PICKINI V4 - an easy to build, self adjusting PI detector

[MartyJ1963]

Thanks Waltr,,,,,,The 'Check Communication' is in the Pickit 3 Standalone programmer,,,It won't detect my Pickit 3 and either freezes or crashes after I press 'Connect'. I did have the target board connected and I did select the PIC in the device list,, but it still gave the PK3Err0045: I don't know what voltages my USB ports provide so I'll do what you mentioned and get a powered usb hub and try that,,,,I've tried 6 different cables, all new, and still no difference,,,,I'll try the powered hub next,, I've tried everything else. Thanks again for your help Waltr. Marty

[F117]

I am using MPLab v8.83 in Windows7 32-bit.
All this in virtualbox under Ubuntu 16.04.

The error: connect to target device is normal as long as the chip is not connected to the programmer or not powered.

Not enough power to power the board ? - Did you try the PicKit on another USB port ?

[bernte_one]

i wrote this somewehre in this thread:

i the Setting you can choose (in a list, and you have to set a hook)
"power from programmer"

https://alselectro.wordpress.com/201...sues-solution/

http://microchipdeveloper.com/pickit3ower-target

[MartyJ1963]

Hi all, thanks for the replies. I have tried several MPLAB Versions and I have 'Ticked' the power button in the settings but still can't get it to work. When I tick the power to target box and press apply the tick disappears out of the box. I've tried different Pickit 3 standalone software versions and they just keep crashing or freezing everytime I press 'Check communication'. I've tried 6 different cables in all of the 5 USB Ports on my pc. I'm wondering whether to find out my old laptop and install windows 7 64 bit on it,,,,Don't know what else to try. Thanks guys. Marty

[F117]

Marty,
as suggested already: can you try programming it using an external 5V power supply to the PCB with the PIC ?
Disconnect the power from the PicKit to the PCB first !
The only 3 signals to be controlled from the programmer are Vpp, clock and data...
Not sure why you are having all this trouble ? You mentioned something about a Pickit "clone" ?

[waltr]

I suggested several times to POWER the TARGET from another source.
I never have gotten the PICKit3 to power the target and I bought my PICKit3 directly from Microchip so it is real.

[F117]

waltr,
my previous suggestion was intended for Marty.
I also have a genuine Pickit3 and I always power the chip from the programmer.
Best regards,
- Bernard

[MartyJ1963]

Thanks to everyone for being so helpful,,really appreciate it. I found my old laptop out and installed it with windows 7 64-bit. I installed mplab v8.33, the same as F117,,,,I've gotten a bit further with it (Thankfully!),,,At least Mplab and Pickit 3 standalone software is now powering my target board. I think the Pickit 3 and software weren't liking the 32 bit OS cos' I'm a lot further now with the software on 64 bit than I was before. I'll keep trying and let you know how I do,,,Thanks everyone for perservering with me,,lol. Marty

[Tim]

Sounds like you should ditch the clone Marty and buy the original pickit........

[F117]

One of the customer reviews of such a cheap clone Pickit 3 here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/PICKit3-Mic...5.c10#viTabs_0

mentions updating the pickit firmware AND applying external power:

I had concerns about buying and, more importantly using, the PICkit3 programmer. After using this for a while now wish I had not waited so long to purchase it. It is a great programmer. The only things you should know is... it works much better with MPLAB 8 than MPLAB X. The problem has with MPLAB X is that there are voltage errors (saying that the microcontroller is not getting as much voltage as it should) even though it is connected directly to the programmer via a breadboard. The fix is fairly easy, just apply external power to the microcontroller. Yes, kind of stupid, but manageable. The only other issue that I have faced is when switching between families I had an issue where I could no longer program any microcontroller. Searching the web there was a lot of "bad or improper connection" issues that was not an issue. I finally found that someone mentioned manually downloading the firmware update to the PICkit3 so I did this in MPLAB 8 and it fixed that problem. I loved my PICkit2 clone but I really kind of like this PICkit3 clone too. Really only switched because I needed to program newer microcontrollers that the PICkit2 no longer supported because they no longer update the file that contains the necessary information to support newer microcontrollers. Get it, use it, enjoy programming your creations.

[waltr]

Yea, there were to types of issues I ran into with the PICKit3. None of these with the PICKit2 and I also upgraded to program newer PIC processors.

From reading microchip user forum these issues are NOT just with the clones but also with the REAL PICKit3. Seems there are possible OS and/or App software issues.
The review also states about applying External Power which is an EASY workaround.

[MartyJ1963]

Hi all,,,,Well, I was up all night again with it last night till 9am this morning. According to the screen of mplab, it seems to have programmed the chip finally, but I won't know for definite till I check my Pickini PCB because I'm not getting the voltages on the pic16f1824 chip socket or the lm318 socket either(according to Voltages on Bernards homepage),,,,I'm going to take my time going over my board and checking everything before I try the chip and see if it programmed ok or not. I think the software and Pickit 3 clone must have not liked 32 bit cos when I re-installed windows 7 64 bit on an old laptop it recognised the pickit 3 and gave voltage to the board etc,,and seems to have programmed it cos' at the end of the sequence it displayed programmed/verified complete. Like I say, I wot know 100% till I've sorted those voltages and tried it. Thanks again all for all the help. Marty

[MartyJ1963]

Hi all,,,,,..Success!....I finally sussed everything out. After downloading several different versions of Mplab and hours of installing and uninstalling,,I learnt a few things. My pickit 3 clone didnt seem to like windows 7 32 bit and also, on some versions of Mplab I installed, it warned that it may not work properly on a 32 bit OS. I found my old laptop out and luckily it was in the specs of windows 7 64-bit,,,,so I installed it. Some versions of Mplab wouldn't update the firmware for the pickit3 automatically and I needed to find a file called PICKIT3.JAR,,,unzip it, and load the firmware manually. To cut a long story short,,,I installed Mplabx v4.20 onto my 64-bit system,,,this version of windows allowed Mplab to 'see' my pickit 3 clone,,,it also allowed the target board to be powered from the Picket 3,,the target board had to be powered at 4.5v instead of 5.0v to work though. I recopied the hex code from Bernards home page (In case I made a mistake the first time) and saved it in Notepad++ as a hexfile. I then followed the instructions given on Geotech by everyone and got it to work. I want to thank you all for your help with this and to Bernard (F117) for a great project,,,,,Can't wait to try it out now!,,,,Thanks all. Marty

[6666]

Glad you got it sorted, now you might be able to teach us how to program these 8 pin and up AVR's that I hate so much

[waltr]

Wow Marty, I would not have guessed thees issues.
Good you finally got it working.