Xiaofan Chen wrote:
>> There are some cases of the low voltage chips being killed by glitches
>> from the PicKit2. Olin's LProg programmer is specifically for the low
>> voltage parts and can't damage them because it only does low voltage
>> parts.
>
> Unless you are not following the PICKit 2 user guide, you should not
> be able to destroy the 3V3 chips by using PICKit 2. I am using PICkit
> 2 now with PIC24F USB PICs and it works very well.

This has nothing to do with the PICKit 2.  I know you think it cures cancer,
slices veggies, and performs foot massages, but geesh, you could give it a
rest every now and then.

I expect that if you follow the directions exactly for other programmers,
they also won't destroy 3.3V devices.  My USBProg for example won't zap a
3.3V part if you follow the directions and always tell it what chip is out
there.  If you don't, it will try to read the device ID and decide from
that.  And yes, of course it starts with the lowest voltage algorithms and
works its way up, and most of the time that will work just fine.  The
problem is that if there is any communications glitch, it might not read the
device ID and therefore proceed thru algorithms which include 5V Vdd and 13V
Vpp.

This seems like a basic issue that all multi-voltage programmers, including
the PICKit 2, are faced with.  That's one of the reasons behind the LProg,
the other being cost.  It only puts out 0-3.3V and therefore can't fry 3.3V
parts, costs less than the PICKit 2, and also works correctly over the full
range of valid USB power voltages.


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