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Breadboard module for PIC16F628A

Posted on December 3, 2010 by R-B 18 comments

Here’s another breadboard module that carries a PIC16F628A microcontroller. The power supply pins and the I/O ports of the PIC16F628A microcontroller are accessed through male headers. It can be easily plugged into a breadboard and is very useful for quick prototyping. It frees up a lot of space on the breadboard since the oscillator, reset, and ICSP circuits are already built on the module. It is different from the previous PIC16F688 breadboard module in the way that the microcontroller now runs with an external 4.0 MHz crystal. So, this module will be more appropriate for experiments that require accurate timing

Lab 7: PIC Timers and Counters (Part 1)

Posted on November 21, 2010 by R-B 56 comments

Description PIC microcontrollers are equipped with one or more precision timing systems known as Timers. They can be used to perform a variety of time precision functions, such as generating events at specific times, measuring the duration of an event, keeping date and time record, counting events, etc. The main component of a timer module is a free running binary counter that increments for each incoming pulse. Since it runs independently, it can count pulses concurrently with the main program execution. A PIC16F688 microcontroller has two built-in hardware timer modules: Timer0 and Timer1. Today’s lab lesson will explore the functionality

Calibrating a thermistor for temperature measurements

Posted on November 17, 2010 by R-B Leave a comment

A thermistor is a passive device that changes its resistance with temperature. If the temperature-resistance characteristic is known, it can be used as a temperature sensor by measuring the resistance, or more precisely, the voltage across it. Thermistors are classified in to two types: NTC (negative temperature coefficient) and PTC (positive temperature coefficient). A NTC thermistor decreases its resistance while the temperature rises, and a PTC does the opposite. Although the datasheet of a thermistor describes the temperature-resistance relationship, the measurement based on that is not very accurate. Therefore, you may need to calibrate it against a more accurate sensor.

Lab 6: Seven segment display

Posted on November 15, 2010 by R-B 12 comments

Introduction Seven segment LED displays are often found in clock radios, VCRs, microwave ovens, toys and many other household items. They are primarily used to display decimal numbers but they can also display a few alphabets and other characters. This experiment describes interfacing a seven segment LED display to a PIC16F688 microcontroller. You will make a hexadecimal counter that counts from 0 (00h) to 15 (0Fh) and display the value on the seven segment LED display. Required Theory A seven segment LED display is an special arrangement of 7 LED elements to form a rectangular shape using two vertical segments on each

A Digital temperature meter using an LM35 temperature sensor

Posted on November 12, 2010 by R-B 84 comments

Introduction A digital thermometer is a good choice of project for beginners who just stepped in to the world of microcontrollers because it provides an opportunity to learn using sensors to measure the real world signals that are analog in nature. This article describes a similar project based on a PIC16F688 microcontroller and an LM35 temperature sensor. LM35 is an analog sensor that converts the surrounding temperature to a proportional analog voltage. The output from the sensor is connected to one of the ADC channel inputs of the PIC16F688 microcontroller to derive the equivalent temperature value in digital format. The

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