I2C with PIC MCU

[netbug]

Hi,

I need a cheap PIC MCU that has bult-in I2C controller. After spending some time looking at the Microchip webpage, I decided to use pic16F689, however very few people use this MCU and I am thinking if it is the right choice.

Do you have a sugestion on what MCU can I use ?

Best regards,

Pedro Cardoso

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Do you need master or slave I2C?, master is easy to do in software on any PIC, check my tutorials for details.

 

[netbug]

Thak you Nigel for your answer. I need a master, but I thought that the software solution was slow, and so it would be better to use a chip that has I2C controller bult-in. Anyway, using the software solution would be enough for a RTC (counting seconds)?

Just another question, Microchip has PIC16F628A-I/P and PIC16F628A-E/P. What's the difference between them ?

Best regards,

Pedro

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Thak you Nigel for your answer. I need a master, but I thought that the software solution was slow, and so it would be better to use a chip that has I2C controller bult-in. Anyway, using the software solution would be enough for a RTC (counting seconds)?

I2C is slow anyway, it's supposed to be! - and software is really no slower than hardware - the main advantage in the hardware is if you want to make a slave. BTW, 'slow' is a very relative term!.

Just another question, Microchip has PIC16F628A-I/P and PIC16F628A-E/P. What's the difference between them ?

Check page 179 of the datasheet (right near the back), the 'I' and 'E' signify different temperature ranges.

 

[netbug]

Thanks nigel.

Pedro Cardoso

 

[justDIY]

I need a cheap PIC MCU that has bult-in I2C controller. After spending some time looking at the Microchip webpage, I decided to use pic16F689, however very few people use this MCU and I am thinking if it is the right choice.

Do you have a sugestion on what MCU can I use ?

Pedro,

What is your intended application? The 16F690 family (685,687,689,690) are fairly new chips from Microchip. They pack a lot of ADC channels into a small chip... at only 20 pins they have more channels than many 40 pin devices, adding i2c hardware and an enchanced serial port are icing on the cake.

 

[netbug]

Hi,
I have several applications for the MCU, one of them is a watchwinder that is going to be produced (here I need it for a RTC). However as I am going to buy about 100 MCU's, I thought it would be nice to choose a cheap MCU with nice features, so I can use in other projects.

Other projects,
- Interfacing PIC with PS2 keyboard and a memory chip.
- Robot
- Media Center is going to be done with a regular PC, and a PIC MCU will be connected to an LCD and display several informations about mediacenter.

Best regards,

Pedro Cardoso