Which Pic?

[JIM A]

I See A Lot Of People Using The Pic16f84. I Started With It, But Realized That The Pic16f627 Seems To Be Equal Or Better At 30% Savings . I Know That You Have To Disable The Comparator Function Which Is No Big Deal (2 Lines Code On Pic Basic). Am I Missing Something?

[DynamoBen]

Around here most people use the 16F628. Assuming you want all ports to be digital all you need is:

CMCON = 7 ' Turn off compartors (16F628 specific)

Whats the problem you're having?

[JIM A]

No Problems. I Have Used The 16f627 On Several Projects. Just Wondering If The 16f84 Is Better In Ways That I Don't Know.

Jim

[DynamoBen]

I believe the '84 was used initially due to its price and capabilities. Then they released the '628, which is even more capable and was at a lower price point. You can't beat the '62x series, inexpensive and feature packed. I used the '628 for some time, now I'm using 16F876A which seems to be the other common pic within this community.

[Squibcakes]

Guys,

If you want better Bang for Buck, use the 16F88, compatible with the 84, 628 chips.

For starters...

1. It has internal oscillator speeds up to 8Mhz (do away with external xtal)
2. More Ram
3. More EEprom space.
4. Heaps more code space!!!

Cheers
Squib

[Acetronics2]

Hi,Jim

You're absolutely right ...

But, the 16F628A ( 2K memory) is the best feature/cost ratio ... cause widely diffused.
the 16F648 is the same w/ 4K memory
the 16F88 is one of the most powerful ( forgotten the 18F1320 ??? ),but costs a bit more.

Those are all 18 pins devices ...

Now you understand the pincount is another thing to look at ...

The 16F84 ??? ha,ha,ha ... it was the FIRST one with Electrically reprogrammable memory ( consider the 16C84, now out of the market was "THE REAL FIRST").
Lots of people have learned with the '84s and do not update their projects, may be also, like me, they have dozens left in their drawers.

Thats why you still hear about the 16F84 ... no more !!!



To answer your question, 16F84 programs can easily be modified to 16F628,648,or 88 ... which are now strong and bugless values.

With the help of PbP, the programs can really easily be transferred to 18F series ...

Just buy the PIC you can find ( humour !!! ), that fits your mini requirements, and ... do not cost too much !!!

Note "too much" ... is your own advice !!!

Alain