PCBway and the availabilty of CPC projects

[salvogendut]

Made a second board today and... same problem. It works very slow and in bursts and still no light on the led. The thing is I used the TL866 II programmer selecting PIC16F84 instead of PIC16F84A in the zif socket (if I select correctly PIC16F84A, which is what is marked on my chip the programming will fail @Rabs I am curious to know how you programmed it. Now waiting for a new programmer PICkit3 and we'll see)

[Rabs]

Made a second board today and... same problem. It works very slow and in bursts and still no light on the led. The thing is I used the TL866 II programmer selecting PIC16F84 instead of PIC16F84A in the zif socket (if I select correctly PIC16F84A, which is what is marked on my chip the programming will fail @Rabs I am curious to know how you programmed it. Now waiting for a new programmer PICkit3 and we'll see)

Hi, cannot remember now. But don't think I had any problems. Will program another and let you know.

[Rabs]

Ok so I have built my first try at this and.... it does not work properly. The LED does not turn on and when I move the mouse, it moves briefly (directions work and also clicking works) and then it gets stuck for a few seconds, then moves again and so on, as if some timing was bad. To a trained eye maybe it will be easy to spot the wrong component in the wrong place. I am going to go to do some debugging any suggestions are welcome.  Here is a few pics of my baby please don't solder shame me, I am still a noob

Good try. OK I will have a closer look at the component side tomorrow but you may have a few dry joints. If the solder is dull or round in shape then it is probably a dry joint and you will get intermittent results. You have some nice looking joints on the ICs but the D-Type connector could do with re-flowing. Also have a look at one of the transistor legs (these are tricky to solder where the pins are so close together). Have a look at mine. Oh an try setting Auto-Detect to the off position (it should in most cases be left in the OFF position. This is the Auto-detect position). It should also work in BASIC where you will see the arrow symbols when you move the mouse.

It takes practice to get good solder joints, and I get caught out sometimes and always learning.

You cannot view this attachment.

[Rabs]

PS: I tried in SymbOS only so far, if you have any suggestions on other testing programs you are welcome

Just try from the BASIC prompt to start with, you should see the arrow characters when you move the mouse.

[Rabs]

Ok so I have built my first try at this and.... it does not work properly. The LED does not turn on and when I move the mouse, it moves briefly (directions work and also clicking works) and then it gets stuck for a few seconds, then moves again and so on, as if some timing was bad. To a trained eye maybe it will be easy to spot the wrong component in the wrong place. I am going to go to do some debugging any suggestions are welcome.  Here is a few pics of my baby please don't solder shame me, I am still a noob

Good try. OK I will have a closer look at the component side tomorrow but you may have a few dry joints. If the solder is dull or round in shape then it is probably a dry joint and you will get intermittent results. You have some nice looking joints on the ICs but the D-Type connector could do with re-flowing. Also have a look at one of the transistor legs (these are tricky to solder where the pins are so close together). Have a look at mine. Oh an try setting Auto-Detect to the off position (it should in most cases be left in the OFF position. This is the Auto-detect position). It should also work in BASIC where you will see the arrow symbols when you move the mouse.

It takes practice to get good solder joints, and I get caught out sometimes and always learning.

You cannot view this attachment.

Sorry the image of my board did not load.

You cannot view this attachment.

[Rabs]

Made a second board today and... same problem. It works very slow and in bursts and still no light on the led. The thing is I used the TL866 II programmer selecting PIC16F84 instead of PIC16F84A in the zif socket (if I select correctly PIC16F84A, which is what is marked on my chip the programming will fail @Rabs I am curious to know how you programmed it. Now waiting for a new programmer PICkit3 and we'll see)

I used PIC16F84A and I have Check ID on.

You cannot view this attachment.

This is the version of my  TL866 II

You cannot view this attachment.

[Rabs]

Maybe check the version of PIC you have.

You cannot view this attachment.

[salvogendut]

Thank you @Rabs I will double check the PIC version tomorrow. Kudos for the clean looking soldering, those transistor pins are difficult to solder as there is not enough room. The second board I made looks a bit better than the first and I am getting the arrows at the basic prompt when I move the mouse but there is still something wrong with the speed as if the data came in bursts then stopped then started again. My feel is that either I have incompatible PICs or fake ones as I have used the same options as you in the TL866II plus (though I have a more updated version of the software ). Also I believe you used the 1.0 version of the firmware, didn't you?

[Rabs]

Thank you @Rabs I will double check the PIC version tomorrow. Kudos for the clean looking soldering, those transistor pins are difficult to solder as there is not enough room. The second board I made looks a bit better than the first and I am getting the arrows at the basic prompt when I move the mouse but there is still something wrong with the speed as if the data came in bursts then stopped then started again. My feel is that either I have incompatible PICs or fake ones as I have used the same options as you in the TL866II plus (though I have a more updated version of the software ). Also I believe you used the 1.0 version of the firmware, didn't you?

Well done, sounds like it is almost working. Yes I would have used the firmware from the wiki page, the 1.0 version. If you have another mouse you could try that, or try the auto detec on and off.

[salvogendut]

Where did you source your PICs , if I may?

[Rabs]

Where did you source your PICs , if I may?

Digikey

https://www.digikey.co.uk/en/products/detail/microchip-technology/PIC16F84A-04-P/303534