EME150 PIC18F4520 Controller Kit

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EME150 PIC18F4520 Controller Description:

The circuit description below is for those that are wanting to know if this Kit is suitable for their own application. The Kit comes complete with detailed circuit and construction information, including schematic and board overlay diagrams.

The EME150 Kit has primarily been designed as a PIC Micro controller and interface for the AD9954 HF-DDS Kit, but can be used as a general purpose Micro controller board using your own Software. The board can be used with many of the 44 pin TQFP PIC Micro controllers, and has onboard ICD2 Programming Port that can be directly programmed with the Microchip PICKIT2 or 3 Programmers. The EME150 Kit is supplied with the powerful PIC18F4520-I/PT and this was chosen to suit the new AD9954 HF-DDS Kit allowing for future expansion. The board allows for interfacing of a 4x4 keypad, LCD Display module, and various input and output circuitry using onboard header plugs. Most of the PIC18F4520 pins are also available on board connections that surround the chip.

A number of the Micro controllers pins are set aside for various functions and cannot be easily used as either inputs and outputs for other uses. These include the RS232 and I2C bus connections to the 24LC256 32k EEPROM. A number of SMD pads are available around the Micro controller on the bottom of the board to allow for using 1k SMD pull up resistors if required.

The onboard power supply was designed to suit the HF-DDS Kit requirements. The maximum current is limited to under 1A due to the use of a 1N4007 polarity protection Diode on the +12v input. Due to the minimal heats inking on the +5v regulator, the maximum current on the +5v supply should be kept under 400mA. A +11.4v output is available on the A10 16 Pin IDC Header, and should be kept under 400mA. The total current draw from both the +5v regulator and +11.4v supplies should be kept under 800mA.

  • EME150 Module Top View
    Above shows the Top view of the basic Kit, showing the PIC18F4520 micro-controller and power supply regulator.
  • EME150 Module Bottom View
    Above shows the Bottom view of the basic Kit, showing the RS232 interface and 24LC256 memory chips.
Kit Constructors Alert:

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Software Description:

Mini-Kits only produces one type of software for the PIC18F4520 that is used with the AD9954 DDS. Please refer to the HF-DDS Kit web page for more information.

Changes and Updates:

1/ One particular Kit that had the HF-DDS software programmed had the top row of the LCD module lit with square blocks only. There was no display on the bottom row. The fault was caused by a poor +12vdc power connection to the board arching to ground. The fault was traced to the LCD module that had been destroyed.