Andrew,

 I just checked the Picstart+ I have in front of me, and with the
 power supply (wall wart) open circuited, I get 12.2 VDC, and
 with it plugged into the Picstart+, I get 11.2 VDC.  Note that
 there is a 5V regulator onboard the Picstart+, so 12 V is not
 so unusual.  The thing is with a 7 volt differential, there is
 a substantial amount of power being dissapated by the regulator.

                                           Regards,

                                             Jim


On Tue, 15 February 2000, Andrew McDermott wrote:

>
> I am using a PICStart Plus with the original power supply that came with
> the machine when I purchased it two years ago.  I have had progressive
> difficulties with the programmer in the past two days.  The problems
> usually are characterized by a message from MPLAB instructing me to
> check the power and serial connections and/or reset the programmer.  The
> PICStart Plus is rated for a 9VDC input; also the output rating of the
> power supply I am using.  I have measured  the power supply output and
> found close to 12VDC even when plugged into the programmer.  I say the
> problem was progressive because it was initially manifest as the
> occasional inability of MPLAB to talk to the programmer.  This became
> more frequent and finally resulted in failure to program a 16C84  and
> then the complete inability to talk to the PICStart Plus from MPLAB.
>
> I know it isn't unusual for a power supply to show a voltage different
> from the nameplate rating, but 12VDC in lieu of 9VDC seems excessive.
> Does anybody have any experience with how tolerant of variations of
> input voltage the PICStart Plus programmer might be?
>
> Thank you for your consideration,
>
> Andrew McDermott

jim@jpes.com