programming a pic16f84a

[analogue_mo]

Hello,

My question is really simple.

Can I use the PIC BURNER module to program a pic16f84a?

Thanks!

[Janis1279]

My question is really simple.

Can I use the PIC BURNER module to program a pic16f84a?

As I understand from Pic Burner manual and :

http://www.sprut.de/electronic/soft/pbrenner.htm

I say : YES

Regards, Janis

[analogue_mo]

Thanks for the reply!

[analogue_mo]

Well, I've been trying to program a pic16f84a with the PIC programer module. When I run the p18 app, the programmer gets recognized and all the hardware tests are OK, but when I press the "Identify Pic on Programmer" button, the pic does'nt get recognized.

As I understand from the manual, it is possible to program the 16f84a with this hardware programmer, is anything else required in order to make this happen??

Has anyone ever acomplished this successfuly??

Any help is apreciated!

[WickedBlade]

I may be totally wrong, but the PIC16 and PIC18 are two different families, and they do not have the same instruction set. That means that a program compiled for a PIC18 can't work on a PIC16.

You can BURN a PIC16 with the PIC Burner, apparently, but you have to burn a PIC16 app.

[Janis1279]

for right soft choice :

http://www.sprut.de/electronic/soft/index.htm

[analogue_mo]

thanks for your replies!

I know that each pic family has its own instruction set, the thing is, as I am trying to learn PIC programming I guess it would just be better to start experimenting with a simpler and cheaper PICs.....I just don't know why the P18 software doesnt recognize the pic16f84a! Is there any other software that I can use to burn 16F pics with the PIC PROGRAMMER MODULE??

Thanks.............

[TK.]

It will work with PBrennerNG:

http://www.sprut.de/electronic/soft/pbrenner/pbrenner2.htm

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[mikee]

in case you r still unsure:

Download BrennerNG as per Thorsten's advice. A zipped bundle, and when undone you will find the file: PBrennerNG44.exe. This is the one which burns the Pic16F84 etc.

The main text is in German ltongue but the actual burner is in English - weird.

Just click on the file to run - it needs no installing on Windows.

It will recognise your programmer if it works and is properly connected.

It has option to check out the Pic in your programmer, so if you put a Pic16F84 in the socket, and click on 'identify PIC in Programmer', it will do exactly that.

Next, click on 'seclect HEX-file as source', and (assuming you have a hex file, and know where you stored it) the file is loaded ready to be burned in.

Finally, click on 'write HEX file into PIC' which begins burning process. You see the progress and get a nice big OK,OK,OK if all went well.

as for that hex file:

Download MPLAB from Microdigital, install it, then run it. You have before you a nice assembler with some port bit stimulus and general debugging stuff.

Do you thing with the PIC16F84 there, then, when your asm file is ready, click on Project/Quickbuild (filename.asm) and a hex file is generated (if all went well). Now you can burn it in with the Brenner.

Its very good for learning PIC assembler, but no good for much of Midibox stuff, because C is the thing now. But I play around with generating music stuff, and C just won't do when your shaving single instruction cycles of a project. Also, C uses more memory than asembler, and that's in short supply in a PIC16F84.

If you want to burn PIC18F452 later in your studies, you might use my mod, which saves adjusting programming voltages each time you change processors. A tip here: only a few pins are used when burning, so what good are DIL sockets with lots of surplus pins? By removing the pins, and leaving just those required for the burner, means that the process of plugging chips in and out is made very easy, almost zero-insertion force. NOTE: do not use turned pin sockets, or you could easily end up with broken-legged PICs. Just use the cheaper stamped pin sockets.

(and here's a little parting tip: PIC16F84 without crystal and capacitors: just connect a resistor from +5V to pin 16, leave pin 15 unconnected, and change the assembler _config to include  RC_OSC. If you are just learning, this saves time, effort and money.)

Hope this helps, regards

[analogue_mo]

Well I can only say: that helped A LOT!

My problem was simply solved by using PBrennerNG instead of the other 'P18' app. It took me a while to get it, thank you all for your pacience!

I must say I was having a hard time browsing around sprut.de cause I don't know how to interpretate the German Language.

I was already using Mplab for making some really simple asm codes but I'm sure that there are a lot of people out there who will see the 'Holy Grail' in this nice tutorial.

As far as start using more advanced pics only the future will tell...

Thank you all very much for this lesson and for the tips as well :)