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PICAXE 18M2+ Microcontroller (18 pin)
The new generation 18 pin PICAXE microcontroller now has parallel tasking, touch sensors and more memory/RAM.
See the Info Sheet for a comparison of features between the 18M2 and the 18M2+
PICAXE is a neat entry-level microcontroller system that is relatively cheap to get started with. The chip is programmed with a simple serial connection and the BASIC development environment is free! PICAXE has some excellent educational applications and support, and is a great entryway into more complicated embedded systems. If you're look for a place to start with microcontrollers, PICAXE is a great way to go!
Replaces:COM-08309
PICAXE 18M2+ Microcontroller (18 pin) Product Help and Resources
Core Skill: Soldering
This skill defines how difficult the soldering is on a particular product. It might be a couple simple solder joints, or require special reflow tools.
Skill Level: Rookie - The number of pins increases, and you will have to determine polarity of components and some of the components might be a bit trickier or close together. You might need solder wick or flux.
See all skill levels
Core Skill: Programming
If a board needs code or communicates somehow, you're going to need to know how to program or interface with it. The programming skill is all about communication and code.
Skill Level: Competent - The toolchain for programming is a bit more complex and will examples may not be explicitly provided for you. You will be required to have a fundamental knowledge of programming and be required to provide your own code. You may need to modify existing libraries or code to work with your specific hardware. Sensor and hardware interfaces will be SPI or I2C.
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Core Skill: Electrical Prototyping
If it requires power, you need to know how much, what all the pins do, and how to hook it up. You may need to reference datasheets, schematics, and know the ins and outs of electronics.
Skill Level: Competent - You will be required to reference a datasheet or schematic to know how to use a component. Your knowledge of a datasheet will only require basic features like power requirements, pinouts, or communications type. Also, you may need a power supply that?s greater than 12V or more than 1A worth of current.
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Customer Reviews
4.6 out of 5
Based on 5 ratings:
Love it!
I use Picaxe mc to animate features on my garden railroad. For simple features like an oil pump jack, the 08M series works fine. For more complex features such as a fire station with an overhead garage door, a fire truck that moves in and out with flashing red light and working headlights, I use the 18M series. The ability to control multiple servo and stepper motors from a single mc and all the other features makes it ideal for my projects. Programming in BASIC makes it simple and the Picaxe editor allows me to test my programs even before I get the 18M out of its box. I started using Picaxe mc after using Basic Stamp 2sx at $60 a chip became too expensive for projects on the garden railroad. At $5 per chip, I can by 12 18M mc for the same price.
New to this stuff and bringing my Ho scale amusement park to life!
As expected
Item worked as expected and prompt delivery.
Don't know
Put it in a drawer as it took 12 days to receive it. I ordered another from Ca. and got it in 3 days. Still FedUp with FedEx.
so far everything good
works as expected, programmed in basic, very easy to get started with.
I really look forward to trying this combo (this, an 18pin developer board and 1A H-Bridge) as it SHOULD allow my robot to reverse! None of my robots could do that before. :-)
The on-chip multitasking should simplify robot sensor control and the Basic/Flowchart programming is WAY-cool!
I used to (3 weeks ago) dismiss the PICAXE as just another hard-to-use, popular chip. Then I randomly found out that they can be programmed with a flowchart and I was like "AAAAA!!!!! AAAAAA!!!! AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!" so now I'm gearing up to get started! 11 cheers for binary! and randomly finding awesome stuff! Yay! Hooray!
void Afrika-Bambaataa-Planet-Rock-Yeah {
Yeeeaaaahhhhh...
}
I like this chip a lot! It's turning into the Swiss Army Knife(tm) of MPUs. Their support forum is a great accessory for idiots like me, btw. You're not just buying a chip, you're buying a consortium!
Picaxe has become my MCU of choice. These little guys are so cheap, so capable, so easy to program, and require nearly zero additional components to program or integrate into circuits. The development suite is pretty great too, but having to do manual memory management is a pain sometimes. That being said, once you write a couple of memory addressing algorithms, it's not so bad.
Am I reading the datasheet right that this chip can control 8 servo's?
could these be used to control things like a timer?
There is a timer function - is there anything specific you'd be looking to do, though?
Can someone please point me to the eagle library that has this component? Thank you
someone help me out. I'd like to make a laser spirograph, and I need a microcontroller to make reflectors spin at random speeds. How would I do this? Any help is appreciated :)
I made a circuit board for this versatile chip; please see http://supertechlab.blogspot.com/2012/06/general-purpose-18-pin-picpicaxe-pcb.html
Is there anyway you guys could make a schematic symbol and PCB footprint for the eagle library?
You can find it in this library.
Can anyone confirm what firmware version these are shipping with? Version 1 had some problems with word addressed EEPROM, which version 2 supposedly fixed. I see that your almost out of stock, hopefully new stock will be v. 2.
4 parallel tasks!? Pretty neat i must say, I've already loved picaxe, but now i have another reason to.
However, it can't beat the propeller with 8 processing cores ;)
The PICAXE 18m2+ can do up to 8 parllel tasks too! :)
Speaking of the Propeller, have you seen the working specs for the P2? Look out Arduino, we're going to go for a Spin!
When is this gonna be back in stock??? I need one soon