PIC programmer with ICD2

[Electronics4you]

Hi All


I was wondering if it was possible to make a prorammer for PIC by your self. I have a ICD2 compiler and want to program PIC, directly on my PCB, so I can change program, without removing the chip. Is that possible?


Electronics4you
______________________________________________

 

[Jay.slovak]

Yes! It's called ICSP (In circuit serial programming) that allows you to program the PIC with only 3 wires (Clock, Data, MCLR). ICD2 is able to program this way. Check Microchip Website and Datasheet for more info.

 

[GRC]

Hello Guys
Electronics4you, did you build your own ICD2? Having trouble building
one for myself. Wondering what issues you ran into.

Thanks
Gordon

 

[Joel Rainville]

Hello Guys
Electronics4you, did you build your own ICD2? Having trouble building
one for myself. Wondering what issues you ran into.

Thanks
Gordon

Hey Gordon,

What kind of trouble are you having with your ICD2? Are you using **broken link removed**?

Quite a few people on this forum have built their own ICD2 (including me!), we can probably help.

 

[bryan1]

Quite a few people on this forum have built their own ICD2 (including me!), we can probably help.

Hiya Joel,
Eh mate looking at that ICD design it's built using vero board. I wonder if anyone would like to put up a copy of the circuit showing the details on the veroboard as this would save me hours working it out. I know it's the lazy approach but I realise one wrong wire or track and I'd be up all night trying to get the thing to work.

Cheers Bryan

 

[Joel Rainville]

Hey Bryan,

I don't think Lothar used Veroboard, but more probably good ol' punchboard.

If you wanna borrow from a layout, maybe that picture from Lothar's website can help? :

**broken link removed**

Mine was first assembled on a soldersless breadboard, and it stayed that way for a month because I was using it too much to even have the time to think about transferring it to a PCB! Now I've got all the parts in a box waiting for me finally getting to designing and etching a PCB.

There is another design available. I have no clue where I got it from, maybe from a thread here, I don't remember. Anyway, see the zip attached, it includes everything you need : schematics, PCB layout, BOM and even the modified bootloader for the PIC16F87xA.

The design is quite similar to Lothar's. In fact, I might opt for that version instead of going the custom PCB route for Lothar's design...

 

[Joel Rainville]

Bryan,

Someone posted a PCB layout on **broken link removed** a few days ago! It looks good :

ftp://ftp.cadsoft.de/pub/userfiles/projects/icd2-2.zip

 

[bryan1]

Hiya Joel,
Eh mate thanks for that second link the pcb layout looks excellent and I think I'll go with that one as I have eagle lite on my puter where as I couldn't open all the files on the other zip file you gave. I've just been mucking around designing up the ICD on Loch master veroboard software but you've just saved me a heap of work. Thanks again mate.

Cheers Bryan

 

[GRC]

Hey Guys
Joel, I've been working on this for a little while(time permitting).
Yes, its Stolz design. I loaded the bootloader into the 16F876.
The only issuse is the transistors I'm using are 2n3904 and 2n3906
in place of the orginal one on the diagram. I believe them to be
very similar. I think they work.

Any I'm going to keep trying til I get it
Thanks in advance
Gordon

 

[Joel Rainville]

Hey Guys
The only issuse is the transistors I'm using are 2n3904 and 2n3906
in place of the orginal one on the diagram. I believe them to be
very similar. I think they work.

That's exactly what I use on mine. It works

 

[Joel Rainville]

I've just been mucking around designing up the ICD on Loch master veroboard software [...]

Wow, that's great software. Just what I needed to build my own modified versions of Nigel's development boards.

For anyone interested, there's a limited demo version available from Abacom :

 

[eblc1388]

Hey Guys
Joel, I've been working on this for a little while(time permitting).
Yes, its Stolz design. I loaded the bootloader into the 16F876.

The PNP transistors is not your problem. Your best tool is a simple logic probe and meter.

Check and confirm the following:

1. the pc com port is set at 19,200bps, 8N1, no FIFO

2. 876 MCLR is at the correct voltage (around 5V) and clean

3. there are voltages higher than 5V across the four capacitors on the RS232 chip, except the one that connects across between pin 15 and 16.

