FAST - fried PIC16F688?

[P. Short]

If you want to prevent that from happening again, I would suggest getting an old cell phone charger and use that as power as those tend to be 5V and fairly clean power. No chance to create Fried Kittles & PICs...

The old cell phone chargers that I've come across are 3.7V unregulated, unfiltered DC. They are not going to work so well as a 5V supply...

[n8huntsman]

I put a 78L05 regulator and two caps on the power in. This way I can run them on 12v. I'm going to hang them in a tree that has Malibu lights already in it. This will allow me to power them off the Malibu light power supply. Makes them harder to accidentally blow up too.

[CaptKirk]

The old cell phone chargers that I've come across are 3.7V unregulated, unfiltered DC. They are not going to work so well as a 5V supply...

Yes you DO need to look, and if you have an old cell phone charger that is NOT an ancient Nokia charger from the 90's, then it is more likely to be 5v. My experience is quite different from Phil's. Here is a picture of my current collection of old cell phone chargers:

IMG_018.jpg

These are all 4.2v (two on right) to 6v (one on left middle) but mostly 5v (or close enough). The ONE 3.7v in my collection is the ancient Nokia charger sitting up top next to the stapler. My experience is that because of the requirements of charging lithium ion batteries, these DO tend to be regulated and filtered as lithium is touchy about charge voltages and rates in order to not burst into flame.


Kirk

[dlovely]

Yes you DO need to look, and if you have an old cell phone charger that is NOT an ancient Nokia charger from the 90's, then it is more likely to be 5v. My experience is quite different from Phil's. Here is a picture of my current collection of old cell phone chargers:

IMG_018.jpg

These are all 4.2v (two on right) to 6v (one on left middle) but mostly 5v (or close enough). The ONE 3.7v in my collection is the ancient Nokia charger sitting up top next to the stapler. My experience is that because of the requirements of charging lithium ion batteries, these DO tend to be regulated and filtered as lithium is touchy about charge voltages and rates in order to not burst into flame.


Kirk

You happen to work at a hotel? LOL

On one of my work travels, someone asked the front desk if they had a charger for their phone, the guy at the front desk pulled out two rather large boxes of chargers.

[CaptKirk]

I'm in the computer industry- those are rescues from our scrap bin and are but a small fraction of the power supplies I have on hand for "whatever". What we dispose of on a daily basis is mind boggling. I wish I could give them all a home but I cant...

[THurrle]

You forgot about the best part, smoked capacitors! A must have for a good PIC sandwich.

Much tastier with hot Chinese mustard and seeds