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PIC questions

D

dave.harper

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm switching over to PICs from Basic Stamps due speed, capacity, and
price reasons. I've already purchased a semi-universal programmer, and
am looking a couple good PICs to start with. I was thinking about a
lower end PIC for simple projects, and a mid-range PIC for more
advanced stuff. I has thinking about the 12F629 for the low-end stuff,
and the 16F88 for mid-range stuff. Would these be good PICs to start
with?

Also, apparently these come with their own internal oscillators. Am I
correct in understanding that these will not need crystals unless I
want to clock them at different speeds? Do external oscillators add
any benefit for these PICs? Speed? etc?
Thanks in advance for any insight...

Dave
 
A

Anthony Fremont

Jan 1, 1970
0
dave.harper said:
I'm switching over to PICs from Basic Stamps due speed, capacity, and
price reasons. I've already purchased a semi-universal programmer,
and am looking a couple good PICs to start with. I was thinking
about a lower end PIC for simple projects, and a mid-range PIC for
more advanced stuff. I has thinking about the 12F629 for the low-end
stuff, and the 16F88 for mid-range stuff. Would these be good PICs
to start with?

I've never used a 12F myself, but that's just because I didn't have any.
They should be fine for small projects where you only want a few i/o
pins. Since I've never used one personally, the rest of my response
will be on the 16F88.

For the 16F's, I started on the F84 (a few moons ago ;-) and then
switched to the 16F628. Now, I'm tinkering with a 16F88. I like it,
but it's a bit sensitive to PS noise. Be sure to use bypass caps on the
cpu or you will likely see mysterious device resets. This is the first
PIC I've used that has a real ADC in it (the F628 just has comparators).
I just used the ADC for the first time yesterday, worked like a champ
first time out. ;-) The 16F88 is also a member of the nanowatt PIC
family and really uses a miniscule amount of power.

Note: I just noticed a warning in the datasheet saying to use a pull-up
resistor >1k on the MCLR line instead of tying it directly to Vdd or
latch-up may occur due to spikes. Hmm....I guess I better change my
methods. I've always just tied it high on the other PICs with no ill
effects.
Also, apparently these come with their own internal oscillators. Am I

Yes, the 88 has a multiple speed internal oscillator that runs from
31KHz to 8MHz. It's reasonably accurate for most projects (+/- 1%
typical at 25C). I wouldn't depend on it in production if rs-232 comms
are going to be used, especially over any realistic temperature range.
correct in understanding that these will not need crystals unless I
want to clock them at different speeds?

I would recommend you use crystals if you need clock time accuracy or
even with serial comms. If you can live with a little bit of
inaccuracy, the internal oscillator is fine.
Do external oscillators add
any benefit for these PICs? Speed? etc?

You can crank the F88 up to 20MHz if you use a crystal.
Thanks in advance for any insight...

The 18F452 might be interesting to you. It will run at up to 40MHz
using a 10MHz crystal giving you a 100nS instruction cycle time. It
also has certain advantages over the 16F's in terms of the instruction
set and the architecture.
 
P

petrus bitbyter

Jan 1, 1970
0
dave.harper said:
I'm switching over to PICs from Basic Stamps due speed, capacity, and
price reasons. I've already purchased a semi-universal programmer, and
am looking a couple good PICs to start with. I was thinking about a
lower end PIC for simple projects, and a mid-range PIC for more
advanced stuff. I has thinking about the 12F629 for the low-end stuff,
and the 16F88 for mid-range stuff. Would these be good PICs to start
with?

Also, apparently these come with their own internal oscillators. Am I
correct in understanding that these will not need crystals unless I
want to clock them at different speeds? Do external oscillators add
any benefit for these PICs? Speed? etc?
Thanks in advance for any insight...

Dave

Look at: http://www.voti.nl/e_index.html
for a lot of PICinfo.

petrus bitbyter
 
J

Jamie

Jan 1, 1970
0
dave.harper said:
I'm switching over to PICs from Basic Stamps due speed, capacity, and
price reasons. I've already purchased a semi-universal programmer, and
am looking a couple good PICs to start with. I was thinking about a
lower end PIC for simple projects, and a mid-range PIC for more
advanced stuff. I has thinking about the 12F629 for the low-end stuff,
and the 16F88 for mid-range stuff. Would these be good PICs to start
with?

Also, apparently these come with their own internal oscillators. Am I
correct in understanding that these will not need crystals unless I
want to clock them at different speeds? Do external oscillators add
any benefit for these PICs? Speed? etc?
Thanks in advance for any insight...

Dave
most of the pics have the internal osc, you only need to supply Xstal or
Cap (depending in which one) to get the internal clock to operate.
after you have master the pic, there are also things like the ATMEL
chips (AVR), they use linear addressing.
 
M

Mark Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
dave.harper said:
I'm switching over to PICs from Basic Stamps due speed, capacity, and
price reasons. I've already purchased a semi-universal programmer, and
am looking a couple good PICs to start with. I was thinking about a
lower end PIC for simple projects, and a mid-range PIC for more
advanced stuff. I has thinking about the 12F629 for the low-end stuff,
and the 16F88 for mid-range stuff. Would these be good PICs to start
with?

