P16Pro40 power supply and other stuff

[cubdh23]

Hey i got my P16PRO40 board. It says 17-30VDC or 13-20VAC
Either of those goes into the same (hole/pin) ??? I found that rather strange.
How can one power hole be used for AC or DC. can someone please clarify this thing for me. Also one more question. When PRogramming on the P16PRO40, is it wise to try to somehow connect the pins of the sockets that the chip is being programmed on, to connect those pins to a breadboard using really reallly thin wire? This way the PIC can stay on the P16PRO40 and basically the i/o pins are brought out to a breadboard. Is that something to do, or should i always remove the PIC from the programming board?
thank you

 

[cubdh23]

OHHHHH i just realized something.
The ZIF thingy can be used to place the IC into the programming board while sticking wires into the ZIF and putting the wires on a breadboard, Is this right? Can or should i do this?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

The power supply issue is simple, the P16PRO40 has a bridge rectifier on board, this will fullwave rectify any AC supply, and will 'steer' a DC supply the correct way round - it works fine with either AC or DC supplies, providing they will supply enough voltage and current, without objectionable ripple. A good test is to use two 9V batteries in series, I ran mine at home for years like that, and still run one occasionally at work off two Duracell MN1604 batteries.

I would suggest you program the PIC in the ZIF socket, and transfer it to the target board - ICSP is possible, but places restrictions and extra complications on the target board. What I do is fit each PIC with a turned pic socket, this prevents any possible damage to the PIC pins, and makes it easier to insert in the target board - where I DON'T use a turned pin socket, just a normal low profile one.

Running longer wires to program an ICSP board also often gives rise to problems, the programming wires need to be as short as possible due to the extra capacitance.

Personally I would advise against using a breadboard, many problems arise from their use with PIC's - due to their high capacitance, and connecting the circuit wrongly. If you want to use one I would suggest you mount the PIC and support components (regulator, crystal etc.) on a piece of veroboard (like my tutorials) and just connect the required I/O pins to the breadboard.

 

[cubdh23]

I dont know if what i am saying makes sence. The last programming board i used had a switch that you switch when you are buring code and then you switch it back when you are done and you have the target board with pins that bring out the i/o pins of the microcontroller. You program the chip and use the chip without moving the chip. I guess it had a programming mode and a run mode. I want to duplicate this if possible with the Pro40
Anyway for the PICs since i am using the PRO40 thing, i am assuming that each time i program it i need to stick it in there and then when i want to test it on my target board i need to stick it back in the target board. If i do this 200 times to do a project, wouldnt something break? ICSP is a way to avoid this? You can program it and bring out its pins without removing the chip?? You say this adds to complications but wouldnt it be worth it???
whats the difference btw turned pin socket as opposed to regular pin sockets?

 

[cubdh23]

One more thing, whats the difference btw
Smith Trigger input and TTL input
I know what TTL input is, 0 and 5V
but how about the ST?

 

[williB]

Schmitt Trigger input

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Anyway for the PICs since i am using the PRO40 thing, i am assuming that each time i program it i need to stick it in there and then when i want to test it on my target board i need to stick it back in the target board. If i do this 200 times to do a project, wouldnt something break? ICSP is a way to avoid this? You can program it and bring out its pins without removing the chip?? You say this adds to complications but wouldnt it be worth it???
whats the difference btw turned pin socket as opposed to regular pin sockets?

A turned pin socket has round straight pins, this makes it plug-in to a normal socket VERY easily, and with hardly any chance of damage. I've been fitting them to my working PIC's for something like ten years, and never damaged either a PIC or a socket in that time. I've attached a picture below of turned pin sockets.

I've never used ICSP, I consider it too limiting on the target design, although, obviously, it's very useful for surface mount PIC's. If you want to take the trouble to add ICSP, fair enough, but I've never found it necessary.

As for your input question, a schmitt trigger is a circuit which actively 'snaps' from one state to the other and provides hysteresis - for normal logic inputs the standard pins are fine, but if you have a varying analogue input the schmitt inputs will provide a more reliable switching point.

 

[cubdh23]

I am having problems setting up the winiprog program. When i try to install the winiprog it tells me i need the driver, so when i download the driver and i try to install it, it says " The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft windows aplications. Choose 'close' to terminate application.
What am i to do???
I use win 2000 2nd edition.

