Any PIC programmer recommendations?

[FDC]

Any recommendation on a PIC programmer (within the budget of a newbie that will also be able to use on future PIC chips?) and where to buy online that will ship internationally? Some of the neat DIY projects here uses the pic so a programmer is a must.

TIA!
FDC

[jeffs555]

Olimex in Bulgaria have a lot of programmers and development boards for low prices. http://www.olimex.com/dev/index.html I don't know anything about their programmers, but I did just receive some prototype PC boards from them and was quite pleased. It did take almost 2 weeks shipping to the east coast of the US.

PS. You should update your profile to show your location. You would get better answers about where to buy things.

[kfong]

Any recommendation on a PIC programmer (within the budget of a newbie that will also be able to use on future PIC chips?) and where to buy online that will ship internationally? Some of the neat DIY projects here uses the pic so a programmer is a must.

TIA!
FDC


Here is a board we created for the 16fxx series. It's totally stand alone. The board has a programmer section if you wish to seperate it. Plugs directly into your serial port. The processor section can be used for testing and experimentation. Capable of datalogging, ect.

http://www.embeddedtronics.com/picmee.html
The programmer itself can support all the devices that
http://www.ic-prog.net/index1.htm supports

We sell just the PCB board. $10, but most of the parts are easy to find.

Kin

http://www.embeddedtronics.com/

[Malc C]

In addition to the MicroChip PICKit1 which is ideal for about half a dozen flash PICs, I use one of the Olimex PIC-PG2C programmes

http://www.sparkfun.com/shop/images/114.jpg

The device works well, doesn't need any additional power supplies and supports loads of PICs when used with IC-PROG or WinPic.. the plus point is that it only cost $12.95 from Spark Fun (http://www.sparkfun.com/shop/index.php?shop=1&cart=109242&cat=3&)

[FDC]

Thanks for the link guys. I'm currently based here in Taipei BTW and unless you know Mandarin or Taiwanese, its almost pointless to look for something here locally that is not really that popular to the masses.

I think I can just make my own serial programmer as the scehmatics are freely available from the site. But I will be getting my own development board from sparkfun for my own practice in programming the pic.

Thanks again!
FDC

[Texy]

I realise that its not in your budget (although try ebay), but you can't beat
either the PicStart Plus or the ICD2 from Microchip.
The fact is that there is nothing better
than developing the code AND programming the chip all within MPLAB - it
makes the whole development cycle run much smoother.
I believe that Olimex make an ICD2 clone.
my 2 cents,
Texy

[Cirip]

Another easy to build programmer here:
http://www.myke.com/elcheapo.htm
Cirip

[cubanflyer]

Check out http://www.quasarelectronics.com/pic_programmers.htm


I use their kit3149 serial/usb programmer & the Picstart plus from microchip. However the picstart plus is expensive, but at least you know it will support future chip from Microchip with just a firmware upgrade.


cubanflyer

[Comatose]

Texy, i disagree. I've used a picstart plus extensively and a Warp-13a from www.newfoundelectronics.com beats it hands down in basically every way. $99, and its good enough that I own two.

The ICD I haven't used but I had a friend whose died. Of course, the same friend screwed up a warp-13 and an atmel AVR programmer of some flavour, so maybe thats not representative of the product.

[rebuildit]

I am not really sure but from what i can tell the 12.95 one from Sparkfun will burn all the pics that the 100+ ones do? It also seems to take longer for the burn.(sparkfuns) As for the cheapo one, I don't think I could get the parts for less than 15.55. Thats how much one with shipping will cost me from sparkfun.
Now for the question: I just want to tinker with pics and do some of the simple projects that are found on boards like this one. What do you guys think of the sparkfun one for that? I am sure i am missing many important factors, but any insight would greatly be appreciated. Thanks in advance

[jeffs555]

Get the cheap one. Just make note of the warnings about not working with some laptops and usb serial ports. Most of these low cost serial programmers count on having +/- 9 volt signals on the serial port, and some laptops don't. They won't damage anything, and will work with most PC's.

[Malc C]

Re-buildit, thats effectively why I purchased the $12 programmer from Spark, I'm still learing the ropes, but its nice to download code from projects found on the web and be able to quickly load the PIC and play. If you have a normal PC then the problems with low power comm ports shouldn't be a problem. The Olimex is effectively a comercial version of the JDM programmer which can be found on a few web sites, but I doubt you could make it cheaper and as professional looking at the version from spark fun. The only real downside is that it uses DIL sockets rather than turn pin or ZIF socket, but having said that it is possible to program the PIC whilst its on the CCt board via the lead they supply

hey for $13 go for it.. if you don't like it you haven't lost a lot !

[odalaman]

try these two links; http://mikro.e-technik.uni-ulm.de/research/pic.html#Progr_interface and http://www.picallw.com/

I have constructed the PICALL programmer couple of years ago and since then using the programmer together with PICALLW software to program my PICs. I had no problem on programming most of the PICs. Just look at the list of PICs it is capable of programming. Since January 1st 2005, even the PICALLW software became FREEWARE :)


Osman

[rajul]

Any comments on the Warp 13 programmer from Newfoundland Electronics ? Is it 100% MPLAB compatible ?

[rebuildit]

Thanks, I just ordered one..lol

[azfrench]

What type of knowledge do you need to program PIC's. I have very limited electronics know-how but I am wanting to learn. I would love to start making things that I have seen in these pages. Thanks

Rick

[jeffs555]

It all depends on what you mean by "program PIC's". If you just mean burning the PIC from code that someone else has designed and provided, then it is a simple matter of getting a programmer, opening a hex file and clicking the program button. If you mean writing your own code, you should probably start with a simple project where someone has provided both the hex code and the source code. You can then examine the code and try modifying it a little to customize to your own requirements.

[Comatose]

Any comments on the Warp 13 programmer from Newfoundland Electronics ? Is it 100% MPLAB compatible ?


I've found it to be, which is handy when they haven't updated their own programmer code to work with new PICs yet (i needed pic16f684 support about a year ago and went that route) though their own software is much faster and nicer. I find MPLAB to be a little on the... unrefined side maybe?

Each particular firmware revision of the warp-13 emulates a particular version of picstart software, so if you have old firmware you may need to update it, but the device is flash upgradeable without pulling chips or anything, so that's not a big deal.

[AndyKunz]

I've been using the Tech-Tools Quickwriter since it came out. I own them, plus I have specified them for production at the office (we have about a dozen there).

Great product, great service, and NO MPLAB!!!

Andy

[FDC]

Any comment on this prgrammer? Can anyone confirm if this is mplab compatible? Has the added benefits of being able to program other MCU and devices.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=58295&item=3867948104&rd=1

http://www.vectorcom.net/ebay/images/Programmer1.jpg

[PICmik]

Any comments on the Warp 13 programmer from Newfoundland Electronics ? Is it 100% MPLAB compatible ?

Good programmer, 100% MPLAB compatible. The big problem is going to be finding one! Jim Roberston at Newfound Electronics stopped making them quite a while back and stocks have pretty much dried up.

I have to say that you should seriously consider investing in an ICD2 if you are going to be doing any PIC developement though. It will program most of the 14 and 16bit PIC series and also the new DsPIC (although of course it's an in-circuit or ICSP programmer, so to use it as a stand alone programmer would require an adapter to be made or bought). There are also now clone ICD2's being made for about 1/2 the price so there's no excuse really ;)

The above universal programmer on Ebay is definately not MPLAB compatible whatsoever. It's cheap, but it may not support a decent range of PIC's. I'd want a full list of supported devices and a look at the programming software before parting with any cash.