CB0703-PCB for "PICkit 2" DIY(Do It Yourself) fans

[folks]

edaboard cb0703

Hi, great review.

Is it 100mA bus powered?
Can You see with the attach software?

Thanks
Yes it's 100mA bus powered, nice program very handy.

It also should be possible to patch the firmware so it asks for 200mA or 300mA in theory anyway.

The biggest problem with cloning the PK2 is it's so cheap to start with, about $40 retail with USB cable.

My strategy is to bundle a PK2 and the popular Firefly 16F88 Tutor kit on the same PCB.

Thanks for measured the power.
Yes, I think the firmware should be change because MChip provide the program sources.
The PK2 is expensive if you buy all the parts, but isn’t if you request some samples. Of course isn’t cheap when you try to sell the PK2 clone, the best choice is resell the original one.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

using pickit 2 mcp25050

As promised here's a beta of the schematic for the PK2 SE (Student Edition)
**broken link removed**

 

[psmll]

pic18f2685 bootloader

some PICs need more

Interesting, can you post some instance?

From "PICkit 2 Readme.txt":

-----------------------------------------------------------------
1. Device Support List
-----------------------------------------------------------------
(...)
+ Indicates parts that require 4.75V minimum VDD for programming.
  PICkit 2 may not be able to generate sufficiently high VDD,
  so an external 5.0v power supply may be required.
(...)
Midrange Devices
----------------
PIC16F72+
PIC16F73+       PIC16F74+       PIC16F76+       PIC16F77+
PIC16F737+      PIC16F747+      PIC16F767+      PIC16F777+

But for example, I can't program the PIC10F222 with some USB ports, because the voltage drop too much, at the moment I don't use anymore the power of USB port and all work well in all USB ports.

One big problem of the PICkit 2 is that it takes the USB voltage as reference, but the USB voltage are different from PC to PC.

So I will put my PICkit 2 generating a hight voltage from the USB and then put for example a 7805 to get real 5V, then all problems disappear ;-)

 

[dsPIC24F]

ds41296

an external 5.0v power supply may be required.

So Microchip does recommend using a external 5 V supply for those chips. Thank you, psmll, for post this important information.

 

[funnynypd]

pickit 2 unable to enter debug mode

but please stick to the facts if you want to denigrate the ICD2.

My bad, if I mislead you.
All over all, ICD2 and PICkit 2, I love them both.
I have many years with ICD2 in my career life, way too many.
PICkit 2 is a new friend to me, now it has been an important tool for my daily life too (software development, programming, etc.). The ICD 2 has been basically phased out in my daily life after I got the PICkit 2.

ICD2 is good, not great. PICkit 2 is good too and we are seeing PICkit2 has been enhanced by Microchip in the recent past. Personally I believe there still some potential for PICkit 2 to improve the performance as people discussed in this forum. This is the reason we published our design with enhancement power supply features and try to provide more help on the DIY side.

The ICD2 and PICkit 2 are designed for different customers and markets. You just cannot compare an apple with an orange. Though every one might has his/her own favor.

The finial decision of the future about these two tools depend on Microchip and their crew (the clone developer has basically no influence).

Personally, I may be more favor the PICkit2 since I have multiple microchip platforms, and that ICD2 OS downloading thing worries me, it could be my computer or just my case, I got too many fails on the ICD2 os downloading and hardware failure. I am tired on exchange with Microchip. (Not a big deal for those of you who can afford the time waiting the exchanges or pay the premium for 2nd day shipping). So my ICD 2 has been just sitting there for most of the time since I got my PICkit2. If I don’t have to use it or loan to someone, I won’t touch it. Again, this is just a personal favor.

I do not worry much about been shoot down by the ICD2 competitors (such as: the great Blueroomelectronics, good company though), because those end user like "psmll" kind of smart guy will finally find the truth by themself and make their own decision. All we can do here is telling the truth. Again, if I am wrong, please correct me.

Trust your customer and people in this forum; they are smarter than you thought.

That I am pretty sure.

