The proposed version of the debug board is designed for testing and debugging programs of microcontrollers of the PICmicro family in a DIP-28 package, for example: PIC18F2525, PIC18F2620, PIC16F76, PIC18F73, PIC16F870, PIC18F873, PIC18F876 and many others. It can be useful for both novice radio amateurs and experienced embedded software developers.

The debug board diagram is shown in Fig. 1. It has the following set of elements “on board”: LCD WH1602J-YYH-CT (HG1), push-button keyboard (SB1 -SB16), two surface-mount LEDs (HL1 and HL2), sound emitter HCM1606X (HA1) with built-in generator , digital temperature sensor DS18B20 (BK1), 5 V supply voltage regulator (DA1) and a panel for installing the DD1 microcontroller.

Rice. 1. Development board diagram

This configuration allows you to load programs of a wide variety of complexity and purpose into the microcontroller installed on the board as DD1 and test them in action. For example, a calculator program capable of performing various arithmetic operations, using a push-button keyboard and LCD, or a digital thermometer program attached to the article. Additionally, by using the HA1 sound emitter, you can test programs for various signaling devices, timers and alarm clocks. And many many others.

Switch SA1 is designed to turn the board's power on and off. Switch SA2 controls the backlight of the LCD screen, and trimming resistor R9 regulates the contrast of the image on it. Connector X1 is intended for connecting a programmer (PicKit2, PicKit3 or similar).

A drawing of the debug board is shown in Fig. 2, it is made of fiberglass laminate foiled on both sides with a thickness of 1.5 mm. The arrangement of elements on the board is shown in Fig. 3. For the DD1 microcontroller, a DIP-28 panel is installed on it. Switches SA1 and SA2 are IS-1390. Buttons SB1-SB16 - TC-12ET (KLS7-TS1204) or similar.

Rice. 2. Development board drawing

Rice. 3. Arrangement of elements on the board

As an example of how to work with a development board, here is a tutorial on how to turn it into a digital thermometer. In addition to the debug board itself and the PIC16F876-20I/SP microcontroller, you will need a PicKit2 or PicKit3 programmer and a computer with the program development environment for PICmicro MPLAB IDE microcontrollers installed on it.

It is free, its latest version (at the time of writing - MPLAB X IDE v.3.65) can be found at http://www.microchip.com/mplab/mplab-x-ide on the official Microchip website. After downloading the installation package for this environment, run its installation and follow the instructions displayed on the computer screen. In the Select Programs window of the installer, check all the boxes.

You can also install a C language compiler that works in conjunction with MPLAB, although it is not needed for the digital thermometer program attached to the article, written in assembly language. The latest version of the compiler, XC8 Compiler V. 1.42, at the time of writing, can be downloaded from http://www.microchip.com/mplab/compilers. It is designed for eight-bit microcontrollers of the PICmicro family. Its free version differs from the paid one only in the degree of optimization of the output code and is quite sufficient for most tasks. By default, the compiler will be placed in the folder with MPLAB X IDE already installed.

Launch MPLAB X IDE and select Create New from the PROJECTS menu, which will open the New Project window on your computer screen. Select Standalone Project in it and click on the Next on-screen button. In the window that opens, select the type of microcontroller used (in our case, it is PIC16F876) and, by clicking on the Next screen button, go to the Select Tool window. Select the programmer you are using, for example PicKit3. In the next Select Compiler window, select the mpasm(v5.54) assembler.

Finally, in the Select Program Name and Folder window, specify the name of the project and the folder in which it will be stored. In order for the Cyrillic alphabet to be displayed correctly in program texts, be sure to specify the windows-1251 encoding in the Encoding field. To complete preparations for creating a project, click on the Finish on-screen button.

In the window that opens, on the Projects tab, right-click on the Source Files item and select Add existing items from the drop-down menu. Specify the path to the source text file of the program in assembly language, previously placed on the computer’s hard drive (preferably in the project folder). In our case, this is the Thermo.asm file from the appendix to the article.

