David VanHorn wrote:
> On the AVR, a short to VCC or ground isn't fatal, and I'm a little
> surprised if that is indeed fatal on the PIC.  Most of these devices
> use mosfets with relatively high on resistances as pin drivers, and
> they self-limit to reasonable values.
>   
Shorting a pin to ground or vdd and then driving it the other way 
violates the absoloute maximum ratings of the pic. However the 
impression i get is that in practice you will get away with it provided 
its just one or two pins but if its lots of pins you may well fry stuff.

the pics also have unusually high output drive capabilities (arround 
20ma iirc) which works against them in the case of such faults.


-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist