Dave,

All earths should be disconnected, there are no external sources of power or earth currently.

amge,

I'm not sure I fully follow your circuit there. looks like the buttons are from 12V to a FET gate, and not to the pic. I need the buttons to turn the pic on, and give an input signal to the PIC at the same time. I will have a go at attaching my circuit.
Again, excuse the amateur..
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