pickit 2 (clone) error when circuit not powered.

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RMIM

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Hi All,

I have had my clone pickit 2 for years. I have made many successful projects from it. I have only used 2 type of pic. PIC 12F629 and P16F628a.

I have no problems when the pic is powered externally, but what I want to do is program a pic with just the pickit 2 and no external power.

I have use a breadboard with just 5 wires coming off the pic and I get the following error
Found PICkit 2 - Operating System Version 2.32.0
Target power not detected - Powering from PICkit 2 ( 5.00V)
PK2Error0024: PICkit 2 was unable to establish a valid Vdd on the target (Attempted 5.00V - Read 0.35V)
PICkit 2 Ready


but if I now power the pic externally it works
Found PICkit 2 - Operating System Version 2.32.0
Target power detected ( 4.99V)
PIC16F628A found (Rev 0x8)
PICkit 2 Ready

I have the following pickit2 and that zif (in the picture is a pic kit3 mine is a pickit2 from the same company)
**broken link removed**

because of the above error I could never use the zif socket.

Thanks.
 
Just out of curiosity... How much did you pay for the clone?
 
Just out of curiosity... How much did you pay for the clone?

Gosh - it was too long ago, I have lost the receipt. I guess it must have been under 20quid. If you look at that advert they are selling the ZIF and a clone pickit3 for £25 - I think the ZIF on its own is about £10.

How much is the real thing? Over £50 I think.
 
I bought pickit 2 for £25... I suppose I just didn't want hassle
 
My colleague asked me to test his PICkit2 clone from sure, in case he was doing something wrong.

It programmed one time in three. Gave varying numbers of errors 2 times out of three.

My genuine PICkit2 with exactly the same setup programmed 3 times out of every three.

He binned his "sure" clone.

It is the one that comes with a spare enclosure, for no obvious reason. .... am I right?

I would suggest that the bin may be the best place for your clone.

( I have seen other forum posts claim that the PICkit3 clone from "sure" works fine, but for the sake of a few dollars in the difference, why not buy the real thing and have confidence)

If being sure is important, don't buy "sure"

EDIT: on a more positive note, maybe you will have more luck if you keep the programming leads as short as possible.
 
It is the one that comes with a spare enclosure, for no obvious reason. .... am I right?

what the hell! are you secret service - indeed I have a spare enclosure.

so you think it's the unit? Im not just missing some modifications, like the pulldown resistors I have read about?
 
Just get the schematics of the pickit 2 cross reference the two..If it's just the pulldown resistors you're laughing..

I pretty sure that the clones use the same software...
 
what the hell! are you secret service - indeed I have a spare enclosure.

so you think it's the unit? Im not just missing some modifications, like the pulldown resistors I have read about?
I just remember the spare enclosure and thinking "why". Not the sort of thing you forget. In my (twisted) mind I think... as an apology for a rubbish clone - I will send a spare enclosure to make you think you have scored (instead of been scammed).

Try pull-down resistors if you want.... but I still prefer the "bin it and forget I wasted my money" option.

You might enjoy the challenge of making this clone work using pull down resistors, or any other voodoo that you think might work, or you may prefer to just buy a real PICkit.

... your choice entirely

(EDIT: original "black button" PICkit2 would program perfectly, but debug unreliably. Pull-down resistors were the fix in updated "red button" PICkit2, but this only fixed DEBUG, as programming was already good. But this all applies to genuine PICkit2. It may, or may not help with your clone, which is unreliable even when just programming.)
 
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Try pull-down resistors if you want.... but I still prefer the "bin it and forget I wasted my money" option.

Thanks for the reply.
I had no idea clones were that bad - I thought they were pretty much the same (same pic/same software inside).

But apart from trying to power the pic from this unit and trying to use debug mode (never got that mode to work), programming has always been ok, then again, the programs I have written were never more than a 1000 lines
 

Thanks for that Wp100. I got the one on offer as it came with that board, wanted to learn how to use LCD's.
This one does what I want - powers my circuit and programs without external power - a neater setup.
I only wish I could have fixed my pickit 2 as well.

On ebay I have seen a service where they repair you pic kit 3 - how do I avoid getting mine broken in the first place?

I could not get debug to work. Is this because I need something else as well as a pickit3 to be able to debug p16f628a?
 
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Pickit3 doesn't set the voltages like pickit2 did... If you need to power your device FROM pickit3 you need to set the voltage in the settings...

Are you running an external power source to your pic16?
 
Pickit3 doesn't set the voltages like pickit2 did... If you need to power your device FROM pickit3 you need to set the voltage in the settings...

Are you running an external power source to your pic16?

well to program I did not, I manually selected 5v - and it worked.

I never tried it with external power for debug, is that why it's not working?
 
If you have external power then you MUST turn the pickit3 power to off
 
If you have external power then you MUST turn the pickit3 power to off

no, im not using external power supply.

I get the following while trying to use debugger

PICkit 3 detected
Connecting to PICkit 3...
Firmware Suite Version...... 01.27.20
Firmware type......................Midrange
PICkit 3 Connected.
Target Device ID (00001060) does not match expected Device
ID (00001120).

edit:
I have now just tested it with external power-

Target Detected
Target Device ID (00001060) does not match expected Device
ID (00001120).
 
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Have you selected the right chip in MPLAB? What chip are you using again?
 
I can test this tomorrow at work... I used the same chip in my tutorials.. Just check for the"a". The PIC16F628a isn't the same as PIC16F628..
 
The only chip with an ID of 0x1120 is an 18f2515 device.. I think your chip isn't very well...
 
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