Easter

Had an extra day off today, makes a 5 day break over Easter.

PIC Projects

Been a long time since I built a project from an electronics magazine.
Found this on the Elektor website, downloaded the article.
Its is 4 channel PLC controlled by an ECIO pic module.
4 opto-coupled inputs , 4 relay outputs & a CAN controller.
Worked first time. Programmed using flowcode.
Getting interested in PICs / microcontrollers has resparked my interest in building.
Will try to finish the SSB transceiver I started last October soon.

"NOT" The way to do it !

Using the "NOT" function works, it simplifies the program too.

PIC Programming

I've been trying to get a simple routine woking in flowcode to use a single push switch on one port to turn a corrisponding bit on another port on and off. Not quite a easy as I first thought.
I did it by reading the state of the port I want to switch, and then using a decision statement when the switch was pressed to change it between 1 and 0.

Thinking more about it I think a more elegant way could be done using a NOT statement.
Now where did I put my development board.

Strange Weather

Something strange outside.
Its a Saturday morning, the suns shining from an almost cloudless blue sky and the temperature is quite reasonable too for 9-10 in the morning.

Just hope it stays like it for the rest of the day (or even the weekend)

New Toy

Just invested in some more PIC programming hardware.

This unusual device is a PIC on a small circuit board, along with a USB socket and a build in bootloader.
This means the device can be programmed without any extra hardware. Just connect it directly to the PC.
Uses either a small programming utility to upload the asm code or from within flowcode.






The ECIO can be plugged into this project board to allow it to be used with the Matrix Multimedia E Blocks.

Power can be taken from either the USB cable or a seperate power supply.
5 V input to the screw terminals or 13.5 V to the coax socket top right.
An interesting feature is the use of a bridge rectifier on the DC input socket. This allows
either polarity to be used.



The ECIO40 module inserted in the development board.













As with all the Matrix Multimedia hardware, they are very high quality and excellent value for money.
I've still got more of the E-Blocks on the shopping list.
Just waiting for version 4 of flowcode to be released.

PIC Programming

Been trying a bit more on the PIC development board over the weekend.
Currently still using the free version of Flowcode, though it has serious limitations of the program size and what E-Block modules it can compile to.

Keep thinking about upgrading to the full version, though version 4 is due soon, will wait to see what it brings.
The upgrade 3 to 4 is not going to be free so no point jumping in at the moment.






This is my development board. It can be used with the extra hardware modules called E-Blocks.

See the Matrix Multimedia Website for more information. Also on my website.
They are based in Halifax, thats the one in West Yorkshire not Nova Scotia.