Double-click the left mouse button on the name of the added file. It will open in the MPLAB environment editor window. Then click on the on-screen button with the image of a hammer. The broadcast of the program will begin. Its successful completion will be indicated by the message “BUILD SUCCESSFUL” in the Output window. A HEX file will appear in the project folder, ready to be loaded into the microcontroller’s memory.

Now all that remains is to program the microcontroller. To do this, you need to connect the programmer to the debug board, as shown in Fig. 4 (the inscription on the indicator screen will appear only after programming is completed and the program is started). Please note that the location of the contacts of the same name on the connected connectors of the debug board and the programmer is different. The programmer must also be connected to the computer.

Rice. 4. Connecting the programmer to the development board

Before starting programming, it is necessary to supply connector X2 with a supply voltage of 6...15 V from any source, for example a Krona battery (6A22). You can also power the board from the programmer. To do this, select the Conf: category in the Project Properties window, and in it select the item with the name of the programmer used. In the Option categories field, set Power, and in the list that appears, mark the line “Power target circuit from...” ending with the name of the selected programmer.

To broadcast the program and program the microcontroller, press the on-screen button. Successful completion of programming will be indicated by the message “Programming/Verify complete”. The development board has turned into a digital thermometer.

You can load the existing HEX program file into the microcontroller installed on the debug board without starting MPLAB X IDE, using the MPLAB IPE utility. It is installed automatically along with the environment and serves for direct programming of the microcontroller, erasing and reading its memory. By launching MPLAB IPE 3.65 from the Start menu of your computer, in the window that opens you need to specify the type of microcontroller used and the path to the HEX file to be loaded. In this case - to the Thermo.hex file attached to the article, which must be placed in advance on one of the computer drives.

The program itself recognizes the PicKit3 programmer connected to the computer or another one from the list available in it. After connecting the development board to the programmer, press the Program on-screen button. But if the microcontroller has already been used and any information is stored in its memory, you must first erase it by pressing the Erase on-screen button. After successful completion of programming, the message “Programming/Verify complete” will appear on the computer screen following the list of programmed memory areas of the microcontroller.

It has 14 KB of Flash memory and 1 KB of RAM, and is possibly the first 18-pin 8-bit microcontroller with so much Flash and RAM. In order to study the possibilities and conduct experiments based on the PIC16F1847 or PIC16F1827 microcontroller, it was decided to develop our own debugging board.

The development board provides many advantages when developing applications, when studying the capabilities of microcontrollers and their peripherals, and allows you to reduce the development time of nodes on a development board. Since there is no standard debug board circuit for microcontrollers, it was decided to include the following elements in the debug board:

• ICSP connector for in-circuit programming of the microcontroller using the PICkit3 programmer;
• integrated voltage regulator +5 V;
• 2-line character LCD indicator based on the HD44780 controller;
• eight LEDs that allow you to monitor the status of the output lines;
• six buttons for data entry;
• potentiometer providing analog input;
• RS232 interface signal converter;
• external EEPROM with I2C serial interface ();
• I/O port expander (MCP23008);
• four-channel operational amplifier () for amplification and normalization of analog signals;
• digital potentiometers (DS1868);
• programmable gain amplifier();
• temperature sensor (TC74A0);
• layout area.

The location of these elements on the board is shown in the figure below. The components are mounted on a breadboard with dimensions of 18 cm × 12.8 cm.

Arrangement of components on the board

The microcontroller has rich peripherals and all I/O lines have many functions. Therefore, no I/O line is connected directly to the peripheral elements. Individual pins are made easily accessible via dual-row connectors, so we can connect any peripheral device on the board to any microcontroller pins.

The board can be powered by a 9 V battery; the microcontroller and peripherals are powered by a voltage regulator.

The circuit diagram of the board is not complicated. The microcontroller and peripheral power pins are connected to Vcc and GND, while all the operating pins are connected to headers. In addition to the power pins, you may need to connect additional peripheral pins to Vcc or GND. For example, these are the pins for setting the hardware address of a device on the I2C bus. The figure below shows the connection diagram of the microcontroller and connectors.

