot square. But that 1 square foot is PACKED.
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