In a project at my workplace i'm using a USB controller chip/module from USBMicro to basically turn on 8 relays at different times through a PC. The chips are about $50 each and I need several eventually. The chip probably does everything you would need a USB to do but, all I need is to turn on or off 8 pins so it's pretty much overkill.
Is there a way to program a PIC to do what I want? or do you know of any other usb chips that are cheap?
In a project at my workplace i'm using a USB controller chip/module from USBMicro to basically turn on 8 relays at different times through a PC. The chips are about $50 each and I need several eventually. The chip probably does everything you would need a USB to do but, all I need is to turn on or off 8 pins so it's pretty much overkill.
Is there a way to program a PIC to do what I want? or do you know of any other usb chips that are cheap?
The PIC16C745 has USB built-in, however it's not easy to use, MicroChip datasheets give examples. The easiest way is to use a USB to RS232 chip, this connects between the USB and the PIC, all the PIC has to do is RS232 - which is simple.