Trouble programming the PIC for the LED strobe

David_AVD

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Might be worth ticking the /MCLR box in the Vdd section ?

I only use PicKit 3 unit, so not sure if that will help. Worth a shot though.

Also, you haven't got your fingers all over the ICSP connector while programming have you?
 

rkhanso

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David_AVD said:
Might be worth ticking the /MCLR box in the Vdd section ?

I only use PicKit 3 unit, so not sure if that will help. Worth a shot though.

Also, you haven't got your fingers all over the ICSP connector while programming have you?
I've tried the Vdd box both ways.
Tried the fingers both ways, too. Tried it w/o touching it and also tried 'tipping' the board some to see if it may have been a poor contact to the header pins on the programmer.
 

Superman

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OK. i've had a win. To get it to work without errors i had to install the PIC onto the board first then write it. then build the rest of the board, doesnt really make sence to me. but its a result.
 

David_AVD

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rkhanso said:
I've tried the Vdd box both ways.
So you tried with both Vdd and /MCLR boxes ticked?

You will definitely need the Vdd one ticked either way.

Also, make sure you tilt the ICSP connector during programming so it makes good contact in the PCB holes.
 

budude

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I concur with that - basically I popped in an LED (8mm) and the ICSP connector and used my fat thumb to push both out at an angle to make good contact. I did not use MCLR and I had no issue with a fully populated board - but whatever works!
 

Superman

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Tick some boxes for me guys. I'm still having some dramas. i'm using pickit 2 programmer v2.50.02. i'm connecting the pickit to the computer and openeing the program(pickit2 found and connected. then im selecting pic10F200 from the device family and turning on VDD. currently the OSCCAL value on the screen says OCFF(in black font) then import LEDSTROBE2.hex. This is when the OSCCAL Value changes into red font and says" invalid value OFFF"

My question is does that value error come from the imported hex file or is the program trying to read the value off of the PIC itself but might be restricted by a bad contact.

could it just be the problem is the PICkit 2
 

David_AVD

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Steve, are you ticking the /MCLR box as well?

I'm not sure if the /MCLR option will be greyed out. I have a PicKit 3, not 2.
 

prof

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Not using the pics on the strobes but these comments come straight from the microchip data sheet.

Location 00FFh (PIC10F200/204) contains the internal clock oscillator calibration value. This value should never
be overwritten.

Note: Erasing the device will also erase the preprogrammed internal calibration value for the internal oscillator.
The calibration value must be read prior to erasing the part so it can be reprogrammed correctly later.
 

rkhanso

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I tried programming a couple with just the PIC on the PCB -- success!!
Then, I soldered up the rest of the parts and gave it a try.

After assembling it, I thought it'd be easy to just connect the strobe to the PIC and hit the Vdd on box to watch some flashing lights - but it didn't work. I double-checked LED orientation, chip orientation. Everything looks good.

Then, I measured the voltage out of the PICKit2 and it's only 4.6 volts (across pins 2 and 3). Is that low enough to cause the programming problems I'm having with all the components on the board? And could it be the reason the board won't run with it powered by the PICKit2?

I'll have to find a 5v power supply and see if I can get the board to work.
 

budude

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It's odd why you are having issues like this - I didn't get a chance to look at it last night but will try again tonight. Note when you connect up the strobe to 5v, you must trigger it to start up. Since I don't want to mess with 3 wires (+5v, Gnd, Trigger), I just tied pin 4 of the control port to Gnd so that it automatically goes on all the time. This will make it easier to connect to a standard 2-pin DC controller. When I have my PICkit2 installed it must take care of this because as I've said, as soon as the Write completes, the strobe kicks off continuously while connected to the programmer.

If you are not using the PIC, you need to tie pin 3 of the control port to +5v - I just used pin 2 of the ICSP port since I wouldn't need the programming port for them. Please notice that in the first method it gets tied to Ground while this method the signal gets tied to +5v. I'll try and get my Ren48 fired up with a few of these to show off what they can look like when driven directly with Vixen.
 

budude

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OK - I built up 9 more tonight with PICs. I found that when you first start up, you'll want to configure for PIC10F200 as before and you should read the blank device. You then import the hex file and do a write and it should work. You do not need to check Vdd PICKit2 to On nor do you need to check MCLR when programming. The programmer actually supplies power when programming. However, if you do check Vdd on, then you will see the LED flash as soon as programming is complete.

I did have one that got the OSCCAL error. After looking close at the PIC, I noticed pin 3 was not soldered down - I'm not sure if the pin was bent up a bit or I had put the device in at an angle (it didn't look like it but those things are tiny). Pin 3 happens to be the clock pin from the programmer in this case. I guess the point here is to look very closely at the pins and make sure they are actually soldered down to the board. When I looked at it from the top, it looked perfectly fine.

So - I'm up to about 30 now - only 210 to go! :-\
 
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