you could try to find some kind of transistor gizmo to reduce the .6 volt loss but you would always lose at least the saturation voltage of it. The better way to go about this is to protect reversal based on the mechanical properties of the battery. mostly this is done by a positive battery terminal that is set back in the holder so only the positive battery pole that sticks out can reach it. look in remote controlls that's where you see this most of the time Peter pvh@vertonet.com -----Original Message----- From: Peter Homann To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Date: Sunday, May 30, 1999 9:05 PM Subject: Reverse Polarity Protection for 3V PIC Circuit. >Hi, > >I need to protect my PIC16LF84 against reverse polarity. Currently I'm >running the circuit of 2 x 1.5 N cells (2/3 AAA). I want to protect the >circuitry from the batteries being inserted the wrong way. > >I'm not keen to put a diode in series with the batteries as I'll loose 0.6V. > >Thanks, > >Peter. >--- >Peter Homann Email: peterh@adacel.com.au >Adacel Technologies Ltd _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ Phone: +61 3 9596 2991 >250 Bay St, Brighton _/ _/ _/ _/ Fax: +61 3 9596 2960 >Victoria 3186 _/_/_/ _/ _/ Home: +61 3 9555 5603 >AUSTRALIA _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/Mobile: 0414-494578 >------------------------------------------------------------------------