6.10 Watchdog Timer (WDT)
The Watchdog Timer is a free running On-Chip RC
Oscillator which does not require any external
components. This RC oscillator is separate from the
RC oscillator of the OSC1/CLKIN pin. That means that
the WDT will run even if the clock on the OSC1/CLKIN
and OSC2/CLKOUT pins of the device has been
stopped, for example, by execution of a SLEEP
instruction. During normal operation, a WDT time-out
generates a device RESET. If the device is in SLEEP
mode, a WDT wake-up causes the device to wake-up
and continue with normal operation. The WDT can be
permanently disabled by programming configuration bit
WDTE as a '0' (Section 6.1).
6.10.1 WDT PERIOD
The WDT has a nominal time-out period of 18 ms, (with
no prescaler). The time-out periods vary with
temperature, VDD and process variations from part to
part (see DC specs). If longer time-out periods are
desired, a prescaler with a division ratio of up to 1:128
can be assigned to the WDT under software control by
writing to the OPTION_REG register. Thus, time-out
periods up to 2.3 seconds can be realized.
The CLRWDT and SLEEP instructions clear the WDT
and the postscaler (if assigned to the WDT) and prevent
it from timing out and generating a device
RESETcondition.
The TO bit in the STATUS register will be cleared upon
a WDT time-out.
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