PICkit 3 and Flowcode 6

It appears the PICKit 3 needs to be ‘down rev’d’ before it will work on Flowcode 6.  I have two PICkit 3’s and I had a different experience for both.  Here is what worked for me.

See Matrix WIKI: “Supporting Third Party Programming Tools, PICkit 3”
and “V6 and PICkit 3” in the Matrix Forum

Confirm PICkit 3 is in “MPLAB mode”

Download “PICkit 3 Programmer App and Scripting Tool v3.10” from Microchip.   It seems to be somewhat flakey on Windows 10, it does not want to shut down cleanly.

The image below (Fig 1) is what you WANT to see:

If you don’t see MPLAB mode (Fig 1), then go to Tools -> Revert to MPLAB mode (Fig 2)

Load proper (old) firmware version on PICkit 03

To do this, you will need to download and install MPLAB 8.  MPLAB 8 is still available to download from Microchip in the Microchip Downloads Archive.  Scroll down and get the latest version of MPLAB IDE v8.92.  You will need this to install an older version of PICkit 3 firmware.

1. Connect the PICkit 3 with a USB cable
2. Start MPLAB 8
3. Select Programmer -> Select Programmer -> PICkit 3 (Fig 3)
   

   Fig 3 – Select PICkit 3 Programmer

4. Confirm communication with the PICkit 3.  This (Fig 4) should be automatically provided by MPLAB 8 when you complete step 3, above.
   Figure 4 Notes:
   – The error is only because my PICkit was not connected to my target system
   – In this particular example (Fig 4), the ‘Firmware Suite Version….01.28.90’ is
   the version desired for Flowcode 6
   – The ‘Firmware type’ is a ‘leftover’ from the last project I did in MPLAB 8.
   

   Fig 4 – Verify communication with PICkit 3

5. To check/change firmware versions, go to Programmer -> Settings
   
   Settings” width=”194″ height=”290″> Fig 5 – Programmer -> Settings

6. Go to the Status tab to check current version.
   

   Fig 6 – Check / confirm PICkit 3 firmware version

7. If a change is needed, go to the Configuration tab and press Manual Download
   

   Fig 7 – Manual Upload of Firmware

8. You will be brought to the proper (PICkit 3) directory and there is only one file available for download (Fig 8)
   

   Fig 8 – PICkit 3 firmware for download

9. Output during PICkit 3 firmware update:
   

   Fig 9 – Output during PICkit 3 firmware update

10. Redo step 6 to verify programming “took”

Setting Flowcode 6 to work with the PICkit 3

Start FlowCode 6 and select Build -> Compiler Options (Fig 10)

Cut-and-Paste proper strings here (Fig 11) per Matrix Supporting 3rd Party Tools, PICkit 3

You will be prompted for a new Setting name when you press “OK”.

Important notes from Supporting 3rd Party Tools, PICkit 3:

• Do not have spaces in your Flowcode project name.  Underscores are OK.
• There are 4 different sets of Location and Parameters based on:
  

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