The PIC programmer project presented here is intended to be used by more experienced developers who already have access to a simple PIC programmer, because the programmer hardware is built around one 16F627(A) or 16F628(A) microcontroller that has to be preprogrammed with firmware. The presented solution uses PC's serial port for reliable communication between the programming software and 'intelligent' PIC programmer hardware.

Here is the list of currently supported flash devices from Microchip PICmicro 12F and 16F product lines: 12F629, 12F675, 16F627, 16F627A, 16F628, 16F628A, 16F630, 16F648A, 16F676, 16F72, 16F73, 16F74, 16F76, 16F77, 16F737, 16F747, 16F767, 16F777, 16F83, 16F84, 16F84A, 16F87, 16F88, 16F818, 16F819, 16F870, 16F871, 16F872, 16F873, 16F873A, 16F874, 16F874A, 16F876, 16F876A, 16F877 and 16F877A.

OshonSoft.com Serial Port Pro PIC Programmer software is very easy to use and works on all Windows platforms. It is free software and you can download it here - download. PIC Simulator IDE should also be installed on your PC prior to using this programming software.

The same hardware can be used for programming the microcontrollers from 18F family. Currently supported devices are 18F242, 18F252, 18F442, 18F452, 18F248, 18F258, 18F448, 18F458, 18F2420, 18F2520, 18F4420, 18F4520, 18F2480, 18F2580, 18F4480, 18F4580, 18F2455, 18F2550, 18F4455 and 18F4550. The software package for programming can be downloaded here - download.

One nice feature of the programming software is that all supported devices specific information (including programming algorithms written in special symbolic language) is loaded from an external devices.CFG file. Users that are acquainted with the low-level PIC programming details can easily add support for missing PIC models. If you manage to develop and test the support for some of the currently unsupported models, please send to me your devices.CFG file modification, so that I can oficially release it.

The programmer firmware is given in the form of Basic source program that has to be compiled with PIC Simulator IDE integrated Basic compiler to get the HEX file ready to be programmed into an erased microcontroller. The correct microcontroller model needs to be selected - 16F627, 16F627A, 16F628 or 16F628A, and the selected clock frequency is supposed to be at least 8MHz.

Here are the proposed programmer hardware schematics: view