Pic to pc usb

[Chantry]

Hi.

Basically im after a way of transferring data from my pic to usb. I'm using pic 16f628a and assembly code and i would like to use a USB interface.

Apparently what I need is a USB/Serial converter with the max232 chip. Does this sound like a good way to do it and is there any example code online in assembly in regards to doing this? I haven't seen anything particually relevant online so far.

Any help or info related to this would be very helpful.

Thank you.

James

 

[dknguyen]

FTDI has chips that act like a virtual COM port for USB. It basically lets you code the PIC and the PC like you are coding for the UART/RS-232 but you are using a USB cable instead. It's not the "native" USB but it's much easier and more accessible. You don't need a MAX232 when using this chip- the PIC UART signals go to straight the chip where they are turned to USB.

 

[dknguyen]

DId I also mention you don't actually need a chip in your circuit? They have USB cables with this chip built in so you just plug it into the UART of any board and it turns it into RS-232 over the USB cable.

Accessories | Digi-Key

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

You may as well just use a standard USB/Serial adaptor cable - they are dead cheap, and you can buy them in any computer store.

They probably use something similar to the FTDI chips anyway?.

 

[Spadez]

Cable seems like a good option.

 

[Chantry]

Thank you for all the replies. A cable is a good idea, but I need to have all components on the board for demonstration.

The FTDI chips seem like the perfect option to allow me to keep the coding simple. I was rather hoping to have all the components on a single board, but it looks like it's forcing me to use their board and link with a mole connection. There is a schematic online for a circuit using this chip:

https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2010/07/FT232RL-Breakout-Schematic.pdf

The problem is that the chip is so damn small! Is there a way to hand solder chips this size onto a pcb?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Use an 18F series PIC with USB then, a single chip solution with USB already incorporated.