> I am bulding a pic programmerr and was wondering how is it possible to detect
> when the device is inserted incorrectly, i.e. wrong way round or not aligned
> with pin one.  Any body got any idea how this is done?
>
I guess one way would be to monitor the current going into Vcc on the
PIC chip. If the chip is plugged in the wrong way around the current
flow would be excessive. This could be used via other circuitry to
turn on a LED and disconnect Vcc.

I don't know if I have been lucky, but I have inadvertantly placed
the chips into programmer(s) the wrong way around, but have not
damaged any chips. Usually what happens is the programmer software
reports an error with programming.

Tony


Just when I thought I knew it all,
I learned that I didn't.