Using PIC 24 without Starter Board

Thread Starter

Ghyrt

Joined Jun 3, 2009
10
I'm building a robot and need to use my PIC 24 in stand alone mode without the starter development board that came with it. It seems like there should be a guide on the internet that tells how to do this, but I can't seem to find it. Could someone please help me out? Thank you.
 

Thread Starter

Ghyrt

Joined Jun 3, 2009
10
what do mean by starter board? Can you be more specific like a link or part-number
This is what I've been using: http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1406&dDocName=en529760

Just buy a spare PIC. Don't use the development kit.
I'm willing to remove the chip that came with my board. The problem that I'm having is that I don't know how to NOT use the board.

Try this, try this
This looks very close to what I had in mind, but I don't need to be able to program it on my robot. What I think I'd like to do is program it on my starter board then move the programmed chip to my robot and run it. Am I correct in my assumption that this would be simpler? Do you know if there's an easier schematic to use for this purpose? If not, your way still looks doable and I thank you for your help.
 

maxpower097

Joined Feb 20, 2009
816
You can remove the program pins, LED, etc.. if you want. But this has the basic setup you need to run a pic. Just remove the stuff you don't want.
 

maxpower097

Joined Feb 20, 2009
816
Since its going in a robot and you just want to make it smaller and conventional why not a bitwhacker like one of these.
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9148
They usually contain all the basic hardware needed for the uC to work with a reset switch and power LED.Some are more complex then others. Or you could go PIC32 which is more powerful then the PIC24, the code is 98% compatible to PIC24 code. Chip price shouldn't be an issue for you since its for a one off robot. And even if it is you can make you own bitwhacker board for cheap yourself if you want.
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8971
 

retched

Joined Dec 5, 2009
5,207
I own the second one. The UBW32.

We started a project here that got derailed, but that was the brain.

Little footprint, usb connectivity, ready to go.
 

maxpower097

Joined Feb 20, 2009
816
Hell retched you got the EXP16 you can do anything with a 16 or 32 bit pic you want. There actually amazing little chips. Learning curves been a tad tough though. Using C30 compiler. Right now I'm trying to get the oboard RTC working right. The demo code has it working pretty much but its quite complex for some demo code. I feel if I take my time and understand why they wrote it that way it will pay off in the end with better code structure. I'd love to make some PIM's that would take PIC18's and PIC16's too. I bet we could and I'm sure they would sell like hotcakes. Currently a PIM is $25 from MC. If we made a line of 8 bit PIM's pinned out compatible for the EXP16 that would make it the ultimate Dev kit. May have to play with crystals and DIP switches on the prototype area though.
 
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