The 2-layer ALPINO PIC18 PIC1320 board is designed for 5V 18-pin PIC microcontrollers with focus on the low-cost yet powerful PIC18F1320 or pin-equivalents. Mainly dedicated to hobbyists who want a fast set-up of their PIC-based electronic projects similar to the Arduino world, the board provides a full breakout of all PIC-pins as well as an optically isolated I/O-channel for communication purposes or signal processing (eg frequency counter).

The board has a separate bottom-GND-layer and a top-layer with all components and traces.

Equipped with the LM2575 which supplies the ALPINO with powerful 1A/5VDC also other components/boards may be directly supplied from this board via the separate 6-pin Vin/Vdd/GND headers. The LM2575 is powered from an external supply (max 12VDC) via the on-board power-jack. Please refer to the LM2575-datasheet for selecting the right inductor for your application. If you want to power the board directly from a stabilized 5V-power supply then remove jumper JP8 and connect the power supply directly to headers JP4 (GND) and JP5(+5V).

The programming of the PIC microcontroller is very easy with the on-board ICSP-terminal which can be connected directly to a PICkit2/3/4 or any other PIC-programmer with ICSP-terminal. Recommendation: do not attach anything to ICSP-DAT (PGD) and ICSP-CLK (PGC) when you program the PIC!

For those who prefer a separate crystal (max 20MHz) to the PIC-internal-oscillator (up to 8MHz) the ALPINO board provides the necessary circuitry on the PCB.

V2.2: the PCB is optimized and offers a UART-terminal, an opto-coupler-input-terminal as well as an integrated potentiometer and Cu-filling on the top-layer