MR16's

[mtxrooster]

Hey have a couple design and use questions - Going to be building my 1st MR-16 and officially my first foray into this lighting world (expect nothing great, lol, gotta start somewhere!!).  Got a couple q's if ya don't mind..

1.  The instructions state specifically not to use the MPLAB software, to use pickit 2 or 3..  Can home-made programmers be used, and if so, can anyone link to a 'good' one (or one that is known to work, hehe)?

2.  What are ya'll using to power these guys?



Thanks in advance for your time,

Rooster

[JonB256]

You need a PICkit 2 or PICkit3. Seriously.

If it comes with a CD that installs the software, ignore the MPLAB software.

When you buy the PICkit, if it comes with an external programming socket, I'd get it, too. Very easy to program dozens of PIC chips in no time rather than installing and removing them from the MR-16 socket.

Don't bother with home-made programmers. If you had that level of knowledge, you wouldn't be asking this question! 

[mtxrooster]

You need a PICkit 2 or PICkit3. Seriously.

See the last part of your quote and my response. 

If it comes with a CD that installs the software, ignore the MPLAB software.

Understood.

When you buy the PICkit, if it comes with an external programming socket, I'd get it, too. Very easy to program dozens of PIC chips in no time rather than installing and removing them from the MR-16 socket.

This is like a ZIF style socket adapter that hooks up to the pickit?

Don't bother with home-made programmers. If you had that level of knowledge, you wouldn't be asking this question! 

That is so not true.  If you want to get into it, I've used an IC programmer where I worked for years, and have done plenty of research on home-brew programmers.  When I see people saying absolutely only use 'xxx', I think, okay, there must be a reason.  I asked about home-brew programmers because in my experience they 'should' work just fine as long as the software the PC is running is able to handle the type of chip.  So I was curious why a pickit MUST be used, and you're statement doesn't help answer that one bit.  The level of knowledge I have says a IC can be programmed by any software able to write to it.  The statements here seem to indicate otherwise but in no specific way.  Care to shed some more technical light upon the matter?

Don't take that paragraph the wrong way, I'm not intending to come off like a smart-alec, I'm just wondering if you know why alternative programmers cannot be used. 

[rimist]

I'll make a guess: it's due to the focus of the site being for amateur diy. It's specified not to get too technical. I hooters to have some technical knowledge, but went with the suggested pic3

- Rimist

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk

[dmaccole]

2.  What are ya'll using to power these guys?

Rooster:

Can't speak for the others, but I use surplus ATX power supplies.

You can read the gory details at:

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

\dmc