Moving on from where I left off a few days ago … I was planning on using the PIC18F2320, but in poking around, I found that the PIC18F2321 is about $3.00 less expensive in small quantities. I’m not entirely sure why. They’re virtually identical. The 2320 does have two 8-bit timers instead of one in the 2321, but I haven’t spotted any other differences that would matter to me in this case. The 2321 has lower sleep and idle currents but I don’t think that matters in this application either.
PCB123 doesn’t have the 2321 in its library. I could just use the 2320 part, but to get full use out of the pricing and availability features, I’ll have to customize the part so that the BOM tool can find it at DigiKey.
I had the “place component” box up already, so I just clicked on “Manage Parts” and started filling in the information in the middle column of the dialog. The I clicked the “Select Simple” button, searched on “2320” and selected the symbol for the PIC18F2320-I/SO. So far, so good.
Now, the question is: do I select “Apply Changes” or “Create a New Part?” This would be easier if I actually looked at the documentation or something, but am I doing that? Of course not. I’m going with “Create a New Part.” Oops. Needed to select or generate the footprint first. Do that and search on “SOIC” and pick out an SOIC28, “Create New Part” and save it in a Library. I picked “Microchip.”
Done. Now when I go back to the Insert / Add Part function, I search on PIC18F2321, and there it is. Apparently, I did it right, because the BOM tab will find it and show price and availability at DigiKey.
Duane Benson
And, today, it’s not just a rain cloud, but a full one