As you can see, the diagram shows a jumper for the RA5/MCLR pin of the microcontroller, which can be used as a reset pin or as an I/O pin. To clock the microcontroller, an external ceramic resonator can be used, for installation of which there is a 3-pin slot. When using the microcontroller's internal oscillator, pins RA6 and RA7 can also be used as I/O pins.

The board contains 3 devices manufactured by Microchip with an I2C interface: MCP23008 (8-bit port expander), TC74 (temperature sensor) and 24LC512 (EEPROM). The address pins of MCP23008 and 24LC512 are connected to the common wire (GND). The TC74 temperature sensor does not have addressable pins. The figure below shows the inclusion of three I2C devices on the board with their corresponding addresses.

Similarly, the diagram below shows the connection of the UART interface, MCP604 4-channel op-amp, DS1868 digital potentiometer and MCP6S92 programmable gain amplifier. The conversion of the levels of the UART TTL-RS232 interface is carried out by the microcircuit in a standard configuration. All working pins are also routed to connectors for switching.

The remaining components of the board are a +5 V voltage regulator, buttons, LEDs and an LCD indicator, the connection diagram is shown below. The 1N4008 diode is designed to protect against power reverse polarity. The control and data pins of the LCD indicator are connected to a 6-pin connector. An array of 8 buttons is also connected to the connector, the active level of the buttons is low.

Additional material: Pinout of main board components

Development board for PIC16F62x and PIC16F84 microprocessors

The development board is designed for debugging programs written for the company's microprocessors Microchip type PIC 16 F 627, PIC 16 F 628 and PIC 16 F 84, in addition, it is suitable for all Microchip microcontrollers with a housingDIP and 18 legs on board.

When I just started developing devices on the company's microcontrollers Microchip , I often had to assemble their standard wiring: microcontroller reset circuit MCLR , power circuit, connection circuit for an external quartz resonator or R.C. - chains. Sometimes it was necessary to connect the microcontroller to the computer - I had to make a level converter RS-232 - TTL . And all this had to be collected anew when developing each new device. Before you start writing the main program, you have to write a test program designed to check the functionality of the microcontroller on the assembled breadboard in order to be sure that the microcontroller is working properly and the newly assembled main part of the circuit is working correctly.

The following types of development boards are most often used for debugging microcontrollers:

· A universal development board made on the basis of foil getinax or fiberglass - it is intended for debugging any radio-electronic devices. A fairly universal board, but at the same time it has a number of significant disadvantages: price - the cheapest costs at least 100 rubles. - maybe someone is satisfied with this price, but I believe that this money can be used more productively, although this is my personal opinion; very often, during prolonged use, conductors fall off - as a result of overheating with a soldering iron or from time to time; the wiring layout is not always optimal and often introduces additional interference into the operation of the device; Soldering is used to connect elements together. I believe that its optimal use is to assemble debugged devices that are configured, but there is no time or desire to develop a printed circuit board.

· Developments of radio amateurs - - an interesting development for PIC 16 F 877, but it is intended more for studying this microcontroller than for developing your own designs, because The microcontroller pins are rigidly distributed to perform certain functions: indication, data input/output, sound indication, etc. The second design is intended for study PIC 16 F 84, has the same drawback as the first design, but for the initial development of these microcontrollers they are very well suited.

· Interesting development boards are presented on the Mega-Electronics website - PIC-IO, PIC-MT, PIC-PG 4 D -628. The author was unable to obtain additional information on their design. I can only say that their price is high - it starts from 702 rubles. behind PIC - PG 4 D -628 and ending at 1091 rub. behind PIC-MT.

· Simple development boards are presented on the site for microcontrollers PIC 16 F 84, PIC 16 F 873, PIC 16 F 874. Price from $16 to $20. They contain a 5 V stabilizer, a quartz resonator, connectors for connecting to ports, and reset circuits. The main disadvantage, and maybe a plus, is their simplicity.

