Guide How to program your GC+ board

AlecM7

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I decided to make a guide on how to properly program your new unprogrammed GC+ board after having a number of issues programming mine.

If you bought a GC+ from someone, you don't need to use this guide at all. This is for unprogrammed GC+ boards ONLY.
  1. Go to http://microchipdeveloper.com/ipe:installation and download the IPE/IDE from the top of the page.
  2. Install the MPLAB IPE/IDE.
  3. Make sure to open MPLAB X IPE not the IDE.
  4. Go to Settings -> Advanced Mode -> enter the default password, you should now have a bunch of tabs on the left side of the window.
  5. Go to the power tab and check the box under ICSP Options that says Power Target circuit from Tool. Note if you have a knockoff PICkit V3, you may not be able to power the GC+ over USB, since the cheap knockoffs have rather low quality power supply circuitry inside. You can try setting the voltage in the VDD box to something likle 4.675v and it might work. If all else fails, external power will then be necessary and you should make sure that the box for this option is not checked when you power it up with an external source.
  6. Ensure that the VDD option in the Voltage options is set to 5.0v. (disregard this if you're having issues with voltage and follow the steps in part 5 in the note).
  7. Go back to the Operate tab and select the PIC18F25K22 in the device drop down.
  8. Select your PICkit V3 under the tool options and click connect, click ok on the window that pops up saying that the device could potentially be overvolted.
  9. Then browse for the .hex in the Firmware folder from Aurelio's GitHub page. https://github.com/Aurelio92/GCPlus
  10. Finally click the Program button and yet again click ok on the 3.3v over voltage power warning that pops up.
  11. If everything goes well, your GC+ should now be programmed. If it threw an error asking you to ensure device connection, then ensure that you checked the box in step six, and that you have the GC+ plugged in so that the pin on the top left is in the marked pin on the PICkit.
  12. Uncheck the "Power Target circuit from Tool" option after you've finished programming the board just in case you'd ever program something that would be overvolted by this option.
I hope this clears things up for other people having issues with programming their GC+.
 
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ToddyHD

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I like this, but I am not sure if step 5 is great here. Sometimes PICKITs barely pump out enough power to drive the circuit for programming. I know because JacksonS's audio amp (along with a shitty Chinese PICkit) didn't drive enough power to program the board. Sometimes you'll need an external power source, too. Just thought I'd throw it in, otherwise, a great guide for those who want to make their own.
 

AlecM7

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Joined
Jan 2, 2019
Messages
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Likes
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Location
Wisconsin, USA
I like this, but I am not sure if step 5 is great here. Sometimes PICKITs barely pump out enough power to drive the circuit for programming. I know because JacksonS's audio amp (along with a shitty Chinese PICkit) didn't drive enough power to program the board. Sometimes you'll need an external power source, too. Just thought I'd throw it in, otherwise, a great guide for those who want to make their own.
Good to know! I was programming mine with a genuine PICkit V3 that I was borrowing from someone. I'll add a something about that right now :)

Another thing I noticed is that you might be able to set the voltage setting to something like 4.675 so that the programmer doesn't care about undervoltage but the chip will still program.
 
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