4. that the crystal on F876 is working using logic probe

5. that pin8 of the RS232 chip has got signal present when you try to download the operating system

6. that signal is present at the Rx and Tx pin of 876.

7. connect two LED via 470 ohms resistor to pin 23 and 24 to serve as the Error and busy indicator for trouble shooting purposes

Hope the above can help you out in some ways. Good luck.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Wow, that's great software. Just what I needed to build my own modified versions of Nigel's development boards.

That's actually the software I use!, plus 'sPlan 5.0' for circuit diagrams.

 

[samcheetah]

i havent used sPlan but Lochmaster is definitely a must have. working with stripboards is much easier than going all through the fuss of PCB etching (just a personal thought 8) ) and Lochmaster makes that even easier

 

[checkmate]

Just a suggestion. Can one of the moderators start a sticky thread on recommended free and lightwieght utility apps for hobbyists? Keep it a tidy one, maybe with a standard submission template and categorization.

Here's my contribution on what I use.
Editors
kPad - Lightweight notepad/wordpad replacement. Good features include RTF support, tabbing features and file opening via drag-and-drop.
jEdit - Java-based open-source cross-platform editor (Not so lightweight). Features a wide variety of plugins, incorporating features like customizable syntax-highlighting, tabbing and code folding.

PCB Layout
- Functionally-limited freeware layout tool.

Schematic Input
Yet to find a good and free one.

Graphing Tools
Graph - Quick-and-dirty 2D graph plotter.
Arnab's Graph Explorer - 2D graph plotter with slightly more features.

Publishing
**broken link removed** - The newest version is shareware, but this older one is free. Good for people who need that irritating peice of graph paper once in a blue moon.
**broken link removed** - A free, decent timing diagram editor.

Accessories
**broken link removed** - Lightweight expression calculator with most widely-used functions available.
Irfanview - Popular image viewer with a wide support for various image files.

System/File Utilities
ExamDiff - File comparison tool with nice features.
**broken link removed** - Allows a command prompt window to be opened within an explorer window. The command prompt's directory is synchronized with the explorer's one.
User Environmental Utility (File attached) - Win32 utility for the creating/modifying/deleting user environmental variables.
Terminal - Best hyperterminal replacement I've found so far.

 

[Joel Rainville]

Just a suggestion. Can one of the moderators start a sticky thread on recommended free and lightwieght utility apps for hobbyists? Keep it a tidy one, maybe with a standard submission template and categorization.

Great idea! I'll be happy to contribute my picks if we can come up with a standard submission process.

I think some sort of Wiki where anyone can edit a page and where modifications are historized and monitored by moderators would do the trick? Unless a moderator wouldn't mind being flooded by e-mail submissions Or simply a sticky thread where replys are gradually compiled in the first post and deleted afterwards?...

If you need help managing that kind of effort, I have lots of free time these days. I could help.

 

[bryan1]

Hiya Joel,
As Nigel said he uses loch master software and I got the idea from him, I reckon the software is a must have for anyone using vero or strip board. I also have sprint layout which is pcb layout software. It's heaps easier to use than eagle or the others.

Cheers Bryan

 

[Joel Rainville]

What I'm psyched about is that now that I have that software and know how to properly cut tracks on a stripboard, I suddenly have no real good reason to invest in a small PCB ecthing system. For now at least, which is a good thing $-wise. :!:

The "test mode" in LochMaster is my friend

 

[samcheetah]

What I'm psyched about is that now that I have that software and know how to properly cut tracks on a stripboard, I suddenly have no real good reason to invest in a small PCB ecthing system. For now at least, which is a good thing $-wise. :!:

The "test mode" in LochMaster is my friend

i fully agree with you. once i was puzzled about which PCB development technique i should use. then i realized that the stripboard route is much easier and much cheaper. and lochmaster has done wonders for me.

 

[bryan1]

Hiya Guy's,
I'm currently designing the ICD clone on veroboard and I was wondering aswell as putting in the ISCP header also putting in a 40 pin ziff socket configured to program from 8 to 40 pin pics. So if I was to transfer the target PGC, PGD, Gnd and MLCR lines straight to the ziff socket would this be a problem? Sorry if this is silly question but I want to be sure.

Cheers Bryan