That was the idea. I can handle C programming and I'm sure I can figure
out how to toggle the PIC I/O ports off and on at set intervals.
Problem I have is how to then get the I/O port to drive a relay to
switch my 120V devices. From what I've seen/read over the past could
days it doesn't look like it's as simple as connecting the relay to the
I/O port of the PIC chip. Advice I've gotten so far includes adding a
transistor and resitor to drive the relay or using an H-Bridge. I'm
clueless here, if anyone could provide an example schematic of driving
a relay off of the I/O port that would help tons
I'm not dead set on PIC. It just looked to me that the chip specs were
good (16 I/O ports on the chip I was looking at) and there appears to
be a lot of support/information for PIC processors and compilers on the
web.
PIC is a good choice. MPLAB is relatively easy to use, the assembler
and linker are quite decent, and it can directly talk to various
programming tools. I've got both a PICSTART+ (with the modification
that allows MPLAB to update its code, automatically, for newer
processors) and an ICE2000, so perhaps I'm a little spoiled though.
But the chips are pretty hardy and I have to say that the technical
support staff, while a few of them may be 'dry', are pretty well
versed folks on the details. And, although I haven't called them in a
few years, it was only the price of the long distance call to get
ahold of them. So worth it, I think.
A lot of folks like the Atmel AVR. I certainly am one of them, though
my attitude has gone through "mood" swings regarding the company,
Atmel. My support is through a local FAE and this is mostly a bad
thing for me, by comparison with Microchip. Funneling questions via a
local FAE who has to support a large number of various products, none
of them perfectly, and having to wait a day or two for responses --
isn't all that great.
The TI MSP430 is enjoyable for me. But for starting out, I wouldn't
recommend it.
All of which gets me back to probably adding my recommendation for
PICs. I think they would be a good choice, given what you've said.
However, I think most of the C compilers for it cost something, but
there may be some code-size-limited versions around for free. You
should research this part of the question, though. Also, if you are
looking for preconfigured boards to play around with, I really am of
little good. I just haven't used any of them.
Jon