 

[cubdh23]

LOL i mean windows 2000 professional. Is there another version somewhere that might work? thanks a lot.

 

[Henrico]

LOL i mean windows 2000 professional. Is there another version somewhere that might work? thanks a lot.

What driver did you download?
Did you download it from Nigel's site?
I am using Win 2000 Prof. and it works just fine for me.I suggest you
download the driver again and re-install.

Good Luck

 

[cubdh23]

Yes i get it from Nigels site the file is called port95nt.exe
It doesnt work. I also get the winiprog and it says it needs the dll. ALSOO
I try to setup the MPLAB IDE 6.0 and also an older version and when they are installing when it reaches 27% It says something like " You dont have administrative privileges " Anyway i log on as administrator and it says the same thing. So basically none of the 3 freeking softwares wants to intall.
Whats going on?????? Im ready to program my first pic

 

[cubdh23]

P.S
My Friend's computer gives the same Errors with the MDLAB IDE, this is weird because he is running XP but our computer is on the same network.
I wonder if there is something about the network settings that is conflicting with the setup.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Yes i get it from Nigels site the file is called port95nt.exe
It doesnt work. I also get the winiprog and it says it needs the dll. ALSOO
I try to setup the MPLAB IDE 6.0 and also an older version and when they are installing when it reaches 27% It says something like " You dont have administrative privileges " Anyway i log on as administrator and it says the same thing. So basically none of the 3 freeking softwares wants to intall.
Whats going on?????? Im ready to program my first pic

Assuming you mean WinPicProg (I've never heard of Winiprog), it works fine under NT, 2000 and XP (which are all simply versions of NT). But, as with all NT systems you need administrator privileges to install software. It sounds as if you don't have full administrator privileges, so your OS won't let you install stuff.

You mention this is on a network, possibly the network administrator has it set to prevent you installing anything?, I'm don't know if this is possible, but it certainly could be!.

Assuming you have a network administrator, I suggest you go and see him.

 

[Henrico]

[quote="Nigel Goodwin. It sounds as if you don't have full administrator privileges, so your OS
You mention this is on a network, possibly the network administrator has it set to prevent you installing anything?, I'm don't know if this is possible, but it certainly could be!.

Assuming you have a network administrator, I suggest you go and see him.[/quote]

YES this is possible, one sure way to test it is to try and install the s/w
on a stand alone PC.
I'm assuming you are refering to your pc at work?The only other way is as Nigel suggests,speak to the administrator, and even suggest that he installs the s/w for you .That way he knows it is FREE s/w and is not jeopordising his admin rights.

 

[cubdh23]

No, it is the network in my apartment of 3 computers. When i log in as administrator it gives me the same problem, I have installed many many many software on my comp and i never got this problem. Also why does the driver on Nigel's site say, in the top left corner '16 bit Windows Subsystem'
then " C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXEC.NT. The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Terminate"
It says this when i try to install. Anyone ever get this message before??
Can i install MPASM without installing the entire MPLAB IDE ( this is the one that ask for administrator)

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

No, it is the network in my apartment of 3 computers. When i log in as administrator it gives me the same problem, I have installed many many many software on my comp and i never got this problem. Also why does the driver on Nigel's site say, in the top left corner '16 bit Windows Subsystem'
then " C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXEC.NT. The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Terminate"
It says this when i try to install. Anyone ever get this message before??
Can i install MPASM without installing the entire MPLAB IDE ( this is the one that ask for administrator)

The driver isn't mine, it's simply a freeware one - but I've never heard of any troubles with it.

I suspect you have problems with your system, it's probably configured in some strange way?.

Personally I still use Win98SE, still the most popular Microsoft OS - the NT versions give too many problems.

 

[cubdh23]

Hey guys, i am really thankful for your help. I hope the way i asked my questions did not come off as being rude, its just frustrating because i have been trying to change settings and stuff to make this work all day yesterday but i am very appreciative for the responses. I just installed all 3 software on the 3rd computer on my network and it worked perfectly so obviously there is some messed up settings on the other 2 computers. Thanks for all the help and i will try to take more time to solve my own problems before i come b*tching to you guys for every little thing. I really appreciate the help though thanks and bye.