On Thu, May 26, 2005 at 01:57:45PM -0600, James wrote:
> 
> New to the whole pic thing.

Cool.

> Got them blinking though.

Excellent.

> Here is my  question what is the best pic chip for the job.

Fire away.
> 
> 1. Lowest power consumption pic
> 3. Work on battery's - Like 4 double AA's

These two go together.

> 2. Run 6 to 12 Leds

This is incompatible with the first two goals. Unless you are doing
intermittent blinking LEDs, the LEDs will consume several of orders of 
magnitude more of your battery power than the PIC ever will.

BTW any PIC with 18 or more pins should be able to handle that job.

> 4. Can run some sort of clock program that is user programmable to turn
> off and on at certain times. - Still trying to master the code on this
> one, also I will take interface Ideas on this one. Could it be possible
> to use jumper settings for this?

Of course. But as a first crack I would suggest doing a 3 button 
up/down/select interface. Then you only need to read (and debounce) three
buttons to get the interface.

Also you'll find clocks tougher than you think. Any timer that's not
temperature compensated will drift. So they'll get out of time pretty
quick.

I have a rather complex sunrise/sunset outdoor light controller that has
many of the functions you require. No schematic (sorry!) but the code
can be found here: http://www.finitesite.com/d3jsys/clock.asm
You will find code for managing an LCD display, tracking a time for a
clock/calendar, and other goodies.

Hope it helps,

BAJ
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