New PIC18F programmer - please try it!

[TK.]

UPDATE: this programmer could fail on your PC, MBHP_BURNER is the most reliable solution

Hi,

Martin Haverland recently tried the Brocolli18 programmer to burn the MIOS bootstrap loader into the PIC18F452 - with great success!

When you take a look to the schematic:

you will notice that this is really a simple and cheap solution, and maybe much more stable than the good old, but sometimes troublemaking JDM.

I would like to ask all experienced MIDIbox users for help!

Could you please try this programmer with your computer and tell me if it works ok or not? If it turns out that this programmer works very stable, then I will discontinue MBHP_JDM and strongly suggest this solution in the future.

So - please test it to make a lot of newbies happy :)

an HowTo can be found here:

http://www.midibox.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=troubleshooting;action=display;num=1088544230

The link to Brocolli18:

http://home.earthlink.net/~davesullins/software/pic18f.html

Please keep in mind that the LVP mode won't work (read the HowTo carefully)

Best Regards, Thorsten.

UPDATE: this programmer could fail on your PC, MBHP_BURNER is the most reliable solution

[Martin_Haverland]

So i will be the first to verify

14x 18F452

4x  18LF452

sucessfully burned since yesterday...running out of chips. 8)

My absolute recommendation.

Martin

[Twin-X]

Very nice. Yesterday i read an article in the Elektuur and found this link.

Maybe also intresting?

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Hills/1924/freepicprog.html

[shed]

ok i got my order of pics today, so i will go and get a parallel plug in a few days time and try this thing out!

ive got 6 at the moment so il program them all to let you know how it goes.

[Artesia]

Here's a possible sollution for providing a reliable 9v source for burnin those PIC's:

       A little trick i used to use for getting exactly the right voltage out of power supplies for powering equipment with odd voltage requirements; was to 'jack up' the output voltage of a standard voltage regulator using diodes.

       This is done by exploiting the 0.6v voltage drop across the diode. They are inserted in the regulators 'ground reference', and the voltage drop here corresponds roughly to the same rise in voltage output.

Here are two examples of how 9v (9.2v) can be supplied using 7805 or 7808 regulators:

       The voltage source can be between 12-35v, and could be supplied by a 12v lead acid battery, a wall wart power supply; Or 'cheapest' of all, feed out two wires from your pc from the pc power supply of 12v (between the black & yellow wires).

       Using regulators like so, will provide a stable voltage power supply ('no' voltage variation), and will give the user a wide range of choices in powering the pic flasher.

       The values of the capacitors are not critical, and any values not exceeding 220uf should provide the degree of stabalisation th regulator requires. See application notes for the regulators you plan to use for ideal values.

        Also the type of diode doesnt matter too much, provided that it can handle a little bit of current. Though logic dictates that using signal/zener diodes is not a good idea !

[cube-c]

Hi all...

I just want to say that the broccoli18 pic programmer works fine.  I programmed the bootstrap loader with success in the pic.

For high-voltage programming I connected a 9V battery between Vpp and Ground. PGM line was not connected.

The cap value I used was 0.47 uF (the lowest value that was available at the local electro-store).

Check your parallel port voltage first with portdiag.exe in the programmer package and choose the appropiate resistor value (R=U/0.015).

greets

cube-c

[Martin_Haverland]

Just read your post artesia...

;D Nice info but i think a little bit overdosed for this very q&d programmer...

(i'm thinking about sending you a PICture of my nasty soldering art i made to program my PICs ;D)

I posted the hint to broccoli for the minimum effort solution of PIC 18F burning...

But nevertheless a nice powering solution to make use of spare regulators!

To cube-c:

Congrats - Nice to hear it was useful to someone other than me 8)!

[Guest XORNOT]

That looks great Thorsten, but please don't take down all the JDM stuff. I got the kit from Smash, and it worked perfectly the first time I made it. All the JDM info on here has been extremely helpful. May I suggest that if you decide to endorse the new one as the suggested programmer you keep the JDM info around as an alternative?

Thanks

Iain

[smashtv]

That looks great Thorsten, but please don't take down all the JDM stuff. I got the kit from Smash, and it worked perfectly the first time I made it. All the JDM info on here has been extremely helpful. May I suggest that if you decide to endorse the new one as the suggested programmer you keep the JDM info around as an alternative?

Thanks

Iain

Don't worry Iain, despite my joking around in this post the JDM isnt going anywhere soon.   ;)

I'm still selling them, and they still work great for all but a very small few builders.  As usual it's always thier problems that people post about here in the forums, not thier success when it works on the first try.

Best!

SmashTV

[G`Dave]

Hi, names Dave (Obviously), from Australia.  I'm new to this forum, but I've been designing and building a MIDI control surface to emulate a DJ Mixer as an input for Traktor (Two Turntables come next) for the last 6 months. Currently a 3rd year Electrical and Computer systems engineering student. But on with the question.

The time has come to program the bootstrap loader into the 18F452, so I attempted to use this programmer, and it didn't work, and in the end my PIC is a smelly piece of burnt silicone.  I'd just like a few points clarified as the instructions and diagrams arn't the best.

This programmer is capable of programing in Low Voltage Mode and High Voltage Mode (I'm unsure of the difference between the two, but this isn't important at this stage), I've read that Low Voltage Mode will not work, and that High Voltage Mode must be used, however the diagram offered is for Low Voltage Mode.  I understand Vpp is connected to 9v, does this also apply to Vdd, or does this remain at 3V. (Why 3V, as opposed to the usual 5V to power the 18F452?)

