PIC HOW-TO GUIDE

Interfacing PWM with

PIC16F877A

Contents at a Glance
PIC16F/18F Primer Board .................................................3
PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) ......................................3
Interfacing PWM .............................................................4
Interfacing PWM with PIC16F877A...................................5
Pin Assignment with PIC16F877A .....................................5
Circuit Diagram to Interface PWM with PIC16F877A .........6
Source Code ....................................................................6
C Program to generate PWM in PIC16F877A.....................7
Testing the PWM with PIC16F877A ..................................9
General Information ...................................................... 10

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PIC16F/18F Primer Board

The PIC16F/18F Primer board is specifically designed to
help students to master the required skills in the area of
embedded systems. The kit is designed in such way that all
the possible features of the microcontroller will be easily
used by the students. The kit supports in system
programming (ISP) which is done through USB port.
Microchips PIC (PIC16F877A), PIC16F/18F Primer Kit is
proposed to smooth the progress of developing and
debugging of various designs encompassing of High speed
8-bit Microcontrollers.
PWM (Pulse Width Modulation)
Pulse width modulation (PWM) is a powerful technique
for controlling analog circuits with a processor's digital
outputs. PWM is employed in a wide variety of applications,
ranging from measurement and communications to power
control and conversion.
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Interfacing PWM
Figure 1 shows four different PWM signals. One is PWM
output at a 25% duty cycle. That is, the signal is on for 25%
of the period and off the other 75%. Next shows PWM
output at 50%, 75% and 100% duty cycles, respectively.
These three PWM outputs encode three different analog
signal values, at 10%, 50%, and 90% of the full strength.

Fig. 1 PWM Outputs

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Interfacing PWM with PIC16F877A

We now want to generate a PWM in PIC16F/18F Primer
Board at a particular frequency. Pulse Width Modulation is
a technique for getting analog results with digital means.
Digital control is used to create a square wave, a signal
switched between on and off. This on-off pattern can
simulate voltages in between full on (5 Volts) and off (0
Volts) by changing the portion of the time the signal spends
on versus the time that the signal spends off. The duration
of "on time" is called the pulse width. To get varying analog
values, you change, or modulate, that pulse width.

OUTPUTS

Pin Assignment with PIC16F877A

PWMs

PIC16F Lines

PWM1

PORTC.1

PWM3

PORTC.2

Connections

There are no connections on the

board

Output: Connect a CRO and measure the pulse width and duty cycle

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MCLR

Circuit Diagram to Interface PWM with PIC16F877A

VDD

12
31

VDD
VDD

VSS
VSS

1
MCLR/Vpp

U22

11
32

0.1uF
C43

RC1/T1OSI/CCP2
PIC16F877A
C42

22pF

22pF

13
Y 11
10 Mhz
14

RC2/CCP1

16
17

PWM1
PWM2

U14
OSC1/CLKIN

OSC2/CLKOUT

C41

Source Code
The Interfacing PWM with PIC16F877A program is very
simple and straight forward, which generates a pulse
pattern in a particular frequency. An ADC signal is used to
varying the duty cycle of PWM signal. The C program is
written in Mplab software & it executed with Hi-Tech C
compiler.

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C Program to generate PWM in PIC16F877A

***************************************************************************************
Title : Program to generate PWM
***************************************************************************************
#include<pic.h>

//Define PIC registers

__CONFIG(0x3f72); //Select HS oscillator, Enable (PWRTE,BOREN),

//Disable (CPD,CP,WDTEN,In-circuit Debugger)
#define XTAL
#define PWM_Freq
#define TMR2_PRE
#define PR2_Val
#define Duty_Cyc

10000
1
16

//10Mhz=10000Khz
//1Khz PWM frequency
//Timer2 Prescale

((char)((XTAL/(4*TMR2_PRE*PWM_Freq))-1))
//Calculation for Period register PR2 (1Khz)
PR2_Val*2

unsigned int i;
void PWM_init(void);
void PWM_change(unsigned int);
void DelayMs(unsigned int);
void main(void)
{
PWM_init();
while(1)
{
i=0;
PWM_change(i);
DelayMs(10);
while(i<PR2_Val)
{
i=i+1;

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PWM_change(i);
DelayMs(200);
}
}
}
void PWM_init(void)
{
TRISC2=0;
//PWM channel 1 and 2 configured as output
TRISC1=0;
PORTC = 0x00;
CCP1CON=0x0c; //CCP1 and CCP2 are configured for PWM
CCP2CON=0x0c;
PR2=PR2_Val; //Move the PR2 value
T2CON=0x03;
TMR2=0x00;
TMR2ON=1;

//Timer2 Prescale is 16
//Turn ON timer2

}
void PWM_change(unsigned int DTY) //Duty cycle change routine
{
CCPR1L=DTY;
//Value is between 0 to 255
CCPR2L=DTY;
}
void DelayMs(unsigned int Ms)
{
int delay_cnst;

//Delay Routine

while(Ms>0)
{
Ms--;
for(delay_cnst = 0;delay_cnst <220;delay_cnst++);
//delay constant for 1Ms @10Mhz
}
}

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To compile the above C code you need the Mplab

software & Hi-Tech C Compiler. They must be properly set
up and a project with correct settings must be created in
order to compile the code. To compile the above code, the
C file must be added to the project.
In Mplab, you want to develop or debug the project
without any hardware setup. You must compile the code for
generating HEX file. In debugging Mode, you want to check
the port output without PIC16F/18F Primer Board.
The PICKIT2 software is used to download the hex file
into your microcontroller IC PIC16F877A through USB port.
Testing the PWM with PIC16F877A
Give +12V power supply to PIC16F/18F Primer Board;
the PWM port line is connected in PIC16F/18F Primer
Board. When the program is downloading into PIC16F877A
in Primer Board, the PWM output is generating at a
particular frequency.

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If you are not reading any PWM output, then you just
check the jumper connections. Otherwise you just check it
with debugging mode in Mplab. If you want to see more
details about debugging just see the videos in below link.
How to create & Debug a Project in Mplab using
PIC16F using Hi-Tech Compiler.
General Information
For proper working use the components of exact values
as shown in Circuit file. Wherever possible use new
components.
Solder everything in a clean way. A major problem
arises due to improper soldering, solder jumps and
loose joints.
Use the exact value crystal shown in schematic.
More instructions are available in following articles,
User Manual of PIC16F/18F Primer Board.
Create & Debug a project in Mplab using PIC16F877A.

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