· Robotic site “Iron Felix” - an interesting system is presented SimmStick - the development board consists of a cross-board from old connectors for installing memory modules of the type SIMM . They are supplied with power and signals from peripheral connectors. The circuit is assembled on a separate breadboard in the form SIMM module and is inserted into the connector SIMM . The main disadvantages are a small board for prototyping, the need to use a soldering iron for assembly.

After analyzing the elements necessary for the operation of the microprocessor, the development board should have the following elements:

· supply voltage generation circuit + 5 V;

MCLR reset circuit and definitely a reset button;

· resonator connection circuit;

· connection diagram with a computer using RS-232;

· circuit for pulling ports to + 5 V or ground;

· in-circuit programming on the board (i.e. without removing the microprocessor from the board, which significantly increases the resource of the socket for installing the microcircuit);

· the presence of connectors and single detachable connectors for connecting to ports;

· ease of implementation and configuration.

Let's analyze the location of the pins of common microprocessors of the series PIC 16 F 62 x and PIC 16 F 84, as the most frequently used in amateur radio practice, and present them in the form of Table 1.

DIP pin no.	PIC16F62x	PIC16F84	Output Description
	RA2/AN2/Vref1		(in PIC 16 F 62 x analog comparator input, voltage reference output)
	RA3/AN3/CPM1		Bidirectional I/O line(in PIC 16 F 62 x analog comparator input, comparator output)
	RA4/TOCKI/CPM2	RA4/RTCC	Bidirectional I/O line(in PIC 16 F 62 x can be used as TOCKI , comparator output)
	RA5/-MCLR/THV	MCLR	Microcontroller reset signal ( in PIC 16 F 62 x programming voltage input, digital signal input)
			Common wire
	RB0/INT		Bidirectional I/O port line, external interrupt input
	RB1/RX/DT		(in PIC 16 F 62 x USART receiver input , data line in synchronous mode)
	RB2/TX/CK		Bidirectional I/O port line,(in PIC 16 F 62 x USART transmitter output , clock line in synchronous mode)
	RB3/CCP1		Bidirectional I/O port line,(in PIC 16 F 62 x SSR module output)
	RB4/PGM		Bidirectional I/O port line,(in PIC 16 F 62 x input for low voltage programming)
	RB6/T1OSO/T1CKI		Bidirectional I/O port line(in PIC 16 F 62 x Timer generator output 1, programming synchronization input)
	RB7/T1OSI		Bidirectional I/O port line(in PIC 16 F 62 x Timer generator input 1, programming data input/output)
			Microcontroller power supply
	RA6/OSC2/CLKOUT	OSC2/CLKOUT	Generator output for connecting a quartz resonator ( in PIC 16 F 62 x
	RA7/OSC1/CLKIN	OSC1/CLKIN	Generator input for connecting a quartz resonator ( in PIC 16 F 62 x bidirectional I/O line)
	RA0/AN0		Bidirectional I/O port line(in PIC 16 F 62 x
	RA1/AN1		Bidirectional I/O port line(in PIC 16 F 62 x analogue comparator input)

The pinout of these two types of microprocessors is the same, the only difference is that PIC 16 F 62 x more rich in functionality: availability USART , several types of clock generators, analog comparator module, 3 timers, capture/comparison/PWM module. Thus, when developing a breadboard, you need to focus on microprocessors of the family PIC 16 F 62 x .

Let's decide on the available ports:

RA 0 - RA 4- we will make it possible to connect the port output to + 5 V or to the common wire.

RA 5 - RA 7 are just taps, they will be used for special configuration of the microprocessor, PIC 16 F 84 these pins are used for their intended purpose, i.e. they cannot be I/O ports.

· R.B. 0 - RB7 - we will make it possible to connect the port pin to + 5 V or to the common wire, in addition to this pins RB 1 and RB 2 will be connected via a jumper to the level converter RS-232 - TTL.

The electrical circuit diagram is shown in Fig. 1.

