At 09:43 AM 6/12/99 -0400, you wrote: >With the PICs I've been using, Vcc not RTN is nearest the oscilator pins. I >don't know if this is true the the whole PIC line, but may well be. > >So when I have to ground my osc caps (actually I use a resonator, same >thing applies), I could either go the long way around to the real ground >pin, or "Ground" these caps to Vcc. Guess what I do? Nail em right to Vcc. > >Vcc is an AC short to ground (what do you think all those bypass caps do?), >and is a fine return point for the caps. My application is an accurate >timer, so I implicitly test start-up time. I've tested these things from >-60 to +150¡C and they start up and start pronto every time. Just looked at the pinouts for the 16C5xx, 5x, and 7x series. There is a Vdd, and a Vss, but no Vcc. Do you mean Vss, the negative-most power supply pin, or Vdd the positive-most. I get the impression you are talking about Vdd when you mention Caps to ground. On quite a few parts, Vss is immediately adjacent to the OSC pins, and Vdd is one over. Depends heavily on the part and package. kelly **************************************************************************** ******** All legitimate attachments to this email will be clearly identified in the text. William K. Borsum, P.E. OEM Dataloggers and Instrumentation Systems &