Also, apparently these come with their own internal oscillators. Am I
correct in understanding that these will not need crystals unless I
want to clock them at different speeds? Do external oscillators add
any benefit for these PICs? Speed? etc?
Thanks in advance for any insight...

Dave


And if you're looking for an upgrade from PICBasic, check out
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jallist/ and binaries from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/jal/ - new release Jan 28.
 
B

Byron A Jeff

Jan 1, 1970
0
<I'm switching over to PICs from Basic Stamps due speed, capacity, and
<price reasons. I've already purchased a semi-universal programmer, and
<am looking a couple good PICs to start with. I was thinking about a
<lower end PIC for simple projects, and a mid-range PIC for more
<advanced stuff. I has thinking about the 12F629 for the low-end stuff,
<and the 16F88 for mid-range stuff. Would these be good PICs to start
<with?

Yes for the 16F88. It come fully packed with peripherals and memory.
For the 8 pin package maybe the 16F683 may be a better choice. It's also
nanowatt (with the internal oscillator), and has 2K of code space.

<
<Also, apparently these come with their own internal oscillators. Am I
<correct in understanding that these will not need crystals unless I
<want to clock them at different speeds?

To a point. As nanowatt parts, they have an internal 8 Mhz oscillator
coupled with a on the fly frequency divider that goes down to 31250 Hz.

< Do external oscillators add
<any benefit for these PICs? Speed? etc?

You'll need crystals or resonators for 2 types of situations:

1) You need better performance than the 8Mhz can give you. Both parts run up
to 20 Mhz with an external oscillator.

2) You need tighter frequency tolerances for the USART for example.

Hope this helps,

BAJ
 
D

dave.harper

Jan 1, 1970
0
Byron said:
You'll need crystals or resonators for 2 types of situations:

1) You need better performance than the 8Mhz can give you. Both parts run up
to 20 Mhz with an external oscillator.

2) You need tighter frequency tolerances for the USART for example.

Thanks Jeff. As a follow-up, will the internal oscillator be good
enough for serial communication up to, say, 9600 bps? Under what
circumstances would I need tighter tolerances for the USART?

Thanks again,
Dave
 
B

Byron A Jeff

Jan 1, 1970
0
<
<Byron A Jeff wrote:
<
<> You'll need crystals or resonators for 2 types of situations:
<>
<> 1) You need better performance than the 8Mhz can give you. Both parts
<run up
<> to 20 Mhz with an external oscillator.
<>
<> 2) You need tighter frequency tolerances for the USART for example.
<
<Thanks Jeff.

No problem.

< As a follow-up, will the internal oscillator be good
<enough for serial communication up to, say, 9600 bps?

No promises. It can fluctuate as much as 10% IIRC. Which means that it may
not work.


< Under what
<circumstances would I need tighter tolerances for the USART?

You have a 5% overall error budget between both ends. Anything outside of that
will cause errors.

BAJ
 
B

Bill Bowden

Jan 1, 1970
0
Under what circumstances would I need tighter tolerances for the
USART?

I've used the 16f628 serial I/O at 19,200 with the internal 4 mHZ
oscillator without errors. If the oscillator changes frequency
by 1 part in 18, you lose the last data bit. 1 part in 16 loses
bits 6 and 7, etc. But the internal oscillator seems to be
pretty good at 1% or better. I think I put the circuit in the
freezer, and then under a heat gun, and it survived both tests.

-Bill
 
W

Wouter van Ooijen

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm switching over to PICs from Basic Stamps due speed, capacity, and
price reasons. I've already purchased a semi-universal programmer, and
am looking a couple good PICs to start with. I was thinking about a
lower end PIC for simple projects, and a mid-range PIC for more
advanced stuff. I has thinking about the 12F629 for the low-end stuff,
and the 16F88 for mid-range stuff. Would these be good PICs to start
with?

That depends on what you need. The 12F629 is a bit short on I/O pins,
but of course very cheap. The 16F88 is the king of the 18-pins 14-bit
core chips, but you might want more pins (maybe an 16F877A) and/or
more CPU power (18Fxxx). Personally I think the 16F630/676 are very
good value for money. There is so much to choose from. Just stay clear
of the 16x84(a) unless you are building an existing project and don't
want to modify the code.

The internal oscillator means the you need fewer components and (for
some chips) can change speed on the fly. Be aware that the internal
oscillator is not very accurate.




Wouter van Ooijen

-- ------------------------------------
http://www.voti.nl
Webshop for PICs and other electronics
http://www.voti.nl/hvu
Teacher electronics and informatics
 
W

Wouter van Ooijen

Jan 1, 1970
0
Thanks Jeff. As a follow-up, will the internal oscillator be good
enough for serial communication up to, say, 9600 bps? Under what
circumstances would I need tighter tolerances for the USART?

Yes for on-the-bench work at 20 degrees Celcius and a 5.0 Volt supply
and an 'other side' that has an accurate clock.

No for serious production.


Wouter van Ooijen

-- ------------------------------------
http://www.voti.nl
Webshop for PICs and other electronics
http://www.voti.nl/hvu
Teacher electronics and informatics
 

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