Power can be supplied to the breadboard in two ways: if there is a stabilized + 5 V source, then power is supplied to the second terminal from the top (jumper J 1 should not be connected, this eliminates the possibility of damage to the circuit from incorrect power supply), in this case a + 5 V stabilizer is not used; the second method is if there is an unstabilized DC source from 10 to 20 V, in this case the + of the source is supplied to the first terminal on top, then it is stabilized by the microcircuit D 2 type 7805 or similar, if there is a need to supply + 5 V to an external circuit, then a jumper must be installed J 1. Microcontroller wiring D 3 standard, according to company documentation Microchip DS 40300 b, resistance R 7 should be less than 40 kOhm, capacitance of capacitor C9 0.1 μF. Jumper J 4 turns on the reset circuit when pin 4 MCLR configured as a reset circuit, if this jumper is not set, then this pin can be used as a digital I/O port. For in-circuit programming ( ICSP ) this jumper should not be installed so as not to affect the operation of the programmer. Button SA 1 « Reset » resets the microcontroller.

Jumpers are used to connect the resonator J 5, J 6. ZQ resonator 1 is selected with parallel resonance, because When using a resonator with a series resonance, you can get a frequency that does not correspond to the one indicated on it. The frequency and type of quartz resonator is selected depending on the device being created and is divided into several types:

LP - low-frequency resonator,

· XT - a regular resonator,

HS - high-frequency resonator.

The capacitance of capacitors C10 and C11 depends on the type of resonator; it is determined according to Table 2.

			Note
Ceramic resonator ZQ 1
Quartz resonator ZQ 1
			Higher capacity increases generator stability, but also increases startup time. Capacity values ​​are estimates and are selected experimentally.

If the built-in generator of the microcontroller is used, then you can use the pins RA 6, RA 7 as digital for input/output, in addition to indicating the required configuration in the microcontroller, it is also necessary to remove the jumpers J5, J 6 to turn off the resonator (when using microcontrollers of the series PIC 16 F 62 x ).

Any port pin is connected to + 5 V using a jumper J + 5 V, to common wire - Jgnd.

You can connect to the output of any port either using a special connector X1 " PORTA" or X3 "PORTB ", or to a special petal from a connector type RPMM1 - 66G3 - V.

Connector X2 is used for in-circuit programming ICSP " Legs 1 and 2 supply power from the programmer, leg 3 - voltage from 12.5 to 14 V to put the microcontroller into programming mode, leg 4 - clock pulses, leg 5 - data.

A connector is used to communicate with a computer. XS 1 "RS -232", it connects to the level converter chip RS-232 - TTL D 1 type Max 232 or similar. The capacity of capacitors C1 - C4, C6 is determined according to the documentation of the microcircuit that you are going to use for Max 232 the capacitance of these capacitors is 1 µF. For the most common level converter ICs RS-232 - TTL and the capacitance values ​​of capacitors C1 - C4, C6 are given in Table 3.

Chip type	Capacity C1 - C4, C6, uF
Max232
Max232A
Max220
Max243

This is not a complete list of possible replacements; if necessary, you can use a functional analogue Max 232 other manufacturing companies, for example Analog Device.

For use R.S. -232 jumpers need to be closed J 2 and J 3, thereby the microcircuit D 1 connects to USART microcontroller D 3. Terminals RB 1 and RB 2 will be used as ports of a universal synchronous - asynchronous transceiver. I remind you that USART only available for microcontrollers of the family PIC 16 F 62 x , for PIC 16 F 84 does not exist, so if communication via R.S. -232, will have to be implemented USART software.

Microprocessor D 3 is installed in the socket. As D 3 can be used: PIC 16 F 84, PIC16F627, PIC 16 F 628 and others, having 18 legs and the same layout for power supply and I/O ports.

Setting up the device must begin by applying a constant supply voltage of approximately 10 - 25 V. If the elements at the output of the microcircuit are in working order D 2 will be + 5 V, this voltage is checked on the 14th leg of the microcontroller D 3. When the jumper is on J 4 at pin 4 there will be about 5V when the button is pressed SA 1 « Reset " - zero. Next, connect the jumpers one by one J +5V to each pin PORT A and PORT B and check the presence of + 5 V on the special petal, connectors X1, X2, X3 and the corresponding legs of the microcontroller. We do the same with the jumper Jgnd.

