dead chips walking ? ;-))

asmboy · Joined: 20 Nov 2007 Posts: 2128 Location: albany ny

I had a request to add features and update a pump controller from 4 years ago based on the 16f886 running at 5v.. i just happened to look at pricing of the 18f23k22 and 18f24k22 Q100+.. The 18f parts are 20 cents and 10 cents respectively LESS than the 16f886 today.

recompiling the original source with 18f fuses ran perfect the first time on both 18f chips with only attention paid to the 8/16 bit TMR0 sort of thing.

am i missing something about the $$ cost of 18f vs 16f ??

temtronic · Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 9:33 pm

It's all about quantity and perception.
Some company needs a million PICs, so uChip make them, they cost pennies.
Since 'everyone' needs 'new' features(perception) , uChip make 'variations on a theme' of the milllion run PIC (real easy these days) and offers them at a real good price.
Also consider the ease of getting a product to market. It's easy to be told Monday to make 'widget', Tuesday the design is done, Wednesday prototypes are made, Thursday is testing, Friday specs go to mfr via the Net,Over the weekend the Beta batch are made and delivered next Monday. OK it might take a wee bit longer but certainly not months like it used to 30 years ago!
Similar example. 'crimp on' fork terminals.I needed 250 for a run. It was CHEAPER to buy a box of 1000 than 3 boxes of 100. NO difference in the fork just 1 box of 1,000 instead of 10 boxes of 100. I still have 600+ lying on the shelf. I also have tubes of 4000 CMOS,DIL rlys,and 16C71, 16F877 and 16C84.

sigh I'm feeling old now....

Jay

gpsmikey · Joined: 16 Nov 2010 Posts: 588 Location: Kirkland, WA

Wanna feel old? Come on over and we can go through my several boxes of vacuum tubes !! Laughing

_________________
mikey
-- you can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !
old engineering saying: 1+1 = 3 for sufficiently large values of 1 or small values of 3

Ttelmah · Joined: 11 Mar 2010 Posts: 19328

'Really old', have a look at the coherer I have on my shelf (it was my Father's).
I have a friend who makes his business selling valves. Still used in current equipment....

On the 886, the modern equivalent would be something like the 1516. Same ROM, slight more RAM, and only 2/3rd the price. Doesn't have the ECCP, but otherwise matches or exceeds the 886 specification everywhere.

temtronic · Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2016 6:32 am

gee thanks , now I AM feeling real old....
Old tubes can be worth a LOT of money, local guy has 3 guys reselling them !
I do have a time clock that runs on 25 cycle power. Thought about building a 10 Watt 25Hz power supply run by a PIC18F46K22. Hopefully run more stable than the silly PC clock that gains time every day.

Jay