P.S. For those of people who send technical question to our web master (LINK REMOVED) by email, got answers from him, and then posted our web master’s answer on this forum without credit him, you don’t have to do that again, it takes too much time, and you suppose not doing that. Let’s talk in the forum if you got questions or staff we can help. Questions are always welcome in this forum. And we can be friends.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

pic18f14k50 bootloader

Do you actually read my posts. I'm for the PK2, it just has to mature a little more. MPLAB V8 is due out this month maybe that'll give the PK2 the firmware it needs. It's a great little programmer no doubt about it. But the real PK2 is only $40 so why would someone buy a clone for $29?

I've built a second prototype, still same problem.

 

[dsPIC24F]

pickit2 zif socket

As promised here's a beta of the schematic for the PK2 SE (Student Edition)

This "blueroomelectronics" guy and this "folks" guy are working together as a couple trying to kill this "Funny" guy everywhere in this forum.

And now they even start trying to ruin and mislead the PICkit 2 design.

Their purpose might just be :
1.keep selling their ICD 2 clone staff. I hope their ICD2 clone is not bunch of junk as what I saw on their PICkit 2 clone designs posted on the forum.
2.Kill new business guy/competitor like this poor "Funny" guy by ruin/poison the original PICkit 2 design.

I feel shame for both of you. Competition should be fair.

In the mean time, this is a discussion forum; please stop un-necessary un-technology posts. If you don't want to talk technology and improvement, all three/four/five... of you get out of this forum.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

pic18f258.hex tiny bootloader

What? I'm not trying to kill anyones design. I think the PICKit2 is a nice device it's also cheap. At $40 for a genuine PICKit2 it would be hard to make any money on a clone unless your clone did something different.

Only recently did the PK2 get an upgrade from Microchip, it's now a nice programmer but it's still a little buggy. I blame the .NET software. I can get the 2.10 firmware to lockup reliably with both a real PK2 and a clone. It does work with the older 1.2 software fine (both versions)

I have a recent model "red" button PK2 and the clone is based on that model.

Read the posts.

 

[dsPIC24F]

pickit2 clone board

I see.

The "Funny" guy is doing a full implementation of Microchip PICkit 2 design plus some design enhancement from his schematic and PCB layout. They even post well developed product picture and fully assembled product to verify that.

The blueroomelectronics guy is doing the reduction. So he can keep trying to ruin/poison the reputation of PICkit 2 over and over with his partners, constantly mislead the potential user of PICkit 2, just like many times he did in this forum, for his own purpose: kill competitor and Sell his junk. Very Good strategy.:!:

In the mean time the blueroomelectronics guy tried one more time to kill that "Funny" guy by send out some Hint/Guessing "components/quality reduction" for that "Funny" Guy. What a Good business man.:arrow:

Nice job. However, shame on you, blueroomelectronics.

 

[ennio]

mplab unableto enter debug mode pic18f6720

Hi
blueroomelectronics

2.7k Ohm resistor between +5V_USB and GND is missing

Regards
ennio

 

[blueroomelectronics]

pickit 2 diy

I see.

The "Funny" guy is doing a full implementation of Microchip PICkit 2 design plus some design enhancement from his schematic and PCB layout. They even post well developed product picture and fully assembled product to verify that.

The blueroomelectronics guy is doing the reduction. So he can keep trying to ruin/poison the reputation of PICkit 2 over and over with his parter, constantly mislead the potential PICkit 2 user, just like many times he did in this forum, for his own purpose: kill competitor and Sell his junk. Good strategy.:!:

In the mean time the blueroomelectronics guy tried one more time to kill that "Funny" guy by guessing "components/quality reduction". What a Good business man.:arrow:

Nice job. However, shame on you, blueroomelectronics.

Once again, why would anyone buy a clone PK2 for $29 when the real PK2 with USB cable is $40?

I'm stripping it down to make it easy to build for students sans surface mount parts and keep the cost down. The other fellows clone adds a 200ma LM317 regulator but it fails to block the output of the LM317 from your USB port, that's bad design but aside from that his clone appears fine. It also appears possible to "ask" the USB port for more power up to 500ma can be had if the device asks for it, a firmware patch could possibly provide this. Eliminating the need for a 200ma power supply.

Soldering surface mount parts is for the more experienced kit builder, that's why I use through hole parts.

