Microstick II Debugger

Do you have a Microstick II kicking around?  I have a couple of them.  I have been wondering if they could be used as a debugger on a chip in a circuit that doesn’t contain the Microstick II.  Yes, using it like a PicKit 3.  I do have PicKit 3’s so really don’t need to use a Microstick II in this manner but I have been curious about this for a while.

Well the other day I decided I would give it a try.  I pried out the 32 bit Pic that was in the socket and started plugging in jumper wires into the auget socket.  I then had an Arduino connector lying around and using that wired up a plug similar to a PicKit 3.  I wanted to be able to plug it into the same debug connector as a PicKit 3.  When that was done I gave it a try.

I was using MPLAB IDE v8.90 and of course I had to reload the firmware in it.  I’m working with a PIC24F16KA102.  The firmware was loaded and I tried to connect to the 16 bit pic.  It actually worked.  I was amazed.  This can give you a less expensive alternative ($34.95) to a PicKit 3 ($44.95).  Here is a schematic of what I did.

You can see that the connections are very simple.  Note, you don’t have to hook up VCC if you don’t plan on powering the device with the Microstick II.