After learning how to use the various features of the PIC16F1825 controller that I need for building and writing the LED controller it is time for some planning.

First the HW. Following is a schematic diagram that I prepared with the Freeware version of the Eagle application for Mac. Here are the details.

It is an excellent app and I thank my friend Tomer for telling me about it. The freeware version is limited but completely suitable for my current educational purposes. I will even allow me to design a board if I choose to do so – the freeware version is limited to 10cm by 8 cm boards and this size is enough for my LED controller.

The application is a bit non intuitive, especially with the MAC single-key mouse, but after a bit of practice and watching this video, I managed to draw the whole schematic in about 1.5 hours.

So, here is my schematic diagram.

It looks a bit complicated but it is not. It consists of the following components:

[table id=4 /]

Most of the wiring in this diagram are for the 7-segment display. I think that the rest is self explanatory to some extent and will be clarified in the next posts when I start writing the SW.

I’m aware that this schematic is probably “on the face” as we say in Hebrew, which means very poor and I’m sure I will improve as we go.