PICAXE download Circuit

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swannyd1107

Member
Hiya

This might be a really silly question but.......

I am currently designing a circuit that is going to use a PICAXE Chip but cannot incorporate a download jack as the software i have (circuit wizard) does not have one in their component library. Does anyone know if i dont incorporate a jack (but use a separate circuit to download the program) do i have to connect the serial pins that should be used for this to anything or can they be left 'dangling'??

Any help greatly appreciated
:)
 
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Radarman2

Member
Hi,
Are you going to use a serial D type cable or USB?
You don't actually need a jack - just the requisite resistors and then the connectors to the chip pins.
My current set up has a serial cable (3 wires) linking to a breadboard, resistors (22k&10k) connected as appropriate and then wires linking straight to the pins on the chip.
As long as everything is wired up properly it doesn't matter.
Think the jack is there just to make things easier to connect/disconnect to the chip.
I'll try and add a photo of what I have later on.
 
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Radarman2

Member
24022011093.jpg
The top left orange wire (sorry they're all orange) is +ve volts, next to it is battery -ve. Then blue, green and red terminals are directly connected to the serial socket.
I think I'm right in saying that a USB cable still needs the resistors, but you could have the jack plug from that USB plugged into the jack socket then solder 3 wires on and picture it as the red, black and brown in my picture is those wires in your set up coming from the jack socket.

For your cct design software just connect them as coming from 3 wires, through resistors and then directly onto the chip.
Hope this helps (and isn't too confusing)
 
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Pauldesign

Senior Member
If i understand your question correctly

I am currently designing a circuit that is going to use a PICAXE Chip but cannot incorporate a download jack as the software i have (circuit wizard) does not have one in their component library.
Click to expand...
You can use any type of 3 pin connector or header available in your circuit design software library.
Just have to ensure the pin-outs connections between picaxe and the download cable are correct.

Does anyone know if i dont incorporate a jack (but use a separate circuit to download the program) do i have to connect the serial pins that should be used for this to anything or can they be left 'dangling'?
Click to expand...
The picaxe download pins should always have the download resistors and must be only one set.
 
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inglewoodpete

Senior Member
swannyd1107 said:
Hiya

This might be a really silly question but.......

I am currently designing a circuit that is going to use a PICAXE Chip but cannot incorporate a download jack as the software i have (circuit wizard) does not have one in their component library. Does anyone know if i dont incorporate a jack (but use a separate circuit to download the program) do i have to connect the serial pins that should be used for this to anything or can they be left 'dangling'??

Any help greatly appreciated
:)
Click to expand...
Surely you can download or create a suitable download jack. Originally, I created my own for Eagle but many have become available on the 'net since then. I don't know about Circuit Wizard, though.

As a minimum, you must connect an equivalent resistance between the Serial In pin and 0v. If you don't include a 3-pin connector (of some sort), you will need to remove the PICAXE chip every time you want to reprogram it - tedious.
 
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swannyd1107

Member
Brilliant

Cheers everyone, my plan was to use a completely seperate circuit to download the program but as some of you said that would be tedious!! so yes... thanks for the picture Radarman2 that has made everything clear. On my PCB i will just have a terminal block with 3 connections then chop the end off the download cable and use that.

Cheers Everyone!!
 
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MartinM57

Moderator
swannyd1107 said:
On my PCB i will just have a terminal block with 3 connections then chop the end off the download cable and use that.
Click to expand...
I'd highly not recommend that - it will take up loads of room, you'll have unreliable connections and you'll have to destroy a programming cable :(

Surely your PC package has (or you can make) a single pin component that has a PCB layout of just a hole with a ring around it - then you create a schematic that has the 3 programming connections just terminating on those single pins.

Then in the PCB layout part, just drag those pins into a position that will allow a programming socket to be fitted.
 
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swannyd1107

Member
Hi

Yes i can use just single pins to create a place for the download circuit but i dont know what size it is an where to place the holes in order for the download circuit to fit onto the board.
 
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tracecom

Senior Member
I don't know if it helps or not, but attached is what I believe to be a fully dimensioned drawing of the download jack. At the lower left of the drawing is a recommended PCB layout. Coincidentally, I was just about to use the drawing to create a pattern (footprint) in DipTrace.
 

Attachments

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MartinM57

Moderator
Yes - they're actually metrically dimensioned (5.0mm, 10.0mm distances etc) but they fit perfectly well (all 5 pins and 4 plastic mounting lugs) into 0.1" matrix board - so if the rest of your PCB is on an imperial basis it should be dead easy to work out where to put the holes...just decode the drawing that EDIT:tracecom has usefully found and you'll have a proper job.

Remember to use the EDIT: outer pins (or join the inner and outer pins) at the back edge - only the EDIT: outer pins are connected to the jack plug when it is inserted
 
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swannyd1107

Member
Guys

Thanks for your help, its all sorted now thanks to that drawing!! saved me a lot of work trying to design it, print it and check it until I got it correct!!

Cheers
 
hippy

hippy

Ex-Staff (retired)
MartinM57 said:
Remember to use the inner pins (or join the inner and outer pins) at the back edge - only the inner pins are connected to the jack plug when it is inserted
Click to expand...
I'm sure it's the outer pins, and that reflects the datasheet Tracecom posted. The easiest thing to do is to use both inner and outer as one.
 
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swannyd1107

Member
One last thing....

When connecting the download jack i dont need the reset pin as im using a 18M2, is that correct?, and on the pin out diagram there is no reset pin....
 
hippy

hippy

Ex-Staff (retired)
That's correct; the 18M2 does not have a hardware reset pin ( but can be used in 18, 18A, 18M and 18X circuits which do ).
 
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calvinsykes

Member
swannyd1107 said:
the software i have (circuit wizard) does not have one in their component library.
Click to expand...
I use PCB Wizard which I believe is very similar; this file contains a library of PICAXE-related components including the stereo download connector :

http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/software/PICAXEPCBComponentLibrary.zip

Download and unzip it, PCB Wizard has a Tools--> Library --> Add new... option or something similar. I would have thought that your program would have a similar option. Hope that's helpful :)
 
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Jamster

Senior Member
Yes they are similar, Circuit wizzard is basicly livewire and PCB wizzard combined.

P.S. Cheers for the link!!
 
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