Which PIC do you use

[johnbond]

I'm new to PICs and I am overwhelmed by the Datasheets and technical notes. On the previous MCU I used, I had a choice of 2 flavours in three sizes. That is easy!

I note that the PICBasic website has a nifty program to help select the appropriate device but buying extra (unused) features don't worry me too much and the more complex PICs cost pennies more than the basic ones (they are sometimes even cheaper here in South Africa).

The solution while I cope with the steep learning curve is to limit my circuits to two, maybe three PICs.

Please spend a moment telling me which are your favorite PICs and why?

Kind regards from the dark continent of Africa.

John Bond

[mackrackit]

A better question might be.. What do you want to do?

The chips I seem to use the most are:
12F675 or 16F676 for "simple" I/O project that do not need many I/Os.

18F2550 or 18F4550 for bigger projects. These also have on board USB and can be run at high speeds (48MHz) on lower voltages for interfacing with 3.3V parts (SD card).

18F6680 for large projects that do not need USB support.

For learning I would suggest the 18F4550. Has many features that are commonly used and comes in a PDIP package if needed.

But there are many others that are just as good.

In the end the project should decide on the chip.

[johnbond]

Thanks for your response Dave.

What do I want to do?... I am a hobbyist and tend to build a variety of different gadgets. The circuits tend to be fairly simple. ADC, UART/USART, I2C, motors and steppers, relays. I have used a variety of sensors from Hall and inductive to pressure, colour, and G force. I am hoping to move into USB and TCP/IP.

I have no electronics qualification but I do have a fairly broad understanding of circuits.

I live in a fairly remote area and delivery services are slow so I use VERO/Strip board and I hold stock of components (about 10 each of over a thousand different components). I can build most things from stock. The logistics of getting PCBs made up is too complex and the veroboard means I have, until now, only worked with through hole and DIP components.

My circumstances may sound a little tougher than others starting out with PICs but by limiting your range of PICs when you start out, you gain many benefits.
- Quicker and easier learning curve during those tough first few months.
- Being aware of the GOTCHAs that each chip has
- Better support because more people on the forum use it.
- Much less frustration on your 2nd, 3rd and 4th projects

I deliberately didn't discuss my circumstances earlier because I wanted the response to be valuable to other readers of this forum.

Kind regards

John

[HankMcSpank]

I started on the 16f690 ...for no other reason than it came bundled with the PICkit2 starter kit - but as many have pointed dout it's not really a beginners chip....whilst more features is good from a 'value for money' perspective, the added complexity of register settings, can really inhibit you doing simple stuff in the early days.

So while you find your feet I'd recommend a simple PIC (alas, I'm past those early days, and never used a simple PIC... & therefore have no specific recommendations to offer wrt a simple PIC!)

What I would say is once you do get in the swing of things, to leapfrog the likes of the 16f690 and similar (which are a couple of years old now) and go with the bang up to date ICs, which are - on the whole - just that little bit nicer to work with....I'm presently having great fun with the 12F1822 & the 16F1824 (of which there are numerous similar variants....16f1828 etc depending how many pins you need).

I also find this selector invaluable...

http://www.microchip.com/productsele...tSelector.html

[Heckler]

These are the three PIC's that I keep on hand...

8pin - 12F683
14pin - 16F688
20pin - 16F690

They are all footprint compatible, are pretty much in the top of their category for the pin count, in terms of memory capacity, ram, eeprom.

Each jump to a larger package just adds 6 more I/O pins while maintaining similar footprint.

[mister_e]

I haven't done much PIC stuff since awhile, so I haven't follow the most recent news and stuff, but the one I prefered for their built-in feature were PIC12F683, PIC16F690, and PIC16F887... Not sure why I don't have any 18F one in the list... weird ... add PIC18F4431 then.

Those models above allows you to do lots of stuck but USB. 3 size, many built-in feature, really decent codesize too.

If you don't have any programmer, I always suggest to grab a PICKIT 2 + Development board package (PICkit™ 2 Debug Express or PICkit™ 2 Starter Kit).

Sure PICKIT 2 is obsolete now, but cheap and still quite handy and capable of. It's standalone application provide some great features such as Terminal (to test your serial communication without having to use any extra hardware or PC serial port) and a 3 channel logic probe (ok not a really fast one, but still handy).

[HenrikOlsson]

Hi,
For (semi) advanced motor control applications you can't beat the 18F2431/4431. It's the only 10/12/16/18 series PIC with a QEI module and it has a wicked ADC with double S/H, 4 sample buffer and "semi automatic" operation. Add to that the PCPWM module. I'd love to see a new K device with those peripherals, faster, more flash and more RAM - that would be so cool.

My latest "real" project (16 in, 16 out MODBUS slave) was with a 18F25K22, a real nice 28pin device with two USARTs, 32k of flash and pretty cheap for what you get.

[HankMcSpank]

These are the three PIC's that I keep on hand...

8pin - 12F683
14pin - 16F688
20pin - 16F690

They are all footprint compatible, are pretty much in the top of their category for the pin count, in terms of memory capacity, ram, eeprom.

check out the newer versions...

12f1822 instead of the 12f683
16f1828 instead of the 16f690

eg the latter 16f1828 has all the feature set of a 16f690, but for about the same price gets you better/more features (capacitive touch module, more timers, the option to set the +ve & -ve ADC references, faster internal osc, better IOC options, etc etc)

[johnbond]

Thanks for this valuable advice. I like the idea of passing the 16F690 by. I have already bought a rail of the 690 ICs but they,ll get used somewhere, sometime.

Here in SA, the 16F1828 is just US$0.30 more expensive than the 16F690. Seems a good deal to me!

Kind regards
John Bond

[Charles Linquis]

For hobbyist use, cost really doesn't matter. I would rather spend $10 more for a chip that has all the functionality that I need than work a week trying to get around the limitations of the part I had chosen.

Use an 18F part for certain. If you can deal with surface mount, use something like an 18F87K22.