>While I would not recommend leaving a PIC
>reverse-connected to such a supply for very long, PICs can--from my
>experience--survive brief power-up attempts with even more than that.

I too have been amazed to find PIC chips that had gone into a snit on power
up and become SO HOT they would burn your fingers, but would still run fine
after they cooled down.

As for the MAX232, they work great and need little power, but I'd look into
one that uses few or small capacitors. They cheapest ones require several
biggish caps.


Bryan Mumford
Santa Barbara, California