PIC16F887 Demo Board for Beginners...

I hope these will help you on your journey of learning PIC microcontrollers. I choose the PIC16F887 device because it is one of the latest PIC16 series from microchip. It is cheap, has a big memory, commonly available, etc...And most of all it is almost the same with and pin-compatible with PIC16F877A. In fact, you can find code examples intended for the PIC16F887 in mikroC help files.

The PIC16F887 Demo Board.

 

The schematic diagram.

If you want to work with microcontrollers it is a great advantage if you own a development/demo board. There will be no problem with the hardware setup. It eliminates the usual problems faced by PIC newbies: badly designed circuit, bread board loose connections as well as misconnections, problem with the programmer, etc.. If you can't afford to buy one, you can build one yourself. 
The major parts are the PIC16F887, MAX232, 7 segments and the LEDs. The LCD is optional but there is headers for it if needed. These board can cost more or less 15 USD. If anybody wants the PCB layout just comment. 
These board was designed to allow students, hobbyist and the like to start exploring the capabilities of the PIC microcontrollers by their own and with less difficulty.  These board can be used for many types of electronic projects, development and application prototyping. In addition, it can be used for demonstration, training, and education purposes. 



Here is a sample video of  the other demo boards in action. The only difference with these boards with the others is the number of 7 segments used and it's placement. But basically they are the same.

 

                                                                                  

    Every now and then I added some features on my demo boards. The last video was the latest which has an optional jumper switch to connect a button on the external interrupt pin(RB0). It also has a LED indicator that turns on when the board is connected to the mikro bootloader (PC side). I plan to use more switches next time as well as use more female headers to have more auxiliary inputs/outputs.



P.S.
Sorry for my bad English and typos. 

Adding labels and graphics on the PCB....

Did you ever wonder how I put decals, logos, or labels on my PCB? 

PCB labels or markings will greatly help you in troubleshooting your circuit as well gives you an idea how the parts or components are connected. It also makes your PCB looks professional-made. :)
I am  using Express PCB. It is free and very user friendly. 


Here is a short tutorial on how to convert an Express PCB layout to PDF.

Here is a video about editing the PDF file and inserting labels, decals, logos,etc... on the PCB silkscreen. PCB layout made from other PCB software can also be used e.g. EAGLE, PADS, etc.. as long as it is now in PDF format.

How to insert decals,

Software needed ( download and install in any order ) :
1) PCB Express ( freeware )

2) Cute PDF Writer ( freeware )
 http://www.easy-share.com/82B6815AE89311E09676002481FAD55A/cutewriter.zip

3) FOXIT PDF Editor
   

Sample projects...

Here are some of the projects I made. I made the videos short because I have a hard time uploading videos because of my very slow internet connection. The board I used in these videos was my 3rd Demo board.


1)The first set of videos is about the count up/down which can either be controlled manually or automatic. The incremented or decremented value is shown on the 4 multiplexed 7-segments. A binary equivalent is also shown on the 8 bit LED's.

2) These next short video is about the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) peripheral of the PIC microcontroller. The analog signal is from the potentiometer from which the voltage vary from zero volt to five volts. The ADC value is then shown to the 4 multiplexed 7-segments and on the 8 bit LED's.

3) Here is a video about SMS automation. I created a simple Visual Basic (VB6) application. I also uses the

Huawei E1552 dongle (Globe Tattoo dongle) at the receiver end. I believe these will also work with other USB modem. The demo board is interfaced to my laptop using the USB-to-RS232 data cable (the cheap one) which is already a part of the board which is used for the bootloader. The VB6 application also has an optional auto reply function.

 4) The next video is just a demonstration that shows how easy it is to use the mikrobootloader. It also shows three separate projects. It also shows the application I created in visual basic (VB6) that resets the demo board through it (software-controlled reset).

5) Another short video showing a PC/laptop to PIC microcontroller  interfacing. I created a Visual Basic (vb6) application that send a command ( a character) to the demo board every time an arrow key is pressed. These is an interrupt-driven UART communication. An appropriate LED will turn on or turn off depending which arrow key is pressed. I am still developing these project to control my web camera.

