P16PRO40 programmer?

[elMickotanko]

Hi,
I want to buy the P16Pro40, Im dying to get started on Nigel's tutorial series.

found it here:
**broken link removed**

I've a couple of questions:
On this page its says it wont work on windows XP. Is this just referring to their recommended software?? ie. will it work with MPLAB or Nigel's software?

Do I need the ZIF socket to get started with the 16f628?

they offer a 12v - 16.5v dc convertor (kit 3135) supplying 100mA or so. Will this be ok to power the board (doesnt state its current consumption)??

Any advice would be great.

Thanks,
M!C/<

Oh yeah, How come its so cheap, i thought programmers were quite expensive?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Hi,
I want to buy the P16Pro40, Im dying to get started on Nigel's tutorial series.

found it here:
**broken link removed**

I've a couple of questions:
On this page its says it wont work on windows XP. Is this just referring to their recommended software?? ie. will it work with MPLAB or Nigel's software?

My software (and MPLAB/MPASM) works fine under XP.

Do I need the ZIF socket to get started with the 16f628?

It makes life a LOT easier, I'd recommend one!

they offer a 12v - 16.5v dc convertor (kit 3135) supplying 100mA or so. Will this be ok to power the board (doesnt state its current consumption)??

100mA is more than enough, I often run a P16PRO40 off a pair of 9V MN1604 batteries.

Oh yeah, How come its so cheap, i thought programmers were quite expensive?

PIC programmers can be quite cheap, this type uses PC software to program the chip, more expensive ones use an on-board processor, with the PC simply transferring the data.

 

[raitl]

I have a question concerning the programmer. I built it myself and it works just fine....aslong as I'm using a pair of 9v batteries or a 16V accu from my drill. But when I'm using any kind of ac/dc convertor, the programmer won't work. It only writes a random value to the first program address and that's it. I have no oscillograph so I'm kinda puzzled here....any ideas or suggestions?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I have a question concerning the programmer. I built it myself and it works just fine....aslong as I'm using a pair of 9v batteries or a 16V accu from my drill. But when I'm using any kind of ac/dc convertor, the programmer won't work. It only writes a random value to the first program address and that's it. I have no oscillograph so I'm kinda puzzled here....any ideas or suggestions?

You mains adaptor is probably unregulated, these often have huge amounts of ripple on the supply, they commonly drop below the minimum voltage required.

 

[timothyjackson]

hey,

Oh yeah, How come its so cheap, i thought programmers were quite expensive?

I would advise you against it.

I started out with a budget of their programmers. i had so much hassle getting it to work. i took it to a friend whos a pro with pic's, and, even he was confused by it.

get a good, recognised programmer. PIC work is really precise, one little thing can prevent your entire project from working. If your just starting out with pic's, I little that little tiny weeeny little error be in your code/knowledge, not the programmer.

Go for a PIC START plus. Much much better. works with mPLAB (free and real easy to use). thats the best thing I did.

Nigels stuff is top notch. I was toying with idea of building his programmer boards, but hey, its that little error thing. but when you know as much as nigel, you don't make tiny errors.

hope it of some use.

Timbob

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

hey,

Oh yeah, How come its so cheap, i thought programmers were quite expensive?

I would advise you against it.

I started out with a budget of their programmers. i had so much hassle getting it to work. i took it to a friend whos a pro with pic's, and, even he was confused by it.

I'm somewhat bemused by this?, someone who's "a pro with pic's" and he's confused by a simple David Tait type programmer?.

get a good, recognised programmer. PIC work is really precise, one little thing can prevent your entire project from working. If your just starting out with pic's, I little that little tiny weeeny little error be in your code/knowledge, not the programmer.

The P16PRO40 is a GOOD, RECOGNISED programmer, there's probably far more in use world wide than the PICStart Plus - particularly if you count all the similar David Tait inspired designs.

Go for a PIC START plus. Much much better. works with mPLAB (free and real easy to use). thats the best thing I did.

It's FAR too expensive, and FAR too slow, if you can afford to pay that amount for a programmer , fair enough - and it has the bonus of rapid updates for new devices. But the price puts most people off, I certainly can't afford one!. Also, the performance is so SLOWWWWWW!, often a decent parallel port design will absolutely wipe the floor with the PICStart Plus. I was doing some tests last night with some short programs on a 16F628, programming (and verification) took under a second! - I understand it's many times longer than that with a PICStart Plus?.

 

[raitl]

You mains adaptor is probably unregulated, these often have huge amounts of ripple on the supply, they commonly drop below the minimum voltage required.

