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robotic project

Hi, im just getting back onto building another robotic project (university project). We are given the PCB with a motor controller and ultrasonic sensors (only need to solder the stuff on) and will be using the PIC16F84 i believe. However for my extra credit im looking to add 2 sets of 8 LEDs (like knightrider but where i can change the leds on/off independently in software depending to the environment). Im looking at getting two PIC16F819 and connecting them together, one for the main PIC, the second for the LED controller. How easy is it to connect the two? Are the I/O pins of the pics just on or off, or can more data be sent easily? Also is digital to analogue possible from one pic to the other?

lots of questions i know, probably very simple too. also is there a free C compiler i can use with mplab?

thanx luke

Reply to
Luke Smith
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I don't recommend going to 2 or more microcontrollers unless you absolutely have to. Interprocessor communication is difficult. If you started with a 16F84 and are just adding 8 LEDs, you can easily handle the entire job with a 16F873 or 16F877.

If you are going to two PICs for the learning experience, I understand that. I recommend using serial comm between them like I2C. However, I2C is not easy to implement.

BRW

Reply to
Penguin

Very true!

I2C is rather complicated and would make for an entire project. It is best used if board space is limited or multiple devices are needed to share the same network. Using simple 9600 BAUD TTL serial communication may be a posibility, however one PIC would need to constantly listern for incomming serial data.

more below...

(university

try this:

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It works for the 16f877 which is a great bit of kit with plenty of IO lines for all those LEDs.

Reply to
Geoffrey Swales

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