I also made no such claim against his quality, I was referring to a very poor quality photo on his site (the red PCB one) is not clear at all.

Added after 6 minutes:

Hi
blueroomelectronics

2.7k Ohm resistor between +5V_USB and GND is missing

Regards
ennio

It's for draining the PK2 power supply when unplugged, I've moved the power LED to the target side in the prototype but may add a BS250 MOSFET to add the VPP before VDD mode. Not sure if it needs the pulldown (via 1K) N-Fet for that feature to work.

 

[PICMaster18F]

pic18f44k20 doesnt work

I agree with "blue" I'd never buy a copy when I could have the real thing for only a few dollars more. I think funnynypd has an ugly cheap looking case compared to the real pickit. Plus I gotta buy a USB cable for another $6 with funnynypd so it's about the same price as the Microchip one.

The RJ11 connector is a pain for working with too with breadboards.
Would you rather have this real pickit2

or this thing? for nearly the same money?
**broken link removed**

 

[ennio]

pickit2 connect pic18f14k22

Hi blueroomelectronics

Try this

Regards

ennio

 

[blueroomelectronics]

pickit2 электрическая схема

Thanks ennio, the 2N3906 + D4 will drop almost 1V from the USB supply. A P-Channel FET + D4 will drop about 0.35V but in a pinch one could use the PNP transistor. The schematic also has an N-Channel FET that pulls VDD to GND through a 1K resistor, not sure why this is there.

 

[folks]

pic18f4525 eagle

As promised here's a beta of the schematic for the PK2 SE (Student Edition)

This "blueroomelectronics" guy and this "folks" guy are working together as a couple trying to kill this "Funny" guy everywhere in this forum.

And now they even start trying to ruin and mislead the PICkit 2 design.

Their purpose might just be :
1.keep selling their ICD 2 clone staff. I hope their ICD2 clone is not bunch of junk as what I saw on their PICkit 2 clone designs posted on the forum.
2.Kill new business guy/competitor like this poor "Funny" guy by ruin/poison the original PICkit 2 design.

I feel shame for both of you. Competition should be fair.

In the mean time, this is a discussion forum; please stop un-necessary un-technology posts. If you don't want to talk technology and improvement, all three/four/five... of you get out of this forum.

I am not sell the ICD2 or other programmer, I only try to find the answers about the attacks to the ICD2 and I found that the funnynypd user sell the pk2 clone.
I am not sure why you believe member of this forum if you only have 3 posts and 0 helps. Maybe you are funnynypd user because only you post in this topic, and by the way here is not EBAY.
are you crazy or what? go to the psychologist

 

[funnynypd]

pickit2 18f2553 problem

All right,
Guys, let's make a peace here. Concentrate on the improvements.

ennio: nice job in helping find the bugs and good try on the MOSFET replacement.

Did you test the circuit you posted? Can you post some test result if you have built a prototype? Test result will help people more.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

diy pic kit 2

The circuit posted does work, as simple as it seems both the programming & debug modes work fine. What it can't do is VPP before VDD, I'm adding that part now.

The "bug" I found in the prototype exists with the real PK2 also. So it appears to be a firmware problem. Using the 1x firmware works fine so...

If VPP before VDD is a simple low cost addition I'll add it to the schematic, easy enough to bypass (wire link) for those DIYers that can't get a BS250 MOSFET.

The PK2 bootloader is VERY robust, haven't been able to kill it yet. Hold the button down and poof repaired next time you run MPLAB.
**broken link removed**

 

[ennio]

pickit2 connector

Hi

blueroomelectronics:

The 1K resistor is for a proper charge for external VDD

funnynypd:

Yes. it's work OK
This is a reduced clone only for 5v. no opamp, etc.

Regards
ennio

 

[blueroomelectronics]

pickit 2 icd breadboard

Nice photo, only two transistors? And so few resistors? How did you do it?

I've added the BS250 and a 2N3904 pull down transistor and all works great. The VPP before VDD will keep you from getting you PIC stuck in a unprogrammable mode, and it can be bypassed for the economy minded.

 

[ennio]

diy icd2

Hi

blueroomelectronics:

sorry

see back side

Note: PCB is homemade

Regards

ennio