I took a 21V adaptor and unwound the secondary until the output was 15Vac. After replacing the original electrolyte, the output is 40Vdc without load and 15Vdc when connected to the programmer. That should be enough... I even tried it with a 21V adaptor, which is too close to the limit of the regulators because the lm-s got hot within few minutes. But it still didn't work. ...

Still working nicely when using batteries..

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I took a 21V adaptor and unwound the secondary until the output was 15Vac. After replacing the original electrolyte, the output is 40Vdc without load and 15Vdc when connected to the programmer. That should be enough... I even tried it with a 21V adaptor, which is too close to the limit of the regulators because the lm-s got hot within few minutes. But it still didn't work. ...

40V off load to 15V on load is an incredibly large drop!, there's something seriously wrong at that large a drop!. 15V DC going in is really too low, you need a smooth 13V out of the Vpp regultor - and 2V isn't really much headroom.

Do you have access to a scope, to check the ripple on the incoming supply?.

 

[timothyjackson]

hey,

Oh yeah, How come its so cheap, i thought programmers were quite expensive?

I would advise you against it.

I started out with a budget of their programmers. i had so much hassle getting it to work. i took it to a friend whos a pro with pic's, and, even he was confused by it.

I'm somewhat bemused by this?, someone who's "a pro with pic's" and he's confused by a simple David Tait type programmer?.

get a good, recognised programmer. PIC work is really precise, one little thing can prevent your entire project from working. If your just starting out with pic's, I little that little tiny weeeny little error be in your code/knowledge, not the programmer.

The P16PRO40 is a GOOD, RECOGNISED programmer, there's probably far more in use world wide than the PICStart Plus - particularly if you count all the similar David Tait inspired designs.

Go for a PIC START plus. Much much better. works with mPLAB (free and real easy to use). thats the best thing I did.

It's FAR too expensive, and FAR too slow, if you can afford to pay that amount for a programmer , fair enough - and it has the bonus of rapid updates for new devices. But the price puts most people off, I certainly can't afford one!. Also, the performance is so SLOWWWWWW!, often a decent parallel port design will absolutely wipe the floor with the PICStart Plus. I was doing some tests last night with some short programs on a 16F628, programming (and verification) took under a second! - I understand it's many times longer than that with a PICStart Plus?.

Apologies if I've offended/bemused you. It was not my intention

Tim

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Apologies if I've offended/bemused you. It was not my intention

No offence taken!.

 

[elMickotanko]

Thanks for all your advice and discussion. Im going to go for it.

Im in the process of turning an old PC power supply into a 12v/-12v/5v source.
Can I just tie a 12v and 5v line together to give me a 17v source??

Cheers,
M!C/<

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Thanks for all your advice and discussion. Im going to go for it.

Im in the process of turning an old PC power supply into a 12v/-12v/5v source.
Can I just tie a 12v and 5v line together to give me a 17v source??

Afraid not! - they share a common ground connection. Although between +5V and -12V there's 17V difference!, so you could try that - I presume you're also aware that PC power supplies require a certain amount of load to work?.

 

[raitl]

15V DC going in is really too low, you need a smooth 13V out of the Vpp regultor - and 2V isn't really much headroom.

Do you have access to a scope, to check the ripple on the incoming supply?.

No scope... I'm currently trying to find a PC scope schematics to assemble myself.

But I guess there has to be a problem with the ripple, because it didn't work even with the 21V supply. And btw, all the voltages are right when doing the hardware check in IC-Prog and even when I measured them during programming. So everything adds up nicely there..

 

[elMickotanko]

Afraid not! - they share a common ground connection. Although between +5V and -12V there's 17V difference!, so you could try that - I presume you're also aware that PC power supplies require a certain amount of load to work?.

Oh yeah thanks, ill try that.

Yup, im going to fit a few 1-10ohm sandbar resistors in parrallel to one of the 5v lines. I think it needs to run about 20watts?

Cheers,
Mick

 

[BF9000]

Kit 96 With WINXP

The P16PRO40 has been working great for me. It's best to just buy the PS from the kitsrus website. I would not reccomend using PICALL for programming under XP as it becomes complicated. There is a free download call IC-prog that has been working great for me. You just need to downlod the XP driver and place it in the folder with the program. In hardware settings use "ProPic 2 Programmer", Direct I/O, and check boxes for Invert data out, invert data in, and clock. Also under options on the misc tab, check "Enable XP driver".