Pickit 3 tips and ideas

[be80be]

Yep that looks great thanks jon I'm going to get one myself Got one on the way.
Mrdeb the pickit2 is hard to break do you have one or is it the junebug.

 

[JonSea]

I had knee-replacement surgery a week ago and we got an icing machine. It's basically a ice cooler with a little pump to circulate water at 0°C through a remote cooling pad. Greatest device ever as it gets the cooling where it's needed.

My physical therapy is a 45 minute drive from home, so I wanted to use the ice machine each way. It is powered by a 12VDC wall wart, but I didn't know if it would handle the voltage range from the car, which can be as high as 15 volts when the car is running.

I connected one of these modules to a cigarette lighter plug, set the output voltage to 12 and connected it to the cooler. Happy as can be with no risk to the ice machine.

Note that these modules don't cutoff if the input voltage falls too low, but the ice machine was ok at 11 volts with the car off.

I don't think finding places to use the 5 pack will be too difficult.

 

[MrDEB]

I want a pickit2 but no one I found has a new one for sale.
I was having issues lately w/ the pickit2 (kept having target device voltage messages and wouldn't communicate with the target pic project.
I have a Blueroom pickit clone but had issues. When I started using the pickit2 no issues until now.
so wait for shipment of the pickit3. Really not looking forward what with all the negativity posted.

 

[JonSea]

I recently purchased a couple **broken link removed** for backup. They work perfectly and are functionally and operationally equivalent to the real deal.

 

[Mike - K8LH]

Same item is less expensive from a couple vendors on AliExpress...

 

[BobW]

I've had a PICkit3 since they first came out several years ago, and never had a problem. So, I wouldn't be too concerned. I can't compare it to a PICkit2, because I went directly from a PICkit1 to the PICkit3.
More often than not, I use the PICkit3 to power the chip, but I make sure that the rest of the circuit draws minimal power. Otherwise it's not a big deal to use the circuit's own onboard power supply.

 

[be80be]

I've had a PICkit3 since they first came out several years ago, and never had a problem. So, I wouldn't be too concerned. I can't compare it to a PICkit2, because I went directly from a PICkit1 to the PICkit3.
More often than not, I use the PICkit3 to power the chip, but I make sure that the rest of the circuit draws minimal power. Otherwise it's not a big deal to use the circuit's own onboard power supply.

You don't say what your using Mplab X or 8.xx or the stand alone app.
I'm saying It didn't program using Mplab X v3.55 because it's not turning on the power for some reason fast enough.
The stand alone app worked with the power turned on first.
Mplab X shows I have a pickit3 I've set to power target but it seems to mess up when the pop up ask to make sure the chip is 3.3 volt chip
witch I have set right.

 

[BobW]

I'm running MPLAB-X on a Macintosh. MPLAB 8.xx is Windows only. I haven't tried the standalone programming software that's in the new release yet.

 

[be80be]

If mplab x had a easy way to set power
It be better. I Maybe missing something

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

If mplab x had a easy way to set power
It be better. I Maybe missing something

MplabX is a pain in the bum setting the power ON or OFF, best to ignore it and power the target directly

This cures ALL your problems, and avoids having to disconnect things to lower the consumption.

 

[MrDEB]

Well if Jon says it works just like a real pickit2 then perhaps I will look at purchasing same. Sure cheap enough.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Well if Jon says it works just like a real pickit2 then perhaps I will look at purchasing same. Sure cheap enough.

They should be fine, MicroChip publish both the schematic and the firmware for the PK2, so it's trivial for a Chinese manufacturer to make an exact cheap copy.

It's even quite possible that they are identical?, and that the Chinese manufacturer of these are the people who actually make them for MicroChip.

 

[MrDEB]

I looked at the Aliexpress unit but no paypal?? so ordered two from G & C supermarket.
So everything is on hold unless I dig out the Junebug and maybe.
Would love to find out why the pickit fried?

 

[MaxHeadRoom78]

Ebay have for $8.00 201325676677
Max.

 

[MrDEB]

after looking over the pickit2 board I see a component that may be the fried part. It says L1 which IMO would be a fuse but ??
It has a yellow appearing window that appears to be smoked??
guess I will wait for all three pickits to get here.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

L1 would normally signify an inductor.

And indeed L1 is clearly labelled as a 680uH inductor on the schematic, part of the Vpp pump.

If it's fried, then Q4 may be S/C.

 

[JonSea]

I thought that the clones might be a virtual copy of the real deal but that's not the case - the circuit boards are different. I don't know if there is more than one version of PICkit 2 hardware.

Have you ever wondered about all the Chinese products you can get on ebay, etc.?

Some factory is churning out thousands of PICkit 2s (many vendors are selling the exact same thing). Thousands of 8×8 LED arrays driven by MAX7219 chips. Thousands of tiny I2C OLED displays. Thousands of single - octal relay boards. The list is endless.

Producing all these things only for the hobbiest market seems a little far fetched. Big Clive on his YouTube channel shows some of this stuff is used by Chinese industry. Another YouTube blogger suggests the Chinese education system is the driver. I must admit they are selling a lot of high quality stuff with unique, innovative designs; not derivative of existing products but unique products finding new markets.

 

[MaxHeadRoom78]

Another example is one item I have purchased in the past is Industrial P.B.'s and switches made by Telemecanique (Group Schneider) and were VERY expensive, they phased the line out after a while for some reason, now they are on ebay from China, a fraction of the price with all the Exact same markings and logo's and identical packaging.
A 20th of the price.
Who knows if they are doing it legally?
Max.

 

[large_ghostman]

Another example is one item I have purchased in the past is Industrial P.B.'s and switches made by Telemecanique (Group Schneider) and were VERY expensive, they phased the line out after a while for some reason, now they are on ebay from China, a fraction of the price with all the Exact same markings and logo's and identical packaging.
A 20th of the price.
Who knows if they are doing it legally?
Max.

In China legal means, if the Gov says its ok then its ok. Lets face it, taking the Chinese government on is a non starter.

 

[tumbleweed]

I'm saying It didn't program using Mplab X v3.55 because it's not turning on the power for some reason fast enough

What size caps do you have on the VDD connection? From the video there looks to be a fairly large red rectangular part where I'd expect to see a small 0.1uF bypass cap.

Since the PK3 is limited to supplying about 35mA too much C on the VDD line could be part of the problem.