PIC suggestions needed

Yes, excellent way to start.

Yes, plenty of them. Go to the Microchip website and serach for chips that have an ADC in them.

The PIC16F690 in that starter kit above has 12 channels of 10bit ADC.

Dave.

Pickit 2 is the basic programmer. It can't read the protected areas but can overwrite a protected area with new code.

The PicStart Plus can do it all including clone chips but for ~$200 from Microchip. The good news is that there are clones of the picstart plus for lots less. They use the same free microchip software and are supported with firmware updates.

But search for '"picstart plus" clones' I found them for ~$50

Yes. You need to look at the catalog list., it's indicated there.

and that start kit is just fine for a few..

"

Yes, excellent way to start.

Yes, plenty of them. Go to the Microchip website and serach for chips that have an ADC in them.

The PIC16F690 in that starter kit above has 12 channels of 10bit ADC.

Dave.

Absolutely two thumbs up. If you get tired of using the starter board, the programmer can program your chips in-circuit.

The USB version also programs a heck of a lot faster than the serial ones the RnD types use at work.

If it does stop working, the PICKit software has the option of downloading the OS back into the programmer. That's brought my unit back to life on more than one occasion, after an 'oops' on the circuit board...

Many PIC's have both A/D and comparator inputs.

The PIC16F690 that comes (or did come) with the Starter Kit has A/D capability, and the tutorial has a small program to read the potentiometer on the starter board. Some PIC micros have up to 16 A/D channels.

HTH

"Wes" schreef in bericht news:jZVul.37480$ snipped-for-privacy@en-nntp-06.dc.easynews.com...

Look at:

for an intro.

Even the smallest 6 pin versions, the PIC10F2xx, have types with AD-conversion (10F222) or a comparator (10F204)

petrus bitbyter

Yep. As well as in-circuit programming, it supports in-circuit debugging (with debug-capable ICs, or a debug header, although debug headers aren't cheap), supplies variable-voltage power to the test circuit, and can be used as a UART to talk to the PIC (although the included demo board isn't wired for this; you need to connect pins 4+5 on the PICKit2 to pins

10+12 on the PIC16F690 for UART use, versus pins 19+18 for programming).

Also, see the thread "Learning PIC: where to start" on SED for miscellaneous advice.

Yes. A large proportion of PIC chips in all families have an ADC, including the 16F690 supplied with the demo board.

AFAICT, they usually (invariably?) only have one ADC, but you can multiplex it between pins (the number of pins which can be configured as analogue inputs varies between models). This won't be a problem unless you need synchronised samples.

In message , Wes writes

PICKit2, excellent way to start and the board can also be used to program different PIC chips if you remove the socketed chip it's supplied with. If you intend doing this I'd recommend you get hold of a second 20 pin socket to save the one on the board (plug it into the one on the board and fit chips into that one).

Plenty, if you buy the kit you mentioned from Newark then it comes with a CD (which you can download from Microchip's site) that contains the data sheet for the chip on the board and also a few tutorials, one or more of which deal with analogue input.

--
Clint Sharp

You don't really need the 8/12/20 pin demo board. It doesn't take the

18 pin PICS of which the most useful is the 16F88. The 16F88 is a great chip for getting into PIC programming as it is full supported by the PICKIT 2 *INCLUDING* debugging with no extra emulation headers or adaptors required. The 16F87 and 88 are the *ONLY* PICs of 20 pins or under that have full debug support without needing an expensive ICD header and adaptor. The 16F88 has SPI/I2C, UART, 10 bit 7 channel ADC, 2 comparators, 3 timers and a 256 byte data EEPROM. Its got as much RAM and program memory as any low end part and more than most.

Other good PICS for getting started with are the 16F886 if you want a 28 pin part and the 16F887 for a 40 pin part. Both are feature rich, with debug support built in. Just make sure you get PDIP (either 300 or 600 mil) or SPDIP packaged parts if you want to breadboard them.

All are easily breadboardable with the PICKIT2 if you make up a simple

8" cable with a 0.1" 6 pin header plug on one end to fit the connector on the Pickit 2 and individual pins to plug into the breadboard on the other. You will save $15 *not* getting the kit with the demo board which can be well spent on few PICS, a couple of 4Mhz crystals for when you need a spot-on clock frequency and a strip of 0.1" header pins and some small bore heatshrink sleeving to make up the cable you will need.

If you INSIST on having a demo board, get the Debug Express kit. It's demo board has a surface mount 16F887 with a button, a pot for the ADC and eight LEDs. All pins are brought out to accessable through hole locations so you can add some turned pin socket strips and patch it into any project you are breadboarding, space to put a crystal, or resonator for the clock (though the chip has a pretty good internal oscillator), space for a 32 KHz crystal for Timer 1 for RTC applications and a surface mount prototyping area with more than enough space to assemble a MAX232 or similar level converter if you want an on-board PC compatible serial interface and two 11 pin + power and ground locations for headers to get signals in and out from the prototyping area.

--
Ian Malcolm.   London, ENGLAND.  (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk
[at]=@, [dash]=- & [dot]=. *Warning* HTML & >32K emails --> NUL:

For a good time without the cost and learning curve, check out:

That chip sounds like fun to play with also. Thanks for the link.

Wes

It's loads of fun. 2-3 AA cells, solderless breadboard, switches, leds, pots, toy motors and I can play for hours. Where can you get that much entertainment for $4?

I just had one of the controls on my electric range go out. A picaxe is now replacing it. Solid state relay does the heavy lifting, a 20 amp DPDT for safety, and it modulates the power and flashes lights to show what the power setting is. All for less than the cost of a new electromechanical "infinite" switch.

Phil Anderson is a good source for the chips, spark fun and ebay some others in the US.

for software downloads

Kicchip makes a similar controller with the boot loader pre burned on it for the same price range. They don't have the killer forum and the excellent support the 'axe does, but they do have a killer programming application. (not compatible with axe chips though)

Arduino is another good one, little more money ($15 and up) but vastly more power.

I ordered a couple from Sparkfun yesterday.

Sweet! Excellent solution. Adaptable to a washer or dryer timer going on it's back.

Phanderson has interesting items. I'll keep it in mind.

I'll give it a look also.

Damn, sounds like a lot of choices.

Thanks,

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

back.

I liked it so much more than the old ones that I built a second and replaced a perfectly good control. Tricolor leds to signal the power level and a preheat function.

What he sells in the way of components are usually priced low too. Lot of good interface info on the site too.

The 08M 'axe and you can do most of what you want. I've got two time lapse cameras working with an 08M and 14M. Arduino allows basic and C programming, but its a steeper learning curve and the support isn't near as good as the 'axe.

PS I bought the book "Programming and Customizing the Picaxe Micro controller" by David Lincoln. Mine is ISBN: 0-07-145765-8

List price $40 - I paid $12 shopping for it. It is worth getting in spite of its many shortcomings. NOT worth $40 though.

The frustrating things - Reved puts out new model chips faster than the book gets updated, and the book is a one size fits all - slightly different for the basic stamp, Oopic, and other controllers. The index is only good for the first 5th of the book, anything after may be on a different page than the index says or not there at all.