Hi Again,

My project has an one PIC12F629 dedicated to I/O and one PIC12F629 dedicated to the actual task (flashing some LEDs).

The I/O pic has two PWM inputs, each controlling one output. If the PWM signal is over a certain width, the output goes high.

The second output directly controlls a high-current LED, but the first output is supposed to turn on or off my second PIC12F629.

My current (and somewhat working) solution is for the second PIC to read the signal from my I/O PIC and either run the program or wait in a loop until the signal goes high. For the sake of simplicity, let me just say that there are drawbacks to this method.

What I'd like to do is actually cut power to the second PIC when the I/O line is low and supply power when it is high. I'm not an electrical engineer, so I don't really know the best way to do this. It seems like a bipolar transistor would take up too much voltage (I need all of the 5 volts to run the LEDs) and I'd be concerned with how much current a small relay would use to hold the circuit closed (or open)

Does anyone have any thoughts on the best way to do this - that is, given a 5v source, either supply or cut the full 5v to another PIC?

Thanks,

Jeff