 6) Here are miscellaneous projects I made for demo purposes.It's a combination of applications I experiment on combining.

 

 

Simple tutorials...

 If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is then worth of a million words!

I made these tutorials using the PIC16F887 demo board. But it is not only applicable to the demo board or PIC16f887 in particular. Please watch the entire videos. It also shows some tools that are included in mikroC and shows you some examples how to use it.

I have done these tutorials in a hurray because the PIC16F887 board that I used which is the only one left is used for another project.
And unfortunately the digital camera that I am using in these videos was damaged (due to lens error) and I don't know when am I going to have a new one.

But anyways I hope you will enjoy and will learn some things on these tutorials.



1) A tutorial showing how to connect the demo board to the PC or laptop. It also shows you how to find out the com port used by the demo board so that the mikro bootloader GUI is setup with the correct com port. If the correct comport as well as baud rate,etc.. is used and is matched, the demo board and the mikro bootloader can then communicate.

2) Another tutorial showing you how to make a project in mikroC as well as how to initialize the ports of the demo board (PORTA, PORTB, etc...) and configure it to input or output accordingly.. It also shows how to embed an image to a mikroC project to which is very useful. For example you can embed a circuit diagram so that you could peek on the circuit diagram while you are writing your codes.

3) An important tutorial showing you how to use the mikro bootloader. Bootloading is very easy and straight forward. After compiling the codes or if you already have a hex file, it is then a couple of clicks away to upload it to the PIC16F887 microcontroller, These makes these demo board very easy to use as well as very fast to try your newly made codes.

4) A very simple video showing a hello world program as well as a blinking project. It also shows a complete process from compiling the codes up to bootloading as well as resetting the demo board through software.

5) Another simple tutorial showing you how to use button switches or basically inputs.
It also shows you an example how to use the auto complete feature of MikroC. It allow you to make shortcuts when writing codes in MikroC.

6) Yet another simple tutorial that shows you how to use another tool in MikroC, the 7 segment editor. It will allow you to display on 7 segments with just a couple of clicks!.

7) And finally a UART example showing how to test a communication from the demo board to a PC/laptop or vice versa using the MikroC USART terminal.

The PIC16F887 Demo Board...

I hope these will help you on your journey of learning PIC microcontrollers. I choose the PIC16F887 device because it is one of the latest PIC16 series from microchip. It is cheap, has a big memory, commonly available, etc...And most of all it is almost the same with and pin-compatible with PIC16F877A. In fact, you can find code examples intended for the PIC16F887 in mikroC help files.

The PIC16F887 Demo Board.

 

The schematic diagram.

If you want to work with microcontrollers it is a great advantage if you own a development/demo board. There will be no problem with the hardware setup. It eliminates the usual problems faced by PIC newbies: badly designed circuit, bread board loose connections as well as misconnections, problem with the programmer, etc.. If you can't afford to buy one, you can build one yourself. 
The major parts are the PIC16F887, MAX232, 7 segments and the LEDs. The LCD is optional but there is headers for it if needed. These board can cost more or less 15 USD. If anybody wants the PCB layout just comment. 
These board was designed to allow students, hobbyist and the like to start exploring the capabilities of the PIC microcontrollers by their own and with less difficulty.  These board can be used for many types of electronic projects, development and application prototyping. In addition, it can be used for demonstration, training, and education purposes. 



Here is a sample video of  the other demo boards in action. The only difference with these boards with the others is the number of 7 segments used and it's placement. But basically they are the same.

 

                                                                                  

    Every now and then I added some features on my demo boards. The last video was the latest which has an optional jumper switch to connect a button on the external interrupt pin(RB0). It also has a LED indicator the turns on when the board is connected to the mikro bootloader (PC side). I plan to use more switches next time as well as use more female headers to have more auxiliary inputs/outputs.



P.S.
Sorry for my bad English.