Velleman K8048 PIC programmer

[Tomi Engdahl]

Product: K8048
Manufacturer: Velleman
Product type: Electronics kit / PIC Programmer
Product web page: http://www.velleman.be/common/product.a ... &id=350903
Manufacturer home page: http://www.velleman.be/


Features:
- this board programs most 8, 14, 18 and 28 pin PIC microcontrollers
- this board can be used as experimentin board for your own programs because it has test buttons and LED indicators
- connects to a PC through the serial port
- software that comes with the kit is said to work with Windows™ 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
- kit includes Flash Microcontroller (PIC16F627) tht you can use for experiments
- software CD includes PIC programming software, PIC assembler (from Micrchip) and some example programs

Product manual (includes product circuit diagram) can be downloaded from following locations:
http://www.velleman.be/downloads/0/Manual_K8048_UK.pdf
http://www.apogeekits.com/Usermanual_K8048.pdf

To make this kit to work you need the following parts (in addition to tools to build it):
- RS-232 cable to PC (9 pin female-male cable)
- power supply (for example unregulated 12V 300 mA "wall wart")

This kit is quite easy to build according the instruction.
Circuit board is good quality double side circuit board that is easy to solder. In the beginning I has some problems with the kit, it did not seem to run the programs reliably. The problem was in the operation mode switch (off / program / run) that did not make reliable contact at "run" mode... some cleaning spray and moving the switch solved the problem.
Otherwise the kit worked very well.

The software is quit easy to install and seemed to work well.
The PIC programming tool worked well and was easy to learn.
It seems that with some PIC models the programming did not work well if there were very many other programs (like video playback, TV card) running on PC, but when other extra power consuming applications were closed and right programming speed was selected everything worked smoothly (I have seen this kind of problems also with other Windows based PIC programmign software with other programmers as well, so problems is not specific to this kit, more related to problems on writing programs that need accurate timing in Windows.).
The kit has normal 8, 14, 18 and 28 pin IC sockets for connecting the microcontroller to kit. Those work well for experimetnign where you are not changing the IC all the time (if you need to do this often, consider investing to much more expensive zero insertion force sockets and putting them to board). The kit has also socket for in-circuit pgramming cable, so you can use this kit as your in-circuit pgrammer for PIC models that you need to program while they are in some circuit.

Other tools that came with the kit were quite basic. The assembler looked like the same you can download for free from Miorochip web page. The kit documentation comes in many langauges. The example programs included were quite basic and not very well documented. There were two quite simple LED flashign source codes for included PIC16F627 mocrocontroller. In addition to this there were just some very simple codes for some other PIC models (those soruce codes can be used as starting templates when starting to write your own software).

This kit is a good choise for those experimenters that need a PIC programmer and experimenter board. You can do the same things based on the plans on the Internet (there are many free PIC programmer plans), but this kit has it's plus because it is ready made tested unit (you save a lot of time on debugging that might be needed with homemade "hacks").

[Tomi Engdahl]

Here are some images from Velleman K8048 web page
http://www.velleman.be/common/product.a ... &id=350903

[DaveO]

I purchased the Velleman K8048 with the intention of directly programming Hex files onto a chip.
I have several Hex files that have been published for this very purpose using the MPLABS board.
Can Hex files be loaded directly into the K8048 ?
Thanks.

[Tomi Engdahl]

Can Hex files be loaded directly into the K8048

Yes.
The PIC programming software that comes with the kit reads normal HEX files nicely. I have programmed some HEX files to several PIC models with this kit.

[jmm]

Hello,
this kit work very well but,
is somebody try this kit with an other Pic programmer software (IC-prog or other) ?

[Paul]

Hello, I am having problems getting my pcs to work with this unit.
I have the correct cable and power supply.
Works ok on pc at work , but at home I get Device ID not found after I click any of the options to read / write to the k8048 unit.
The software old and new finds the unit but does not see the pics.
Any help would be nice. Thankyou

[Guest]

might be your serial port settings

check the bios when your computer is starting up and see if the the settings for the serial port are enabled

another cause could be if you have a program running that is stopping the vellemen software from accessing the serial port, like modem drivers or remote control software (remote wonder)

[wiz]

I had exact similar problem on this board. But next time I tried it worked OK. The only thing which I did in between was pressing the F627 in socket. May be in my case it was just a bad connection.

Does any one where can I find a collection of example codes to try out on F627 ?

Also can we use GCC with pic microcontrollers?

Thanks in advance.

[Tomi Engdahl]

Also can we use GCC with pic microcontrollers?

GCC does not support PIC microcontroller, so you can't use GCC.
The PIC processor is not in supported target list at http://gcc.gnu.org/

You need to use some other C compiler if you want to write C code to PIC. Microchip's most popular PIC microcontrollers have a powerful FREE ANSI C compiler. HI-TECH PICC Lite compiler is a freeware version of HI-TECH industrial-strength PICC compiler and supports the 16F877, 16F877A, 12F675, 12F629, 16F627, 16F627A, 16F684, 16C84, 16F84 and 16F84A devices. This compiler runs on both Windows and Linux systems.
http://www.epanorama.net/counter.php?ur ... CClite.php

Other interresting free tools available. Check the following links:
http://www.epanorama.net/links/microprocessor.html#pic
http://www.gnupic.org/

Does any one where can I find a collection of example codes to try out on F627 ?

I don't know any collection specifically for F627.
Microchip has code / example application library generally for PICs
http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcpl ... odeId=1409

Most PIC16F84 code should run pretty directly or with some small modification with PIC16F627.

[wiz]

Thank you for information !!

[mm0zct]

i have purchased and assembled this pic programming kit but when i try to program it i just get a "could not find 8408 on com 3" error, com 3 is the only com port and i am using a usb to serial adapter plugged directly onto the board, i am using a 12v power supply and all the led's light up appripriately although the "do not remove" led flashes dimly when the serial port is connected.

i can find no faults in my soldering, no shorts etc
os:xp/me
any ideas?

[mm0zct]

dam i found some dry joints, my soldering was to fault lol, i'll let you know if that fixes the problem.

[kompat]

I purchased the Velleman K8048 with the intention of directly programming Hex files onto a chip.
I have several Hex files that have been published for this very purpose using the MPLABS board.
Can Hex files be loaded directly into the K8048 ?
Thanks.

[FredProd]

I'm not able to program any PIC's.
I got an write error at the first line.

I have tried several different computers (Running Windows XP SP2, Windows ME), and several different PIC's...

Got any tip?

[Tomi Engdahl]

Try adjuting the programming speed control on the programmign software.
Try which one of the given settings work best on your systems.