When you first turn on the breadboard with the loaded program into the microcontroller, the output R.B. 0 there will be rectangular pulses indicating that the microcontroller is operational and operational.

The operation of the converter can be checked by connecting the breadboard to the COM port of the computer using a simple cable with pins of the same name connected to each other.

Checking is carried out using a special test program Test written in Delphi . First, set up the required COM - computer port by clicking on the “Settings” button COM port". Select the desired port, speed " Baud rate", "Data bits" and "Stop bits" » We leave it as default, because they are related to the operating speed of the microcontroller and the frequency of its resonator (in this case, the resonator frequency is 4 MHz). Next, click on the “Open port” button - thereby the program opened the one specified in the program COM - port, I want to note that the program will work with the specified port alone, i.e. another program will not have access to this port until that program frees it. By the way, all programs that use external COM - ports seize them for sole use. Therefore, if an error occurs when opening a port, the first step is to ensure that other programs do not use the selected port.

Next, configure the desired port for either reception or transmission by selecting “Port Settings” - “Data Transfer” to configure the corresponding port for output, i.e. it will be possible to send data to it and it will be on the corresponding legs of the microcontroller, it is worth saying that on RB 1, RB 2 installation and reception of data is not possible - they are used to communicate with the computer. To receive data from the port, select the “Receive data” item. If the port legs are not connected to +5 V or ground, then the output will be unknown.

To record data, you need to specify a number and click on the “Write to port A” or “Write to port B” button. In order to read from a port, select “Receive data” and click the “Receive data from port A” or “Receive data from port B” button. A. Kiselev, Yu. Martyshevsky, Breadboard for development PIC microcontrollers from the company Microchip , magazine "Scheme Engineering" 2003, No. 12 p. 35.

2. V. Fedorov, Stand for learning the basics of working with microcontrollers Microchip , magazine "Scheme Engineering", 2004, No. 9, p. 37.

3. Website of the company "Mega-Electronics" -www. megachip. ru- many interesting development and debug boards for different types of microcontrollers are presented. 84, PIC 16 F 873, PIC 16 F 874.

5. Robotics site “Iron Felix” - http://www.ironfelix.ru/ - a lot of information on the development of robots, there is information on breadboards.

Timofey Nosov

PIC microcontroller programmer or the whole truth about Extra-PIC

The article discusses the Extra-PIC programmer, data about which is obtained from (DOC Rev.1.03.00).

List of supported chips when used with the IC-PROG v1.05D program:
Microchip PIC controllers: PIC12C508, PIC12C508A, PIC12C509, PIC12C509A, PIC12CE518, PIC12CE519, PIC12C671, PIC12C672, PIC12CE673, PIC12CE674, PIC12F629, PIC12F675, PIC1 6C433, PIC16C61, PIC16C62A, PIC16C62B, PIC16C63, PIC16C63A, PIC16C64A, PIC16C65A, PIC16C65B, PIC16C66, PIC16C67, PIC16C71, PIC16C72, PIC16C72A, PIC16C73A, PIC16C73B, PIC16C74A, PIC16C74B, PIC16C76, PIC16C77, PIC16F72, PIC16F73, PIC16F74, PIC16F76, PIC16F77 , PIC16C84, PIC16F83, PIC16F84, PIC16F84A, PIC16F88, PIC16C505*, PIC16C620, PIC16C620A, PIC16C621, PIC16C621A , PIC16C622, PIC16C622A, PIC16CE623, PIC16CE624, PIC16CE625, PIC16F627, PIC16F628, PIC16F628A, PIC16F630*, PIC16F648A, PIC16F676*, PIC16C710, PIC16C711, PIC16C712, PIC16C715, PIC16C716, PIC16C717, PIC16C745, PIC16C765, PIC16C770*, PIC16C771*, PIC16C773, PIC16C774 , PIC16C781*, PIC16C782*, PIC16F818, PIC16F819, PIC16F870, PIC16F871, PIC16F872, PIC16F873, PIC16F873A, PIC16F874, PIC16F874A, PIC16F876, PIC16F876A, PIC16F877, PIC16F877A, PIC16C923*, PIC16C924*, PIC18F242, PIC18F248, PIC18F252, PIC18F258, PIC18F442, PIC18F448 , PIC18F452, PIC18F458, PIC18F1220, PIC18F1320, PIC18F2320, PIC18F4320, PIC18F4539, PIC18F6620*, PIC18F6720*, PIC18F8620*, PIC18F8720*

