Hi all! With a bit of delay, here’s my last work, a PICnano breadboard based on the PIC18F2550microcontroller. I have in mind a new project and I want to use an small board, like the Arduino Nano board. This new project is battery powered (3,7V Li-Ion battery). After checking the schematics of the Arduino Nano, I see that the microcontroler is powered at 5V. Of course, I can unmount the linear regulator (U3) that is on the board, and bypass the VIN to the microcontroller power supply. But I think it’s funny try to develop a new module when you’ve access to the microcontroller power supply! Also, I want to work with PIC microcontrollers after many years, so here’s what I design!
- The Hardware
The goal of this new design is try to have an Arduino Nano compatible module but with some new features, such have direct access to the power supply microcontroller. First of all, here you can download the schematic of the board: PICNANO BREADBOARD SCHEMATIC V1.0
The board is based on the PIC18F2550 microcontroller, here you can download the datasheet. It’s an 8-bit microcontroller with these features (from the Microchip’s page):
These characteristics are enough for many of the small projects I usually do. The two features that are more important for me at this time are:
– It has a full speed 2.0 USB internal module, so you don’t need external transceivers to have a USB interface.
– Power supply starts at 2V, so it’s perfect for a battery powered systems.
The schematic is dividen in functinal blocks:
PIC18F2550 Microcontroller
The main part of the board. It has the basic elements to work with the PIC without external componentes: decoupling capacitors, reset pushbutton, mini-USB connector and external oscillator. And, obviously, the PIC18F2550 microcontroller in 28-pin SOIC package.
For more detail: PICnano breadboard based on PIC18F2550
