[sdiy] WHICH PIC/UCONTROLLER should I buy today

[Tom Wiltshire]

This hasn't been my experience.

The 30F series dsPICs run at +5V and do use quite a lot of juice. I used to use the 30F4013, and you can get one of those to pull quite a bit of current and get warm if you make it work.

However, nowadays I use the 33F chips. These use a 3.3V power supply and consume far less power, as well as being slightly faster and generally better specced. The 3.3V rail isn't a big deal. I have +5V power coming from my power supply, so I just stick a 3.3V regulator and a couple of caps on the uP board - no big deal. Neither the chip nor the regulator get warm to the touch.

T.

On 10 Aug 2010, at 14:01, Wooster Audio wrote:

> People have been been making a lot of great suggestions, but don't forget about voltage and power requirements.  The dsPic is awesome, but when you run it at the full 80 Mhz it uses on the order of  50-100mA and is hot to the touch.  It needs a 3.3V power rail which you might not have in an existing design.  Contrast with a typical 16 series PIC which uses <  5 mA at a more synth friendly 5 volts.
> 
> Nathan
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