Note: microcontrollers marked with an asterisk (*) are connected to the programmer only through the ICSP connector.

Serial EEPROM I2C (IIC): X24C01, 24C01A, 24C02, 24C04, 24C08, 24C16, 24C32, 24C64, AT24C128, M24C128, AT24C256, M24C256, AT24C512.

Programmer circuit.
On the programmer side, a DB9 connector of the female type (female, hole) is used.
Very often they make mistakes and put in a “plug” (“male”, “pins”), i.e. the same as on the PC side!

ICSP pin layout for PIC controllers.

Attention! The material is for general reference only. Be sure to ensure that the pinout shown matches the microcontroller you choose. To do this, refer to the Data Sheets and Programming Specifications for the corresponding microcontroller (usually everything is the same).

Printed circuit board drawing (light version).

PCB drawing (full version).

Photo of the assembled programmer (light version).

We consider it necessary to post here photographs of the programmers of our grateful readers. If you have achieved results, do not hesitate to send us photos, we will be happy to post them here. Some photographs are not signed; I, unfortunately, did not have the opportunity to save names and addresses. If you find the owners of the photos, write to us and we’ll sign them.

Introduction. This instruction is based on the example of firmware for the PIC16F876A microcircuit for assembling a universal multi-channel ADC.

1. Assemble the Extra-PIC programmer, wash with solvent or alcohol with a toothbrush, and dry with a hairdryer.
Inspect through the light for hair shorts and loose connections.
Prepare the power supply for voltage not less than 15V and not more than 18 volts.
Unsolder the female-male extension cord for the COM port (not to be confused with null-modem and cables for modems; ring the cord - the first plug should go to the first socket, etc.; the numbering of plugs and sockets is drawn on the connector itself).
2. Download the IC-PROG program from our website or from the developers website.
3. Unpack the program into a separate directory. The resulting directory should contain three files:
icprog.exe – programmer shell file;
icprog.sys – driver required to work under Windows NT, 2000, XP. This file must always be located in the program directory;
icprog.chm – Help file.
4. Set up the program.

For Windows95, 98, ME	For Windows NT, 2000, XP
	(Windows XP only ): Right-click on the icprog.exe file. "Properties" >> tab " Compatibility" >> Place a check mark on "Run the program in compatibility mode for:" >> select " Windows 2000".
Run the file icprog.exe. Select "Settings" >> "Options" >> tab " Language" >> set language " Russian" and press " Ok". Agree with the statement " You need to restart IC-Prog now" (click " Ok"). The programmer shell will restart.
"Settings" >> "Programmer". Check the settings, select the COM port you are using, click " Ok".
	"On NT/2000/XP driver" >> Click " Ok" >> if the driver has not been installed on the system before, in the window that appears " Confirm"click" Ok". The driver will be installed and the programmer shell will restart.
Note: For very "fast" computers, you may need to increase the " I/O Latency". Increasing this parameter increases the reliability of programming; however, the time spent on programming the chip also increases.
"Settings" >> "Options" >> select a tab " I2C" >> check the boxes: "Enable MCLR as VCC" And " Enable block recording". Click " Ok".
The program is ready to use.

5. Install the chip into the programmer panel, observing the position of the key.
6. Connect the extension cord, turn on the power.
7. Launch the IC-Prog program.
8. Select the PIC16F876A controller from the drop-down list.