I've tried to use the Broccoli programming software, and it gives the error 'Unable to Identify PIC'.  I've tried this under WinXP using the PortTalk driver (Just download the latest version, 2.2, and run AllowIO.exe with the command like "C:\Porttalk\AllowIO.exe 0x378 writepic.exe" am I missing an important step?) I've also tried it under Win98 without using porttalk, and still the same error.  I only had one 9v battery, and it was running at 8v, could this be the cause? I noticed Broccoil gave the same error when the programmer was completly disconnected. I've yet to test if the portdiag.exe works with a multimeter.

Basically I want to confirm the voltages, 9V on Vpp, 3V on Vdd, RB5 disconnected (Floating? or Grounded?) 0V on Vss with a filter cap between the two.

*edit*

Well I sure feel like an idiot now, I had the pins of the parallel port as a mirror image of what they should be, and now the Broccoli software is working perfectly.  Just one point however, where can I input the ID header to define the Device ID, LCD Screen Type and Baud Rate?  I've gathered that this is not part of the program itself, not part of the .hex file, so where in the 'writepic' command line can I input it?

So far I've used C:\......\writepic.exe bootstrap.hex

[moebius]

Hi Dave!

(don't take it personally if I sound a bit cranky)

Currently a 3rd year

I'm sorry!

This isn't "an Engineers" (or engineering students programmer), but technicians..  ;D

The time has come to program the bootstrap loader into the 18F452, so I attempted to use this programmer, and it didn't work, and in the end my PIC is a smelly piece of burnt silicone.  I'd just like a few points clarified as the instructions and diagrams arn't the best.

If PIC turns to "smelly piece of burnt silicone" it's a problem with your wiring. I didn't find ANY of the instructions and diagrams misleading or difficult to understand. Maybe it's just me.

I understand Vpp is connected to 9v, does this also apply to Vdd, or does this remain at 3V. (Why 3V, as opposed to the usual 5V to power the 18F452?)

No, it doesn't apply to V_dd. I don't know why it's held at 3V.

I've tried to use the Broccoli programming software, and it gives the error 'Unable to Identify PIC'.

It does that to 'US' too.. ('US' meaning folks that successfully have used this programmer to program bootstrap loader to PIC) but we keep on repeating the procedure until the PIC is identified (might even take minutes and tens of runs of the software) - after that programmer works as intended as long as it's not powered down and PIC changed. (A Hint: A clever person would use scripting for this)

Basically I want to confirm the voltages, 9V on Vpp, 3V on Vdd, RB5 disconnected (Floating? or Grounded?) 0V on Vss with a filter cap between the two.

Correct. Floating.

----

heh - now I can see the /edit..

Well I sure feel like an idiot now, I had the pins of the parallel port as a mirror image of what they should be, and now the Broccoli software is working perfectly.  Just one point however, where can I input the ID header to define the Device ID, LCD Screen Type and Baud Rate?  I've gathered that this is not part of the program itself, not part of the .hex file, so where in the 'writepic' command line can I input it?

I think: "No can do" - use change ID application instead. (You'll need working midiport for that)

Moebius

[Martin_Haverland]

Nice Dave!

At least you got it working the same day you started. BTW; you are not the only one fighting with interface views in diagrams ;D occasionally...

And BTW i used the Change ID application as well.

Happy DIY

Martin

[G`Dave]

Change ID Application it is. Thanks for the clarification folks.

[analogkid063]

I am presently sitting in front of my Broccoli18 programmer FUMING.

As most of you know, programming a PIC is commonly known as a difficult process that is supposed to be simple.

In the last 6 years, I have developed firmware for the 16F877, 18F4620, and 18F4550. In that time I have learned microcontroller circuit design and programming front to back....yet have not successfully programmed a single chip.

For a while I did the JDM thing, tried the fix with the MOSFET, the whole 9 yards....new chips, different computers...Finally threw in the towel on that problem-ridden piece of trash and decided to try something different.

Now I'm trying to get this thing to work, and am beating my head against a wall over here. How the hell can something so simple be so hard? This is retarded!

Here's the rundown:

Parallel port voltage is 4.2 volts, therefore using 280 ohms of resistance. 3V from Vdd to Vss with a .1 uF cap. 9V from Vpp to Vss. PGM and MCLR disconnected from parallel port. Checked to make sure connections between pins and socket were solid. Voltages on pins measure correctly when portdiag is run.

Tried erasepic a bunch of times, tried repeating the command 100+ times with 3 18f4620's and one 18f4550. No matter what, I get the "unable to identify pic" warning.

Please help....I'm an embedded systems designer and I can't even get my firmware onto a freakin chip!

Any ideas??

Edited August 21, 2010 by analogkid063

[nILS]

I'm an embedded systems designer and I can't even get my firmware onto a freakin chip!

Isn't that a bit like a professional clown saying he can't figure out how to put the red nose on? :whistle:

I seem to be one of the few people who never had any problems burning PICs. Pointers: Get a computer with a *real* serial port. Some random old PC will do just fine, use Windows 98SE or XP. Buy one of the cheap JDMs on ebay. Mine was ~10eur and has worked nicely for years, until I stepped on it. The next one was 7eur and has worked nicely for the last 3 years. Use winpicpgm or icprog.