I have a circuit design now which uses three Pics. Two are the same (18F4520) and one is different(12F629). My current design is all through hole parts so I have all the chips in sockets. Typically I will just program a few hundred chips with each code with a multi gang programmer then insert the chips on the boards when done. I am looking at converting to surface mount parts and my old way of programming doesn't seem to make sense.

My thought is to make a board that will connect to my product and also connect it to three melabs field programmers, each loaded with the correct software. If possible I would like to just turn them all on and have them all program at the same time. I fear that this might not work as at least two of the chips have the MCLR lines tied together and I don't know if that would cause interference or not. If I have to do each chip one at a time I guess I can. Since I am at the redesign phase I would like to do it right from the beginning, but am not sure what is commonly done. I also don't want to slow down the overall process too much

I would appreciate any advice on this idea, or any other idea which you all have had success with. If there is a commercial programmer out their for this kind of situation I would look into it. I appreciate any ideas. Tahnsk

David