newbie programming/hardware help.

[natorweb]

Ok, this is a kinda odd question, but I hope you can help. i am going to make a rocket where instead of pressing a button to launch it, it has a 15 sec time delay. i have recently bought EPIC Plus PICmicro Programmer from Jameco magazine.

heres my question,

what would be the best microcontroller for this? also, what components would i need to make this all work? how would the code look? i do have a basic understanding on programming microcontrollers with the basic stamp and boe bot. but this will obviously use PIC microcontrollers. remember also it will use BASIC language. i really appreciate the help, thanks to all.

[frank26080115]

oh come on

first, ANY microcontroller can do this, YOU need to decide what is YOUR limiting factor (cost, size limit, etc), and then TELL us about it. I can tell you to get a ARM7 processor and it'll still do the job.

second, you are asking us for code to delay 15 seconds before doing an action, just look in the damn help file of whatever language you are using, Basic Stamp and PICbasic both have a help file for this crap

please put some effort into researching first

don't get me started on the ambiguous capitalized title

[natorweb]

the capital letters were actually an aciddent, but they looked cool so i kept them . would this work for it PIC12C508A i have a very low budget. sorry for my noobish questions.

[airman00]

dude you don't even need a microcontroller


555 timer and capacitors

[natorweb]

i know about that too, but i wanted to mess around with my new programmer. besides, i heard capacitors  arnt reliable for timing.

[frank26080115]

never, EVER, get PIC**C microcontrollers, look for the PIC**F, F means flash memory, they are the only ones which can be programmed repeatedly

You need to tell us what compiler you are using, or if you don't know, I recommend SourceBoost, it has both C and Basic, very very nice IDE, it'll kick MPLAB's and all other IDE's ass, once you get it, read the manual, and if you have no idea where to look, press ctrl-f and type in delay.

[natorweb]

wow thanks dude. how about PIC12F683 - I/P i hope it works withEPIC Plus PICmicro Programmer, the compiler would work for it to, right? by the way, i was gona use PICbasic compiler, but now its gona be source boost, if it works with my programmer.

[frank26080115]

just looked at the programmer

WHY OH WHY did you buy that?
why not just get a pickit2 from microchip? it's usb, blazing fast, and monitors voltage for you so you will never ever ever fry your microcontrolelrs. and it costs less

sourceboost can compile for you, i don't know if the programmer will work from within sourceboost, you probably have to open up the programmer's own software and load the hex file to program the chip

[Rebelgium]

i know about that too, but i wanted to mess around with my new programmer. besides, i heard capacitors  arnt reliable for timing.

that's all how you look at it.
Does it really matter that your rocket launches after 14.5 or 15.5 seconds ?

but if you really want to use your new programmer.  fine