PIC Strawberry Microcontroller Development Board In Pakistan

PIC Lab-III  is a development board based upon Microchip PIC18F4550 microcontroller. The board supports ICSP as supported by microchip. Many programmers including ICD2, PICKit-2 and Pickit-3 etc support this.

Features:

• Microchip PIC18F4550 Microcontroller (Supports most other 40 pin PIC Microcontrollers)
• 20MHz Crystal Oscillator (Microcontroller can run up to 48MHz using internal PLL)
• Two Status LEDs
• One Momentary Push Switch
• Socket for I2C 24C16 or other family of EEPROM
• Dual Power Supply (USB as well as external)
• Voltage regulator on external Power supply. External source supply also available through screw terminal for use in external project
• USB Connector
• In Circuit Serial Programming Header (ICSP) compatible with Microchip PICKit-2
• All IO Lines available as 0.1″ headers for easy interfacing with external circuitry
• 5V regulated power supply available on all IO Headers for use in external circuits
• Headers arranged as PORTS
• USB Bootloader (Allows direct programming without external programmer)
• Reset Switch
• DIP Switch to free the IO lines from USB data (D+ and D-) Push Button and LED,  I2C SDA and SCL lines (to EEPROM)
• DIP Switch also disconnects USB power supply in case you want to use external supply and don’t want the board supply to enter PC
• High Quality FR4 Double sided PCB

Microchip PIC are popular microcontrollers both in industry and among students. This board is based upon PIC18F4550, that has built in USB 2.0 module. However other 40 pin PIC microcontrollers that are pin compatible can also be used. 

Power Supply:

Board has dual power supply, It can be powered through USB port of your PC. However keep it in mind that this power should not exceed  500mA. The Board can also be powered through external 9-12V DC adapter. The onboard 5V regulator will convert the supply into 5V supply for the entire board. The DIP switch can be used to enable or disable the USB power connection (Always turn it off when powering from external source). The regulated 5V supply is available on all Headers for IO lines.

Status LEDs and Push Switch:

two status LEDs and a one Push switch are provided for easy testing of the board. The LEDs and Push switches can be connected or disconnected from the preselected IO Lines through the DIP Switch.

I2C EEPROM

Although not commonly required, but an I2C EEPROM compatible with 24Cxxx chips is provided. Board comes with 24C16 EEPRO chip.

In Circuit Serial Programming

Standard ICSP header is provided that allows Microchip PICKit-2 and PICKit-3 programmers to be attached directly. Other programmers that support Microchip ICSP can also be used. 

USB Bootloader

We have taken advantage of built in USB module in PIC18F4550, by burning a USB bootloader. This allows new programs to be uploaded without external programmer. The bootloader is developed by Mikroelectronica and is supplied as part of its PIC compilers. However the executable is independent and can be run directly. 

Upon resetting the microcontroller by pushing the reset button, bootloader is activated, and a connect button must be pressed on the windows client to connect within 5 seconds, after this .hex file is selected and uploaded.