I have hacked robust 5V power supplies into PICstart's and had good luck with powering things in-circuit.  With a little more hacking a PICstart makes a dandy ICSP programmer, especially if you get one free at Master's. 

-- Lawrence Lile, P.E.
Electrical and Electronic Solutions
Project Solutions Companies
www.projsolco.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Olin Lathrop [mailto:olin_piclist@embedinc.com]
> Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2004 6:15 AM
> To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
> Subject: Re: [EE]TSSOP for diy'er?
> 
> Simon Dyer wrote:
> > ICSP has recently become a concern for me - my PIC10F LED Driver
> > prototype requires desoldering to programme the PIC.  How can I
> > determine if this is caused by lack of current from my PICKit1 ( other
> > than purchasing your proprog that is )
> 
> That is the recommended procedure of course ;-)
> 
> > I don't want to support
> > disconnection in production.  I could be drawing 110ma from Vdd.
> 
> What programmer are you using?  The first thing to do is check whether it
> can source 110mA Vdd.  Some probably can, but I'm guessing the majority of
> hobby programmers can't.  For example, the EasyProg can do this for a
> short
> time, but the little TO-92 pass transistor will soak up a watt or two and
> go
> poof pretty quickly.  Perhaps you are seeing flaky operation because the
> programmer has already gotten damaged?  Otherwise, put a scope on the Vdd
> line and see if it ever gets to 5V during programming.
> 
> If this is for hobby use, make the solder bridges jumpers or even a
> switch.
> If this is a commercial product that will be manufactured in volume, it
> sounds like a true production programmer that can source 110mA Vdd is the
> cheapest option in the long run.
> 
> 
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