9. If you do not have a file with the firmware, prepare it:
– open the standard Notepad program;
– insert the firmware text into the document (from the UM-ADC1 page);
– save under any name, for example, prohivka.txt (extension *.txt or *.hex).
10. Next in IC-PROG File >> Open file (! not to be confused with Open data file) >> find our file with the firmware (if we have a file with the extension *.txt, then select Any File *.* in the file type) . The “Program code” window should be filled with information.
Programmer board for ICSP based on Extra-PIC (no comments)

Produced by a Serbian company Mikroelektronika and is intended for studying, designing and debugging low-end family PIC microcontrollers. This board contains a large number of peripheral elements, such as buttons, indicators, and interfaces. This, in particular, determines the significant dimensions of the board. But you can work almost without thinking about where to get and how to connect the required microcontroller peripherals.

Board device

The following devices are located on the board field:

• Power supply, powered by an external adapter that provides +5 V voltage. An alternative option is power supply from the USB port of the board programmer. In this case, no external power supply is required.

• Programmer. Branded microcontroller programmer from Mikroelektronika allows for in-circuit programming of microcircuits with any number of legs installed in the sockets of this board. In-circuit debugging is also available for some chips.

• Sockets for microcircuits. The board contains a large number of panels that allow you to work with microcircuits in packages from DIP8 to DIP40.

• Crystal oscillators. The board has two sockets for installing quartz resonators. This allows you to install an element with the required characteristics. It is also possible to connect the controller outputs to external I/O lines using jumpers.

• LEDs. An LED can be connected to any pin of the microcontroller using switches. This allows you to not connect any additional devices to the board for simple projects.

• Buttons. Similar to LEDs, each MK input can have its own button connected. There is also a separate reset button.

• Field for character LCD indicator. Used to install an indicator operating on a four-wire data transmission circuit in form factor B, for example WH1602B. Additionally, a contrast potentiometer is installed. This field is not suitable for some of the latest models of indicators that have connection features.

• Field for graphic LCD indicator A. It is possible to connect a touch controller.

• Four-character LED indicator, switched on according to the standard dynamic indication scheme.

• Thermometer socket DS18B20. The thermometer output can be connected to either port A or port E of the microcontroller.

• PS/2 keyboard socket

• RS232 interface converter

• Potentiometers for modeling analog signals

• Connectors for connection with MK output. All pins of any controller can be used to connect external devices. At the same time, the board has the ability to connect pull-up resistors to both the positive and negative power buses.

Advantages of EasyPIC5

EasyPIC5 Great for getting started with PIC microcontrollers as everything you need is already included on the board. A big plus is the high-level language compilers Pascal, Basic, C, supplied with the board. They differ from paid versions only in the code size limit of 2 kB, which is quite enough for a huge number of projects. These compilers have libraries for working with a large number of peripheral devices that do not require deep programming of data exchange. All devices on the board and many additional ones are supported. The board can also connect a large number of peripheral devices from Mikroelektronika. These include clocks, indicators, and various interfaces. breadboards, sensors and other elements. This makes the EasyPIC5 even more attractive.

The user manual deserves special attention. It is printed in high quality printing. A large number of informative drawings allows you to understand it even without knowing English.

Flaws

Along with the advantages, there are also disadvantages. The most significant of them:

• The sockets for microcontrollers are of a standard type, which is not convenient for frequent replacement of microcircuits.

• The switches of peripheral devices are made in the DIP version, they are not very convenient to use and their service life may not be long.

• The MK output connectors to external devices are not equipped with housings. This, of course, allowed us to save on cost, but it is not convenient when connecting cables, since there is a possibility of incorrect installation.

• When using different MKs, the programmer must be switched using 4 jumpers, which is simply not convenient.

• Large dimensions of the board, suitable only for the laboratory.

• The board is thick, which increases reliability but makes it difficult to upgrade.

• The feet are installed only at the edges, which causes the board to bend when pressed in the center. This can easily be eliminated by gluing on an additional support.

The EasyPIC5 board is a great option for beginner developers and for those who want to carry out simple projects. Due to the low reliability of some elements, it is undesirable to use the board in educational institutions.

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